On Meals. — Intemperance in Eating and Drinking

Remember that God is present at your meals, and has his eyes fixed on you. — The table should be blessed by saying grace before meals; and this in imitation of our Saviour, who in taking bread at the last supper blessed it with thanksgiving. — You must be temperate at your meals; regulate the hour of your meals as far as circumstances will permit, and eat not at every hour to gratify the fancy and caprice of your appetite. — You must be careful not to indulge yourself in delicacies, but to be content with what is set before you. Should it not be to your taste, call to your mind the bitter draught which our Saviour tasted, when on the cross, and make the sacrifice of your sensuality. — You are not to eat to excess. Excess in the use of food weakens the powers both of body and mind, agreeably to that saying of an ancient: «Gluttony has destroyed more than the sword.» — You should not eat with eagerness, and precipitation. Greediness is a mark of ill breeding, and shews a want of self controul.

During your repast you should entertain pious thoughts, from time to time raise your heart to God, and deprive yourself of something from a spirit of self-denial. There are many persons far more virtuous, who have not even what is necessary for their subsistence. — If you have but little, and not sufficient to satisfy your appetite, call to mind the fast of the Son of God, who passed forty days and forty nights in the desert without taking any food, purely for the love of us. Set before your eyes those servants of God of both sexes, many of whom, though of a tender constitution, spend their whole lives in fasting and penance. — When you are with company, either at home or abroad, observe the three following admonitions which the Holy Scripture sets before you. 1st, »Art thou set at a great table? be not the first to open thy mouth upon it.« 2d, »Use as a frugal man the things that are set before thee: lest, if thou eatest much, thou be hated.» 3d, »And if thou sittest amongst many, reach not thy hand out first of all, and be not the first to ask for drink.« Ecclesiasticus XXXI. 12, 19, 21. — Avoid detraction when in company; and when you meet with a detractor, or scurrilous person impose silence on him, if you have any authority; at least hearken not to him, or retire, if civility and good manners permit.

Beware of giving yourself up to drinking. When we drink to excess, we lose our time, health, reputation, the fear of God, his grace and our souls. A drunkard is capable of the greatest crimes, and is generally a slave to many other vices. Watch, therefore, over yourself; for nothing is more dangerous than to accustom yourself to little excesses. — There is in deed a wide difference between the act and the habit of drunkenness: one may be accidentally drunk without being a drunkard. The holy Patriarch Noe fell once by surprise into drunkenness, without being a drunkard.

After meals never forget to return thanks to God for his benefits. You would take it amiss, if a poor man were not to thank you for an alms, which you are bound in charity to give him: why then do you not give thanks to the Lord for that food and refreshment, which, without any obligation on his side, he so liberally bestows on you? Take it then with the view of serving the Lord, and as a necessary support in your daily labours, and occupations; but beware of employing the strength which God gives you, in offending him.

King Assuerus, a heathen, once made a most splendid entertainment for the Lords of his kingdom; and the sacred Scripture commends him, because no person at his table was compelled to drink. — St. Monica, mother of St. Augustin, was, during her youthful years, nearly lost by a fatal propensity to wine. This she began to indulge at the age of about twelve years, and often watched for opportunities of taking it secretly; but a servant maid observed her, and chid her for so shameful a practice; upon which young Monica was seized with confusion, and wept bitterly for her fault. She also confessed it, which hitherto she had not courage to do, and never more relapsed into so criminal a practice: after this she led a life of exemplary piety, and became a great saint.