Gluttony attempts to conquer us from within, and Jesus gave us an example of conquering it
2 min • Digitized on November 17, 2021
From The Sinner’s Guide, page 358
By Venerable Louis of Granada
CHAPTER XXXIV.
REMEDIES AGAINST GLUTTONY.
Gluttony is an inordinate love of eating and drinking. Our Saviour warns us against this vice, saying: “Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life.” [St. Luke xxi. 34.]
When you feel the promptings of this shameful disorder, subdue them by the following considerations:
Call to mind that it was a sin of gluttony which brought death into the world, and that it is the first and most important passion to be conquered, for upon the subjugation of this vice depends your victory over all others.
We cannot successfully battle with enemies abroad when the forces within us are in a state of rebellion. Thus we see that the devil first tempted our Saviour to gluttony, wishing to make himself master of the avenue through which all other vices find an easy entrance.
Consider also our Saviour’s extraordinary fast in the desert and the many other rigorous mortifications which He imposed upon His sacred Body, not only to expiate our excesses, but to give us a salutary example.
How, then, can you call yourself a follower of Christ, if, when He fasts, you abandon yourself to the gross pleasures of the table? He refuses no labor, no suffering, to redeem you, and you will do nothing for your own salvation!