- by Father Frank Calkins, O.S.M.- by Father Frank Calkins, O.S.M.
The sin of gluttony is the excessive desire of eating and drinking. The key word in that definition is the word "excessive," because the simple desire to eat and drink is not evil. This desire was implanted in man by God for the protection of life. He associated pleasure with eating so that man would be drawn to nourish his body and maintain his health.
The infant, for example, instinctively takes nourishment to build up the tiny flame of life which has just begun, and the grown man is prompted by the pangs of hunger to eat and thus repair the loss of vital energy which each day brings. Just as the sex urge protects the life and vigor of the human race, so the desire for food and drink insures the life and vigor of the individual human being. There is nothing evil, therefore, in this desire, nor is it gluttony to enjoy the pleasure attached to eating and drinking. The evil begins when this desire is indulged excessively or unreasonably.
Now when does a person act contrary to right reason in this matter and consequently commit the sin of gluttony? A fine moralist of ancient times, Saint Gregory, answered that question with this succinct sentence, "We commit gluttony when we eat hastily, sumptuously, too much, greedily, daintily." Let us scrutinize each word.
Hastily - the meaning here is not too fast, but rather eating between times - not waiting for mealtime without good reason. A person would be guilty of gluttony on this score if he ate when it was not necessary, or when he was not hungry or in need of nourishment. The almost universal fourth daily meal in our country, the so-called "midnight snack," sometimes and for some people might be considered as an unnecessary repast and a slight sin of gluttony.
Eating sumptuously. Sumptuous or expensive eating is the eating of costly and rare food. The Gospel tells a story about a certain rich man called Dives, who was guilty of this sin. It does not say that he was a wicked man, or an unjust or impure man, but only that he was "clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day."
Eating too much. This manner of committing the sin of gluttony is the most common. In fact the word gluttony is almost exclusively understood to mean this and nothing more. Eating greedily means eating ravenously, like a mere animal.
Lastly, eating daintily signifies a certain squeamishness about the preparation of food and the precise flavoring of it. Aren't we reminded here of the almost fanatical care with which we answer the query of the waitress, "How would you like your steak done. Sir?"
Now, in all these forms of gluttony we find something inordinate, or contrary to right reason. Sound reasoning demands that food be taken for the necessities and convenience of nature. But in these instances given above it is taken principally for pleasure. Actually the man who eats too much, or the gourmet who dines luxuriously every day, is not nourishing himself in order to preserve his health and sustain life; he is really undermining his health and shortening his life. There is a perversion here. He is living to eat, rather than eating to live. To eat for the sake of eating is a sin because eating is a means to an end. Instead of using it as a means, the glutton makes it an end in itself. Whenever a creature distorts the plan or purpose of nature (which is another way of saying God) there is always a sin.
It is not easy to determine when gluttony is a mortal sin and when it is not. Saint Thomas says that if a man were so attached to the pleasures of eating that he would be willing to disobey God's commandments in order to obtain that pleasure then gluttony would be a grave sin. If, on the other hand, he were to have an inordinate desire for the pleasures of the palate, yet would not for their sake do anything contrary to God's law, his gluttony would be a venial sin.
Undoubtedly it would be a mortal sin to eat or drink so heavily each day as to injure one's health seriously. It could be a serious sin likewise to break the laws of fast and abstinence for the sake of satisfying one's appetite, or to willingly and knowingly drink to the point of losing the use of reason. Ordinarily, however, a slight excess at the table, a mild pampering of the appetite would not seem to constitute more than a venial sin. Saint Augustine calls it one of "the lesser sins" when a man takes more meat or drink than is necessary.
There is one great remedy against gluttony, and that is the remembrance of the example of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. If we study His life we see everywhere the lesson of temperance.
He began His life in a manger. The first sermon He preached was a plea for a detachment from luxuries, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." His public life was initiated by a fast of 40 days and 40 nights. He traveled about Palestine like a beggar without a home. "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air nests, but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head." There was no luxury in the way He dined, for we read of Him eating only the plainest of food, ears of corn, bread and fish, figs plucked from the trees.
But most of all think of Christ on the Cross, stripped of His garments, tortured in soul and in body, letting fall from His lips the poignant cry, "I thirst." This was His reparation for all the sins of gluttony and drunkenness committed down the ages. Would you commit even one small sin of gluttony to add another pang to that suffering brow?
- from the book Seven Roads to Hell and 'Ave Maria' magazine