“Staying Put to Get Somewhere,” Dennis Okholm

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“Ultimately, if we believe that by divine providence we have been placed in a community for the nurturing of our souls, then not to persevere but to flee that ‘cell’ in a fit of restless acedia is also to flee God: ‘…one who refuses to acquiesce in the truth of others’ reactions becomes more deeply entrenched in the bitterness and recrimination and further away from love and God.’ (Casey, A Guide to Living in the Truth, 207) Thomas Acquinas recognized this in the sorrow that is opposed to the ‘divine goodness in which love delights’: acedia is perhaps the purest expression of self-love.”

Dennis Okholm, “Staying Put to Get Somewhere,” Christian Reflection, Vol 49 (Baylor University Press, 2013), 24.