The Noonday Devil Quotes

“The flight from self is concealed beneath the flight from one’s setting and way of life. It will be better elsewhere; it used to be better back then. In short, the here and now become unbearable. Alone and confronting himself, beneath the noonday sun, the monk can no longer see or hear himself; he no longer tolerates himself. His illusory salvation lies in desertion.1 This”
― Jean-Charles Nault, The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times

“In Evagrius’ view, it causes a stifling of the intellect, the nous, whose function is precisely to contemplate God. Starting from the basest passions, it manages to stifle this contemplation of God. However, since this demon is not followed by any other, at least not immediately, victory over it is marvelous.”
― Jean-Charles Nault, The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times

“The abyss between human nature and divine nature is infinite. Nevertheless, Saint Thomas answers that there is indeed something in common between God and man. And this is beatitude. God willed that the communicatio, the thing in common between him and man, should be beatitude, in other words, participation in his own life.”
― Jean-Charles Nault, The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times