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Gluttony seeks 'enough' in all the wrong places "I want it, I need it, I have to have it!" proclaims a popular department store TV ad. Across the screen flickers a selection of expensive consumer goods: clothing, kitchen appliances, bed linens. Catholics need to watch that they don't fall victim to that kind of thinking, according to Sister Patricia Mood, OP, because those "gotta-have-it" attitudes, pressures and desires create a glutton. A person commits gluttony when they find themselves "wanting it all," according to Sister Patricia, a program director at the Dominican Spiritual Life Center in Niskayuna. Gluttony, she said, is saying "I can't stop, and I won't stop," and announcing "I must always have more, and I must always have the best." More than food Historically, gluttony has been mostly associated with eating and drinking to excess. Proper eating becomes gluttony when a person "gets caught up in the act of eating and drinking so that it becomes an end in itself," Sister Patricia said. The consumer world, filled with attitudes of one-upsmanship and the desire to keep up with the Joneses, sometimes prompts Americans to confuse the "needs" of life -- food, shelter, clothing -- with the "wants" of luxury, like caviar, an SUV and a pair of shoes to match a certain outfit. In the process, Catholics can skate quite close to gluttony, according to Sister Patricia. "If my shoes are worn down, I need a pair of shoes," she said. "Other shoes are just wants. We don't care if our SUVs guzzle gas. [Advertisers] tout them as being the only way to make an impression in life. It's not you being you, but it's you being what you own." Spiritual gluttony But engaging in gluttonous behavior doesn't always mean ingesting large amounts of calories or stopping at the gas station three times a week, she said. "There's spiritual gluttony" as well, Sister Patricia explained, where people can't get enough of the "good feeling" given to them by attending retreats, devotions and prayers. In an attempt to clutch the spiritual "high" or renewal they feel in prayer, they neglect their mandate to exist within and serve the community "as the Body of Christ." "Whether it's the ice cream or the retreat, if I only want to do that and never integrate it in my life so that I grow in my love of God and neighbor, then I'm wasting it," Sister Patricia said. Temperance Sister Patricia believes that the best role model for temperance -- gluttony's opposing virtue -- is Jesus. Criticized by religious leaders in His time for being too celebratory, Jesus "enjoyed Himself at banquets," eating with His disciples as well as strangers. "Jesus didn't eat or drink to excess, but He knew how to have a good time," Sister Patricia pointed out. "The key to staying away from gluttony is knowing how to say 'enough,' and the only way we learn how to say it is to learn how to let God be our enough." How-to's Sister Patricia advocated some spiritual methods to help achieve temperance in a consumerist world: * Take joy in simple things, such as a walk in the park, a spring day, birdsong, taking in a sunset or talking with friends; * Simplify your life; clean out drawers and closets, "and give [used items] to people who need them"; * Pray; * Take some quiet time to consider purchases; identify them as either a need or a want; and spend a few minutes listening to God before you make a final decision; and * "Stop being so fussy over all of this," Sister Patricia counseled. "If God becomes our 'enough,' we don't have to hunt everywhere else for it." (Sister Patricia said it's important to draw a distinct line between the sin of gluttony and the facts of physiological addiction. Diagnosed alcoholics and those who have eating disorders suffer from illnesses and diseases that cannot be considered sinful, she said.) (4/3/2003) |