Meditation XLVII. Temptations of Intemperance

1.—They are Frequent.

2.—Why the Devil Employs them so Often against Priests.

3.—In what Manner they should Resist them.

First Point.—Temptations of intemperance are very frequent. This is a continual subject of complaint to souls who wish to give themselves entirely to God. They would wish to forego the necessities which occasion them, and say with the pious author of the "Following of Christ," Utinam non essent istae necessitates, sed solummodo spirituales animae refectiones, quas, heu! satis raro degustamus! (Im. 1, 25.)

Our enemy used this temptation with so much success against Adam in the terrestrial paradise that he thought of using it again against the second Adam in the desert. With it, also, he attacks the most exalted souls, and makes us commit countless venial sins. St. Paul recommended sobriety, sobrius esto, to the same disciple whose excessive abstemiousness he had blamed in another epistle. Some persons who are habitually mortified rarely come out of certain occasions without regrets for transgressing the laws of temperance.

In this manner one may sin in five ways, according to St. Thomas: praepropere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose. Let us consider each of these words, and let us not forget that this passion may be indulged even in the use of the most common nutriments. Of this we have an evidence in Esau. To what did that dish of food amount to for which he gave up his birthright? When the devil tempted Our Lord he did not offer Him rich viands, but common bread.

Second Point.—Why the spirit of darkness employs this temptation so often against priests? To this question we will answer by examining the effects of intemperance. They are the following, according to St. Gregory: inepta laetitia, scurrilitas, immunditia, multiloquium, et hebetudo mentis. If all this be found in a priest, can you imagine a condition more favorable to the designs of hell? What is better calculated to throw discredit on the priesthood, and to transform the minister of God into an auxiliary of Satan.

Compare these effects with the end of our ministry. The priest is a public penitent, who should pray between the porch and the altar, solicit forgiveness for sinners whilst he calls upon them to repent. He is the ambassador of the King of kings, the representative of God; no one is so much as he obliged to observe the laws of propriety and of respect for his dignity. He is the angel of earth, in duty bound to restore and to preserve purity in the souls of men. How great, therefore, should not be the purity of his life? His mouth is the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ, and receives every day the Sacrament of His body and of His blood. None but divine words should come forth from his lips. As a dispenser of the mysteries of God he should occupy his mind in the contemplation of divine truths, enlighten himself with the sun of uncreated wisdom in order to be qualified afterward to enlighten his brethren.

What does the intemperate priest do? Do his foolish and dissolute pleasures prepare him to appease the anger of God, and to excite compunction in souls? Inepta laetitia. Can one expect to find edifying gravity in a clerical buffoon? Scurrilitas. Will he who has no respect for chastity be able to purify the hearts of others? Immunditia. Does not high living lead to luxury? Semper saturitati juncta est lascivia. How many indiscretions and scandals are not to be found in that multiloquium of the intemperate priest? Finally, how will he be capable of guiding souls into spiritual life who has made himself unable to use his mental faculties? Hebetudo mentis. It is therefore evident that nothing so well promotes the designs of Satan as the intemperance of priests.

Third Point.—In what manner should we fight the temptations of intemperance. I. In our warfare against our vices, and principally against this one, we are above all things recommended to watch continually. Vigilate. The senses had full control over us during the first portion of our lives; for infants yield to them in almost everything. Now, these senses are not slow to reassert their control over us. The sensual man allows himself to be carried away by the pleasure of eating, indulges greedily in the use of such food as flatters his tastes, but the mortified man restrains himself and pauses before taking his refection. He goes to the table as a warrior to the combat, and begins his meals by a victory gained over greediness. He thus blunts the edge of sensual gratification, and takes time to offer it to almighty God, and in this way to sanctify an action which so easily leads to the commission of sin.

II. Let the conscience determine what is necessary and what is sufficient; let it trace the limits within which we should remain, in order not to injure the health of the body nor the welfare of the soul. At a time when our mind will be free, when we will not be disturbed by the desire of eating or drinking, let us endeavor to find that just measure which will conciliate all interests. Let us consult experience concerning the good or bad effects resulting from the use of such nutriments taken in such quantities . . . concerning the use of such or such drinks. Let us hearken to the accusation of the body which declares that it has been incommoded. Let us listen to the soul which may have more serious reproaches to make: heaviness of mind, inaptitude to prayer, shameful temptations, perhaps deplorable falls. After a full discussion of all these points let our conscience pronounce; but its sentence should be respected as the voice of God Himself; and for the future, in presence of temptations of intemperance, let us not change what had been regulated in the combined counsels of faith and reason.

III. At the very moment of temptation oppose to the gratification which it promises the joy you will experience in having overcome it and also the regret and other consequences following sensuality. In order to appreciate the importance of this strife let us remember that there is question not only of the act of this present moment (of the morsel to be eaten, of the glass to be taken), but of a countless number of the acts of the same kind over which it shall have an influence. If I yield now, later on I shall have less energy to resist; on the contrary, if I come off victorious, this victory will facilitate a great number of others. From a passing act of abstemiousness or of sensuality may depend a long series of good or evil actions, the liberty or servitude of my soul.

As the practice of abstemiousness must be of daily occurrence, it will be for me an excellent means to acquit myself of my spiritual debts and of multiplynig my merits. I shall also find therein the source of the most chaste delights. "If for the love of Jesus Christ you deprive yourself in your food of all that is taken for pleasure without advantage to health, be convinced that He Himself will prepare for you the sweetness of His consolations, and that you will find pleasing to your taste the victuals you will be content with in order to please Him." (St. Vinc. Ferr.) Let us consider the table as an altar, and never rise from it without having offered to God some sacrifice.

Résumé of the Meditation.

First Point.—Nothing more frequent than the temptations to intemperance. Our enemy having used this weapon with so much success against the first man, it was also the first temptation he used against Our Lord Jesus Christ in the desert. St. Paul recommends sobriety to the same disciple whom he had censured for excessive abstemiousness. Even priests who are usually mortified have sometimes to look back on certain occasions with regret for having trespassed the laws of temperance. In this matter we may sin in five different ways, Praepropere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose, and, moreover, this vice may introduce itself even in the use of the most common victuals.

Second Point.—Why the spirit of darkness so often employs this temptation against priests! We will understand it if we reflect on the consequences of intemperance. Inepta laetitia, scurrilitas, immunditia, multiloquim, et hebetudo mentis. Compare those effects with the end of the sacerdotal ministry, and you will be convinced that nothing does so well answer the designs of the devil as intemperance in priests.

Third Point.—In what manner we should strive against it.

I. Above all, continual vigilance, in order to avoid surprise. Go to the table as a soldier to the fight, and begin all your meals by a victory over sensuality. II. Examine beforehand what is necessary and what is sufficient, in order not to injure the health of the body nor that of the soul. III. At the moment of temptation compare the gratification you expect from it with the joy you will experience in having overcome it. Consider the table as an altar, and do not leave it without offering some sacrifice.