The Noonday Devil by Jean Charles Nault

Author:Jean Charles Nault [Nault, Jean-Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781681496870
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2015-11-10T16:00:00+00:00

Thus we can say that our era is characterized by a certain “cultural acedia”. Given this situation, Christians have the responsibility to know how to give an account of their faith: it is in this way that they will contribute to the battle against the fragmentation of knowledge that this acedia manifests.

False humility or sadness over good

The rejection of man’s greatness and of the vocation to which he is called may be hidden subtly behind a semblance of humility: man asserts that he is not worthy of God’s love. But such a reaction manifests, once again, a perspective that is excessively man-centered; in reality, God is the one who loved us first (1 Jn 4:10), without any merit on our part (Rom 5:8). God’s love does not depend on our personal sanctity; rather, our sanctity depends on God’s love for us and should be our free and loving response to it. This is why the semblance of modesty is, in reality, the worst form of pride, which refuses to accept the infinite so as to be content with what is within its reach. This is the temptation to be “reasonable”:

Deep inside us there is a sly resistance. I think that the deepest and most irremediable pride—that of the angels, perhaps—consists of refusing to accept the infinite so as to “be content” with what is within our reach. Such pride decks itself out in the appearances of humility: “I do not ask for that much, I do not aim so high! This infinite happiness is very beautiful, but it is too much for me.” And secretly we think: “That is beyond me because it does not come from me.”. . . Satan often inspires in us this attitude of modesty, which is the worst form of self-sufficiency and the refusal to go beyond one’s depth. We just hope that we will not be devoured either by Good or by Evil. Satan urges us to be a reasonable man, who is drawn by nothing—neither by the folly of darkness nor by the folly of Love. The virtuous man must be nobody’s fool, not even of joy. . . not even of God. This is the sin to which the curse in the Book of Revelation applies: “If you were hot or cold. . . .” It is better to take the wrong infinity than to renounce the infinite!23

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