Lent 4- Gluttony
We are continuing with our series on the Seven Deadly Sins, which are the major diseases of the soul. This week we are looking at the sin of Gluttony. Gluttony is a disordered craving or excessive attachment to food. This might mean overeating, which might be what we normally think of when we think of gluttony. But, it can also mean being very picky and particular about its quality, and how it is prepared- having it spiced just right, prepared just right, or at just the right temperature.
Gluttony can also be expressed in the seeming inability to wait until mealtimes to eat- sort of an uncontrolled snacking. Gluttony can also be connected to alcohol or drug abuse- which has to do with an obsession with the pleasures we gain from what we consume. … Gluttony can include spending an excessive amount of money on food. An excessive amount of time spent thinking about, preparing, and consuming food. … Gluttony is an obsession, of some kind, having to do with what we consume. … Gluttony is a lack of self-control regarding food. So, we shouldn’t think gluttony is just about eating too much. And we definitely shouldn’t connect it to body shape or anything as crude as that. Gluttony is much deeper than that.
Gluttony is a strong force in our society. We have an incredible abundance of food. And we also have an incredible variety of foods. Even in the middle of winter, we have fruit available to us from all over the world. We are also bombarded with advertising telling us about new foods to try, and restaurant ads. … We are bombarded by information about food.
This often results in us eating too much, and often eating what isn’t good for us. Companies work to perfect their recipes to our tastes. So, we won’t just say we like potato chips, most of us have a particular brand and flavour of potato chip that is our favourite. The variety encourages us to be very picky. …
St. Thomas Aquinas says Gluttony is an
Gluttony can also be expressed in the seeming inability to wait until mealtimes to eat- sort of an uncontrolled snacking. Gluttony can also be connected to alcohol or drug abuse- which has to do with an obsession with the pleasures we gain from what we consume. … Gluttony can include spending an excessive amount of money on food. An excessive amount of time spent thinking about, preparing, and consuming food. … Gluttony is an obsession, of some kind, having to do with what we consume. … Gluttony is a lack of self-control regarding food. So, we shouldn’t think gluttony is just about eating too much. And we definitely shouldn’t connect it to body shape or anything as crude as that. Gluttony is much deeper than that.
Gluttony is a strong force in our society. We have an incredible abundance of food. And we also have an incredible variety of foods. Even in the middle of winter, we have fruit available to us from all over the world. We are also bombarded with advertising telling us about new foods to try, and restaurant ads. … We are bombarded by information about food.
This often results in us eating too much, and often eating what isn’t good for us. Companies work to perfect their recipes to our tastes. So, we won’t just say we like potato chips, most of us have a particular brand and flavour of potato chip that is our favourite. The variety encourages us to be very picky. …
St. Thomas Aquinas says Gluttony is an
“Immoderate appetite in eating and drinking.”
He goes on to describe this-
“We regard an appetite as immoderate when it departs from the reasonable order of life in which moral good is found.”
In other words, we are at risk of gluttony when our thinking and behaviour regarding good goes beyond what it takes to keep us sustained and healthy. John Cassian (360-435) says,
The virtue that is the cure for gluttony is temperance. Temperance is the control of our appetite. It places our consumption under the control of our reason. To work towards this virtue, we should consider what role food should play in our lives as disciples of Christ. Food is meant to sustain us so that we have the health and vitality to do what God is calling us to do.
It’s okay to enjoy eating. After all, God gave us taste buds, and God made food taste good! But, we should beware of obsessing over the pleasures of eating. In our epistle reading, Paul warned about the pleasures of the belly becoming our God. We can become slaves to the pleasures of consuming, rather than being the masters of what we consume. The addiction to what we consume is a kind of slavery. Peter’s second letter says,
“food is to be taken in so far as it supports our life, but not to the extent of enslaving us to the impulses of desire” (On the Eight Vices in the Philokalia vol 1).Gluttony forgets the passage Jesus quotes during his temptation in the wilderness,
“one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut 8:3).
Gluttony elevates the desire for food until it starts to eclipse our desire for God. As St. Paul says in Philippians
“their god is the belly; … their minds are set on earthly things” (Phil 3:19).
They allow their earthly desires to overtake the pursuit of God’s kingdom. … St. Paul warns,
“Make no provision to fulfill the desires of the flesh” (Rom 13:14).
This isn’t to say that those desires are all evil, just that they are disordered. They have to be tamed. They have to be mastered, or they will master us.
Some of the Early Church Fathers have connected overeating to other sins like lust and sloth. … Many of us have experienced how overeating can leave us feeling sluggish and slothful. Think of how you feel just after thanksgiving dinner. We don’t usually feel very motivated at that point. … Lust is another bodily craving and if we are not able to control our desire for food, then we might also have a hard time controlling other bodily desires. The Church Fathers seemed to think that an indulged body is more inclined to experience the temptation of lust. John Cassian says,
Some of the Early Church Fathers have connected overeating to other sins like lust and sloth. … Many of us have experienced how overeating can leave us feeling sluggish and slothful. Think of how you feel just after thanksgiving dinner. We don’t usually feel very motivated at that point. … Lust is another bodily craving and if we are not able to control our desire for food, then we might also have a hard time controlling other bodily desires. The Church Fathers seemed to think that an indulged body is more inclined to experience the temptation of lust. John Cassian says,
“No one whose stomach is full can fight mentally against the demon of unchastity” (On the Eight Vices in the Philokaklia vol 1 ).
And he says in another place,
“Whoever is unable to check the desire to [eat excessively] will be incapable of curbing the urges of burning lust” (The Institutes).Gluttony can also be an issue of justice. In our Gospel reading from Luke 16 Jesus describes a man who “feasted sumptuously every day” (Lk 16:19) and, perhaps because he was obsessed with the pleasures of life, ignored poor Lazarus at his gates. … I sometimes wonder if that is how we appear from the point of view of people who live in a place where food security is a concern. We feast sumptuously and are blinded to the poor Lazaruses of the world.
The virtue that is the cure for gluttony is temperance. Temperance is the control of our appetite. It places our consumption under the control of our reason. To work towards this virtue, we should consider what role food should play in our lives as disciples of Christ. Food is meant to sustain us so that we have the health and vitality to do what God is calling us to do.
It’s okay to enjoy eating. After all, God gave us taste buds, and God made food taste good! But, we should beware of obsessing over the pleasures of eating. In our epistle reading, Paul warned about the pleasures of the belly becoming our God. We can become slaves to the pleasures of consuming, rather than being the masters of what we consume. The addiction to what we consume is a kind of slavery. Peter’s second letter says,
“people are slaves to whatever masters them” (2 Pt 2:19; see also 1 Cor 9:26–27). …
Temperance is about eating what we need. This means that we should not eat until we are stuffed. And we should be careful about being too finicky about maximizing the pleasure we get from eating.
We have to apply wisdom to this as well. Not eating enough, or not getting enough nutritious food, isn’t good for us either. For example, Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) says that if we experience times of depression that allowing ourselves more food or wine might assist our mood and should be allowed. Generally, though, I suspect that is not the end of the spectrum that most of our society is living in. … Our bodies are all quite unique, so John Cassian notes that the Desert Fathers recognized that not everyone could have the same fasting practice. So we should seek wisdom regarding what food we need, and what fasting practice we should follow.
Gluttony is about chasing the pleasure we get from what we consume. If we are concerned with pleasure, one thing we can do to challenge our gluttony, is to remind ourselves that a life of temperance brings more happiness in the long run- as we will be more likely to live longer and live more healthy lives. We might actually enjoy food more if we practice temperance- doesn’t food taste better when you are actually hungry? …
It is also likely that we will be more able to focus on our spiritual work and service to God when our minds are not clouded by gluttony. We have a responsibility to maintain our health (as much as that is within our power), so that we can be useful to God in mind and body- It is good stewardship to treat the body that God has given us with care. Temperance helps us to worship better, study better, serve better, and pray better. The organ of our body is our means of worship and service. Gluttony gets in the way of all that.
To grow in temperance, it can help to try to think from a heavenly perspective. When thinking about how gluttony looks from the point of view of heaven Bishop Jeremy Taylor says,
We have to apply wisdom to this as well. Not eating enough, or not getting enough nutritious food, isn’t good for us either. For example, Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) says that if we experience times of depression that allowing ourselves more food or wine might assist our mood and should be allowed. Generally, though, I suspect that is not the end of the spectrum that most of our society is living in. … Our bodies are all quite unique, so John Cassian notes that the Desert Fathers recognized that not everyone could have the same fasting practice. So we should seek wisdom regarding what food we need, and what fasting practice we should follow.
Gluttony is about chasing the pleasure we get from what we consume. If we are concerned with pleasure, one thing we can do to challenge our gluttony, is to remind ourselves that a life of temperance brings more happiness in the long run- as we will be more likely to live longer and live more healthy lives. We might actually enjoy food more if we practice temperance- doesn’t food taste better when you are actually hungry? …
It is also likely that we will be more able to focus on our spiritual work and service to God when our minds are not clouded by gluttony. We have a responsibility to maintain our health (as much as that is within our power), so that we can be useful to God in mind and body- It is good stewardship to treat the body that God has given us with care. Temperance helps us to worship better, study better, serve better, and pray better. The organ of our body is our means of worship and service. Gluttony gets in the way of all that.
To grow in temperance, it can help to try to think from a heavenly perspective. When thinking about how gluttony looks from the point of view of heaven Bishop Jeremy Taylor says,
“when thy soul dwells above, and looks down upon the pleasures of the world, they seem like things at a distance, little and contemptible, and men running after the satisfaction of their [drunken] appetites seem foolish as fishes, thousands of them running after a rotten worm that covers a deadly hook” (Rule and Exercises of Holy Living).
If we keep the big picture in mind, then the temptations of the momentary pleasures will have less power to overwhelm us. One mark of maturity is the ability to delay gratification, which means exchanging the immediate pleasure for a long term good.
There are a number of other things we can do try to overcome the temptation of gluttony. We can eat smaller portions. John Cassian says,
There are a number of other things we can do try to overcome the temptation of gluttony. We can eat smaller portions. John Cassian says,
“a clear rule for self-control handed down by the Fathers is this: stop eating while still hungry and do not continue until you are satisfied” (The Institutes). …
We can discipline ourselves to only eat at mealtimes. We can eat slower. We can find something to divert our attention when we are tempted, like going for a walk, or reading a good book. … As mentioned before, we can also practice fasting. Start by missing a meal, and dedicate that time to prayer instead. You can build up to going a day without food, then maybe three days without food on occasion. This can help us tame our craving for food. (We just have to be careful to not gorge ourselves after the fast.)
This doesn’t mean we live lives that are grim and devoid of pleasure. The Bible commands times of celebration and feasting during holy days, and to celebrate certain important moments in life. … But, surely celebration and feasting means more when we are not constantly feasting. Our society seems to be feasting all the time, which diminishes the joy of feasting.
The virtue of temperance allows us to resist the immediate pleasure we get from consuming for the purpose of greater long-term goals. God does not want to deny us pleasure. God is concerned with the greater, eternal pleasure that he wants to bestow on His people. In John 15:11 Jesus says,
This doesn’t mean we live lives that are grim and devoid of pleasure. The Bible commands times of celebration and feasting during holy days, and to celebrate certain important moments in life. … But, surely celebration and feasting means more when we are not constantly feasting. Our society seems to be feasting all the time, which diminishes the joy of feasting.
The virtue of temperance allows us to resist the immediate pleasure we get from consuming for the purpose of greater long-term goals. God does not want to deny us pleasure. God is concerned with the greater, eternal pleasure that he wants to bestow on His people. In John 15:11 Jesus says,
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete”.
Jesus is not about denying us pleasures. What he wants is a joy that can be complete. Our joy can only ultimately be completed in God. … Gluttony promises something it can’t give. It cannot complete our joy. Only God can do that. AMEN
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