The Frog in Boiling Water: Curing Spiritual Mediocrity

Bishop Sheen opens this powerful address by diagnosing the "nemesis of mediocrity" as the greatest danger to the spiritual life. He argues that souls are not lost through dramatic evil, but through a slow, imperceptible decline—a gradual neglect of the good. Using the analogy of pigeons reverting to a "dull slate gray," he illustrates how spiritual vibrancy can fade into apathy if left unchecked. He warns that this decline is subtle; we often fail to realize our love for God has cooled, just as Samson, his hair shorn, "did not know that the Lord had left him."

The core of the problem, Sheen explains, is a fear of goodness and a resistance to change. We often avoid the truth about our spiritual state because it would demand a transformation, much like a person with a toothache prefers the temporary relief of clove oil to the permanent, but initially painful, solution of visiting a dentist. This leads Christians to lower their standards, conforming to the world rather than to Christ. We begin to walk away from the Son, and as we do, our own dark shadows of fear, anxiety, and neuroses stretch out before us, dominating our lives.

The solution, Sheen concludes, is a radical reorientation toward Christ. By walking toward the Son, our shadows fall behind us. He reveals that the mark of a truly holy person is an unconsciousness of their own goodness; like Moses coming down from the mountain, "he wist not that his face did shine." The goal is to move beyond a self-satisfied state into a deeper love, which is ultimately proven by obedience. Sheen leaves his listeners with the critical insight that the Church possesses the light of truth, but it must be combined with the heat of passion and zeal to combat the insidious decay of a mediocre faith.