Sunday Meditation: How Do You Fight Against the Noonday Devil?

Our sermon today was on the noonday devil, also called acedia or sloth. How many people have any idea what that means? I'm betting most have never even heard of "acedia" and probably think "sloth" is a synonym for laziness. But the reality is much worse.

Acedia, in one definition I read, is a "spiritual sadness resulting from a loss of trust in the goodness of God." Fr. John Hardon's dictionary defines it as:

...a state of mind that finds the practice of virtue troublesome. It is not so much a repugnance of conviction as of indifference to God and to the practice of one's religion.

 According to St. Thomas Aquinas it is:

a sorrow about spiritual good, a repugnance toward the divine good because it is arduous and demanding. [Summa II-II qu. 3]

Those who experience temptations to acedia experience a disgust toward prayer and other spiritual exercises. They feel a boredom and an emptiness that make everything seem pointless. Some commentators compare it to midlife crisis. As Father said this morning, think of it as a father who abandons his family, quits his job, and joins a heavy metal rock group. 

As I read all this I thought, "It's easy to see why theologians call this a very serious sin. Think about it. Acedia involves an attack on the goodness of God and an abandonment of His will for us. It reminded me of this quote from the Book of Revelation:

And to the angel of the church of Laodicea, write: These things saith the Amen [Jesus], the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God:

15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. 16But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. So acedia is a sin against faith. Thomas Aquinas

Acedia is clearly a sin against faith and the vice that leads to lukewarmness. It can also lead one to abandon his responsibilities, ignore his duties of state, and imitate the servant who buried his talent rather than invest it for the Master's benefit. In the extreme, it's easy to see how it can lead to abandoning the faith altogether. No wonder so many spiritual masters say it is one of the most serious of the seven deadly sins. Remember Jesus telling the parable about the man who has an unclean spirit driven out who roams the world and comes back finding the house cleaned and swept, but empty. That seems to describe acedia well and what happened? The demon brought seven other demons more wicked than himself and entered the poor man's soul making his situation seven times worse.

But it isn't much help to describe a disease without offering a healing prescription. Once one recognizes that he's prone to acedia, but doesn't want to succumb, what next? Acedia tempts the soul to flee silence, to fill up his emptiness with noise. The TV goes on, the cell phone is constantly checked, looking for continuous entertainment, anything to avoid facing the music so to speak. 

How to fight it? St. Teresa of Avila who experienced this temptation advised "determined determination." Never abandon prayer. St. Ignatius also advised those suffering desolation (Was that his word for acedia?) to be faithful to prayer and never shorten it during times of sorrow and dryness. And St. Benedict advised manual labor, spiritual reading, and prayer. 

My spiritual director recently advised me to put God first every day. Stop delaying my morning prayer time for a cup of coffee or to check the internet or cell phone messages. It's made a tremendous difference in the two weeks since I committed to that routine. God first I tell myself when I want to check my email.

If you want a novel example of acedia (pun intended), Myles Connolly wrote a book titled Dan England and the Noonday Devil. I read it years ago and, at my age, I've forgotten more than I remember, but Father's sermon this morning reminded me of the book and I think I'll dip into it again. And I am determined, as St. Teresa advises, not to slack off from resolutions as we reach the halfway point of Lent. 

Let us never give the noonday devil a foothold in our souls. St. Paul in Romans 12 gives us the guide to put the demons of apathy and boredom and lukewarmness to flight:

Let love be without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good. 10Loving one another with the charity of brotherhood, with honour preventing one another. 11In carefulness not slothful. In spirit fervent. Serving the Lord. 12Rejoicing in hope. Patient in tribulation. Instant in prayer. 13Communicating to the necessities of the saints. Pursuing hospitality.

Well...that should keep us all busy about God's business. I love St. Paul's final advice about pursuing hospitality. Tomorrow I'm having a ladies rosary lunch. Several of us were at Mass today and heard the same sermon. I hope to bring it up and see what everyone thought and whether any of us struggle with acedia and whether we see it among our own family members and friends. How can we be a catalyst for driving out the noonday devil?  The Holy Spirit I'm sure will give us all ideas and marching orders. And on that note....

Let us praise God from whom all blessings flow!