Noonday Devil

The noonday devil is the demon of acedia is a gloomy combination of weariness, sadness, and a lack of purposefulness. It robs a person of his capacity for joy and leaves him feeling empty, or void of meaning. Acedia is experienced by countless modern people who describe their condition as depression, melancholy, burn-out, or even mid-life crisis.

In the Noonday Devil, author Abbot Nault begins his study of acedia by tracing the wisdom of the Church on the subject from the Desert Fathers to Saint Thomas Aquinas. He shows how acedia afflicts persons in all states of life— priests, religious, and married or single laymen. He details not only the symptoms and effects of acedia, but also remedies for it.