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Gluttony is an inordinate love of eating and
drinking. Our Saviour warns us against this vice,
saying, "Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be
overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the
cares of this life." (Lk. 21:34). When you feel
the promptings of this shameful disorder, subdue them
by the following considerations: Call to mind that it
was a sin of gluttony which brought death into the
world, and that it is the first and most important
passion to be conquered, for upon the subjugation of
this vice depends your victory over all others. We
cannot successfully battle with enemies abroad when
the forces within us are in a state of rebellion.
Thus we see that the devil first tempted Our Saviour
to gluttony, wishing to make himself master of the
avenue through which all other vices find an easy
entrance. Consider also Our Saviour's
extraordinary fast in the desert and the many other
rigorous mortifications which He imposed upon His
Sacred Body, not only to expiate our excesses, but to
give us a salutary example. How, then, can you call
yourself a follower of Christ, if, when He fasts, you
abandon yourself to the gross pleasures of the table?
He refuses no labor, no suffering, to redeem you, and
you will do nothing for your own salvation! If you
find abstinence difficult, think of the gall and
vinegar which were given to Our Saviour on the cross;
for as St. Bernard tells us, there is no food so
unpleasant that it may not be made palatable by
mingling it with this bitter draught. Frequently
reflect upon the terrible austerities and wonderful
fasts observed by the Fathers of the desert; how they
fled from the world to remote solitude, where, after
the example of Christ, they crucified their flesh
with all its irregular appetites, and, sustained by
God's grace, subsisted for many years on no other
food but roots and herbs. Behold how these men
imitated their Divine Model; behold what they thought
necessary to reach Heaven. How can you gain this same
Heaven by the path of gross and sensual pleasures?
Think of the innumerable poor who are in need of
bread; and at the sight of God's liberality to you,
blush to make the gifts of His bounty instruments of
gluttony. Consider, again, how often the Sacred Host
has rested upon your tongue, and do not permit death
to enter by that gate through which life is conveyed
to your soul. We may say of gluttony what we have
said of impurity, that its pleasures are equally
restricted and fleeting. Yet earth, sea, and air seem
unable to gratify this passion, for many crimes are
perpetrated, the poor are defrauded and oppressed,
and little ones compelled to suffer hunger, to
satisfy the sensuality of the great. It is deplorable
to think that for the gratification of one sense man
condemns himself body and soul to eternal suffering.
What incomprehensible folly to flatter with such
delicate care a body which is destined to be the food
of worms! For this miserable body you neglect your
soul, which will appear before the tribunal of God as
poor in virtues as its earthly companion is rich in
sensual pleasures. Nor will the body escape the
punishment to which the soul will be condemned.
Having been created for the soul, it will share its
sufferings. Thus by neglecting the nobler part of
your being to devote yourself to the inferior, you
lose both and become your own executioner. To
excite in your heart a salutary fear of this vice,
recall to mind what is related in the Gospel of
Lazarus, of his poverty, of his hunger which craved
the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, and
how he was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom;
while the rich man, who fed upon delicacies and was
clothed in purple and me linen, was buried in the
depths of Hell. Moderation and gluttony, temperance
and excess, will not reap the same fruit in the next
world. To patient suffering will succeed ineffable
happiness, and sensual pleasures will be followed by
eternal misery. What remains to you now of the
pleasures of your guilty excesses? Nothing but
remorse of conscience, which will be the principal
torture of the life to come. All that you have
lavished upon your ungoverned appetite you have
irrevocably lost, but that which you have given away
to the poor is still yours, for its merit is laid up
in the kingdom of Heaven. That you may not be
deceived by the snares of this vice disguised as
necessities, govern your appetite by reason, not by
inclination. Remember that your soul can never rule
the flesh, if it be not itself submissive to God.
This submission will be the rule and foundation of
its empire. Let God command our reason; let reason
direct the soul, and the soul will be able to govern
the body. By observing this wise order decreed by the
Creator, the whole man will be reformed. But when the
soul rebels against reason, and reason against God,
the body will soon rebel against the soul. If
tempted by gluttony, remember that you have already
tasted its pleasures and that they endured but a
moment. They passed like a dream, except that while
the light of day dispels the images of the night, the
remorse for gluttony remains long after its pleasure
has departed. But overcome this enemy, and you will
experience consolation and peace. Therefore, the
following wise saying has justly become celebrated:
"If you find difficulty in the performance of a
virtuous action, the trouble is soon past and the
virtue remains; but if you take pleasure in
committing a base action, its pleasure disappears,
but its shame continues with you." (Aul. Gel., Noct.
Attic. 8,15).
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