Ch. V. Another remedy, suited to all, even to those unable to fast

100. THE remedy which we have indicated above for rooting out faults of gluttony will not suit every one. Persons of a weak stomach, of a slender build, or of attenuated strength, cannot prudently undertake severe fasts; and still less those who have to undergo great fatigues requiring a large expenditure of the vital force, which must needs be restored by food so that the body may be enabled to persevere in its laborious occupation. Hence, Holy Church herself, as a prudent mother, dispenses such from the practice of penances, even when she imposes them upon others by rigorous precept. Yet, on the other hand, this class of people are not exempt from the necessity of checking the vicious propensities of the taste and their appetites, which strive so powerfully against their salvation and perfection; so that even to them we must prescribe some suitable remedy by which they may withstand the allurements of these two great enemies. This will be temperance in eating and drinking; a remedy which, if less effectual than fasting, is yet able to keep the taste within due bounds, and to restrain gluttony. All have need to do this, whether capable of fasting, or not. This temperance is nothing else but guarding one's self with great care against falling into any one of those five defects or species of gluttony which we enumerated with St. Thomas in our second Chapter; in other words, to take heed not to commit any one of those five excesses which well up from the brutal vice of gluttony, as from a turbid source, to defile our souls. This being done, temperance is perfect, for these defects being carefully avoided, eating and drinking will be no longer a merely animal function, but a human act; since thus it will be regulated by reason, and accompanied with virtue: as will be seen when we treat of each in particular.

101. A devout person will arm himself against the first species of gluttony by not allowing his appetite to lead him to forestall the usual times of refreshment; for to do so would be to act by passion, not by our reason. A monk, says Cassian, (and this applies to every one who would live temperately,) must, in the first place, lay down for himself as a rule which he must always observe, never to allow himself to be prevailed upon by the longing of the palate to take even a drop of water, or a mouthful of bread before the accustomed hour of meals. He lays the greatest stress on this point of self-control, for, in reality, this forestalling of the usual meal-time is (except in the case of real necessity) a compliance with sensual appetite.

102. We read in the lives of the Fathers of the Desert, that a certain monk was tempted by the devil to break his fast, even at the very beginning of the day. Being fully aware of the quarter whence this suggestion came, he conquered it in the following manner: "Let us wait," said he to himself, "to the end of Tierce, and then we will take something." After Tierce, he would say, "We might as well wait until Sext." When this had passed, he would say, "As we have already gone so far, we may await in patience the hour of Nones," which was the regular hour of meals, for the monks. Thus did he proceed for two or three days, at the end of which, the devil, seeing himself outwitted, withdrew, and with him vanished all cravings of fictitious appetite. Such means as these should be made use of by every one, in order to cheat his appetite, unless he wants to become the slave of gluttony. Woe to the land, says the Spirit of God, whose princes eat at early morn! Happy the land whose princes eat at due times. And with good reason, because, from the efforts made to restrain the cravings of appetite for meat and drink, we may estimate a person's good or evil qualities.

103. As regards the second and third description of gluttony, St. Basil observes: "We may seek the food needed to support life and health, but must reject dainties and exquisite sauces and seasonings; for it is plain that we seek these only for the gratification of the palate, and to comply with the cravings of gluttony, since such things are by no means necessary for life, or to maintain health and strength, but, on the contrary, are frequently prejudicial. If, then, we be so circumstanced as to have the choice of food, we should forego these delicacies, as being inconsistent with the virtue of temperance. If we have to leave the choice to others, let us practise the advice which St. Bernard gave to his monks, and make to God, at each meal, the sacrifice of what is most pleasing to the palate. Thus, besides the reward which we shall receive from God for our abstinence, we shall avoid all guilt in eating what is set before us, even though it be costly, and daintily seasoned; for it will be regarded as necessary sustenance, since we have none other for our stay and support.

104. Under this head we may consider moderation in the use of wine. St. Jerome proves himself very averse to this exciting drink, and in fact almost its sworn enemy: and he gives his disciples very rigorous advice about its use, for he looks upon it as the inseparable accomplice of lust, leagued with it to compass the ruin of youth. In his letter to Eustochium, he expresses himself as follows:—"If I am able to give any good advice, if I may rely on my own experience, I first warn thee, and conjure thee as a bride of Christ, to shun wine like poison. Wine is the chief weapon of which the devil makes use against young people. He cannot seduce them by greed of gain, or puff them up with pride, or lure them by ambitious dreams, so surely as he can overcome them by this potent drink. Wine and youth are the two torches that kindle the fires of forbidden pleasure. Wherefore, then, cast oil on the flames, or apply a flaming brand to a young frame that is already on fire?" In his letter to Leta he warns her to habituate her daughter from her tenderest years to abstain from wine, wherein is lust.

105. But if you have not self-command enough to keep to pure water, or if so plain a beverage be unsuited to you, as it was to Timothy, you should apply to yourself the advice which was given him by St. Paul: Drink a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thy frequent infirmities. You can do likewise, but mind you take little, as the Apostle prescribes, and that it be duly tempered, so that it may prevent the crudities of the stomach and other bodily ailments. To act otherwise is manifest self-indulgence, which can be accounted for only by a disorderly inclination of gratifying the palate, and of sating the appetite with this pleasing drink, without any concern for how much fuel is heaped on the impure fires of lust.

106. With regard to the fourth kind of gluttony, that is, to the excessive quantity of food taken, each one must keep a tight hand over his palate and his appetite, in order not to exceed. The advice which St. Jerome gives to his disciples on this point is, that they should never eat to repletion, but leave the table with some remnant of appetite. He writes to Rusticus, that food taken sparingly and in moderation is profitable both to soul and body. And in very deed it is from excessive eating that indigestion, catarrhs, dysenteries, fevers, and in general almost all the ailments to which we are liable, take their rise. But far more noteworthy is what he tells the widow Furia; saying, that a spare meal which leaves the stomach somewhat to desire, is preferable to a three-days' fast: as it is better to eat little habitually than to spend whole days without sustenance, and then to make up for the privations of the stomach by an immoderate repast, which has the effect of overloading it, and of clogging the spirit. He illustrates his meaning by the example of the rain, which does far more good when it falls lightly than when it pours in torrents; for, in the former case it refreshes the fields, in the latter it ruins them. And as a means of keeping herself within the bounds of this moderation, he gives her the rule that she should eat so as to be able to apply immediately after to prayer or to the reading of the Holy Scriptures.

107. Further, it may be shown, by the example of great servants of God, that the virtue of temperance mainly consists in eating thus sparingly and soberly, with a view to support bodily strength, and not to gratify the appetite by overloading the stomach. Palladius relates that a priest named Isidore, who took his meals every day so sparingly that he had never in all his life risen from table fully satisfied, had acquired great reputation for self-control, though he never practised the extraordinary fasts customary with the other solitaries. And Cassian speaks highly of an aged monk, who had been at table no less than six times in one day, for the entertainment of strangers, and had on each occasion taken something to encourage them by his example, yet did this so sparingly and so dexterously, that at the sixth time, he was not yet fully satisfied, but still felt the need of more food. This is a kind of temperance which every one may make his own, even such persons as through weakness of stomach, or need of food, cannot fast without danger. And further, it is a most excellent way of mortifying the palate and the appetite; for, as the same writer truly says, it is more difficult to control ourselves when food is set before the eyes, than when—as in the case of fasters—it is not near at hand.

108. Wherefore, they who wish to attain this degree of abstinence would do well to avail themselves of the practice employed by St. Dorotheus with his disciple St. Dositheus. The latter was of noble birth and delicate constitution, and had been brought up in luxury in his father's house. Dorotheus, wishing to train him to the perfection of temperance, followed this plan:—At the outset he allowed him to eat as much as he liked. Next, he diminished the meal by a small portion, withdrawing, for instance, a single ounce for each pound of food; and then asked him whether he felt hungry. The other would reply that he felt slightly so. Then the able master would leave him till he was accustomed to this reduced quantity. When he found that the novice's stomach had est, quæ sensim descendit in terram. Subitus, et nimius imber in præceps arva subvertit. Quando comedis, cogita, quod statim tibi orandum, illico et legendum est.

grown accustomed to the reduction, and that he no longer felt any inconvenience from it, he would diminish the allowance by another ounce, and so brought him at length to live most sparingly without feeling the least incommoded by it. The reader may employ the like stratagem with himself. But it must be borne in mind, that this abstinence is to be observed even with coarse food; since satiety, or the filling of the stomach, is, according to St. Jerome, always to be blamed.

109. With regard to over-eagerness in eating, one needs to be very careful and circumspect; for (as was observed in the first Chapter) the sin of gluttony consisting mainly in seeking pleasure in food, that person is surely not guiltless of the vice who devours his meat greedily. St. Basil says that the vice of gluttony depends not on the multitude of dishes, otherwise Kings and Emperors, and other great personages of the earth, would be in a miserable condition, because they are forced to have their table loaded with a multitude of choice dishes, and would thus be actually obliged to gluttony. The vice consists, says the Saint, in the relish and gratification which many seek in eating even coarse and cheap food. Hence St. Augustine affirms, that it may happen that a wise man will partake of a great delicacy without imperfection, while one less wise will not eat even of the coarsest food without sinning by gluttony. "Who would not," continues he, "prefer to eat fish with Christ, to sharing in Esau's coarse lentils? Are we to say that beasts of burden are more temperate than ourselves, for they live only on hay, barley, straw, and other most plain food?" So that temperance depends no less on the quality of what we eat, than on the end for which we eat, and on the manner and degree of detachment with which we eat.

110. Wherefore let no one sit down to table without first proposing to himself a holy, or at least a lawful end, in this animal act; protesting to God that he has no other purpose in taking his food than to support life, health, and strength, in order to do Him some service, or to fulfil His most holy will, which, as St. Paul teaches, requires that we sustain this mortal existence by means of food. If afterwards, in the course of the meal, we find that a feeling of gratification is creeping over us, we must repeat the raising up of our mind to God, renew our intention and protestations, declaring to the Lord our readiness to break off this animal act as soon as the purposes which compel its performance shall have been fulfilled. A saintly old monk, as may be seen in the lives of the Fathers of the Desert, while sitting at table with the other monks, had an interior vision, in which he saw that some of them were eating honey, others bread, and others offal. Astonished at this vision, as he was well aware that the same food had been provided for all, he besought God to enlighten him as to its meaning. The Lord granted his prayer, and told him that they who fed on honey were those who were eating in fear of transgressing against temperance, and hence had their minds uplifted to God, and joined prayer with eating; that those who were eating bread were they who were taking their meal with thankfulness, and were acknowledging their food as God's gift; that the remainder, who were feeding on filth, were those who said to themselves, "How good this is, how bad that;" in a word, those who were eating for the sake of eating. The vision set forth the divers effects of eating on the souls of the monks, according to the end and intention which they proposed to themselves in an action of its own nature so vile and degrading. To those who were eating for a holy purpose, their nourishment was as bread and honey; while to the souls of those who were eating for the brutish end of gratifying their palate, it was changed into filth, defiling them with numerous faults. If then, we wish our food to be profitable to the body without prejudice to the soul, let us set before ourselves a right intention, and perform this action without eagerness, and with an inward renouncement of all gratification.

111. Another means of distracting the mind from all sensuality in eating is to listen in time of meals to some devout reading, as is the practice of religious communities; or to engage in some spiritual or learned conversation, as was the custom of St. Augustine at his table: for then the mind, being intent on devout thoughts, feeds on them, and is not absorbed in the mean function which the outer senses are fulfilling; or, at least, it does not wholly give itself up to the action. Our own personal experience teaches all of us how very true is the observation of Cassian, that we cannot but yield to a grateful feeling whenever food is taken, unless the soul, seeking distraction in good and virtuous objects, find in such a more befitting pleasure. In connection with this, we read in the Annals of the Friars Minor, that St. Clare, who had long desired and earnestly entreated to have the company at table of her holy Father, Francis, at length obtained her request. The appointed day for this holy repast having come, the two Saints met, and sat down on the bare ground, in a spot where a frugal meal had been prepared. At the beginning of the repast St. Francis spoke of God with such depth and fervour that St. Clare, and the friars with her, losing all relish for the food set before them, remained absorbed in great inward spiritual sweetness. Meanwhile God, in order to make known to the world the pleasure that He takes in repasts which are seasoned with devout converse or reading, made the inhabitants of the surrounding country behold an immense flame, which settled over the Church of St. Mary of the Angels in the wood where this holy band was seated together at their meal. Every one hastened to the spot to extinguish the fire, but, on arriving, they found that nothing was injured; and when they entered the place, they saw with their own eyes that St. Francis and St. Clare, with all the other Religious, were rapt in ecstasy. From this they understood that the flames which had been noticed, were a symbol of the fire of that divine love which was burning within their breasts. Thus does the nourishment given to the soul during time of meals by holy converse or by devout reading, moderate the pleasure afforded by food to the palate, so that we are enabled to go through an animal action with due detachment.