OZIO. — From the Latin *otium*, in a general sense it denotes abstention from work (for the Romans, abstention from public affairs or from family, the only occupations worthy of a free citizen). It is a lawful act if it remains within the bounds of a necessary and useful repose. The more it extends in time and becomes habitual, the more it constitutes a more or less grave danger, since it is fertile ground for the sprouting of temptations and the arising of vices. Ecclesiasticus indeed gives this warning: “Put him (the servant) to work, lest he be idle, for idleness does much evil” (33:28; cf. A. Vaccari, *La S. Bibbia*, V, *I Libri poetici*, Florence 1950, p. 247). It becomes a vice and a sin when the work from which one abstains falls within the sphere of one’s personal duties. The gravity is measured by the importance of the duties neglected.
A kind of idleness may also be seen in that bustling busyness which consists in moving from one task to another without purpose or conviction, with great and useless squandering of those energies which God has given to man to attain his natural and supernatural end. To avoid the sad consequences of idleness, however, it is not right to fall into the opposite defect. Men must not dedicate themselves to temporal activities so totally and exclusively as to neglect the contemplation of supernatural ends and goods (Lk 14:16 ff.). Work, together with rest and meditation, must be one of the means of sanctification and not hinder II.
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