Jul 2 Wed
Should I try to be sober?
Temperance or sobriety is the cardinal virtue that regulates the pursuit of pleasure according to reason enlightened by faith.
Faith may move reason to decide quite differently than it would from merely natural considerations. Thus, in the pleasures of food, pure human reason would consider only the demands of bodily health and its effect on the intellectual and emotional life of man. Beyond that, with the light of Revelation, reason must also consider the supernatural good of man and the need for mortification and penance, and then one may decide to fast.
Sobriety is the virtue that maintains the use of food and drink at a just level, controlling our appetite.
The Church values sobriety highly and presents food as a gift from God. She advises us to bless the table and give thanks after meals.
Besides sobriety in food and drink, a Christian needs moderation in the disordered inclinations of sensual or spiritual pleasure. Thus, one may desire to be praised in society, be attached to luxury items, have expensive lifestyles (housing, clothing, or entertainment), or have “licit” addictions, like smoking.
The conquerors are those who remain awake and vigilant, those who battle with the enemy, and regularly mortify themselves. And these people are precisely the happiest. Because you need a heart that is in love, not an easy life, to achieve happiness.
“Temperance is self-mastery. Not everything we experience in our bodies and souls should be given free rein. Neither should we do everything we can do. It is easier to let ourselves be carried away by so-called natural impulses, but this road ends up in sadness and isolation in our own misery."
St. Josemaría: “Consider the rich rewards that temperance brings. I want to see men who are really men, and not slaves to cheap glitter, as worthless as the trinkets that magpies gather. A manly person knows how to do without those things that may harm his soul, and he also comes to realize that his sacrifice is more apparent than real; for living in this way, with a spirit of sacrifice, means freeing oneself from many kinds of slavery, and savoring instead, in the depths of one's heart, the fullness of God's love.”
When the abuse of drinks leads to losing one’s use of reason (drunkenness), a mortal sin is committed (cf. 1 Cor 6:10; Is 5:11; Gal 5:21), unless this result is unforeseen and unexpected, as in the case of Noah (cf. Gn 9:20–22).
Slight drunkenness is a venial sin. Nevertheless, it can easily become mortal because of its consequences, if these could or should have been foreseen, even dimly. This is the case, for instance, of drinking before driving.
The opposite side of sobriety is gluttony, the disorderly appetite for food and drink.
The Lord doesn’t want to see us becoming rotten while we try to achieve a certain material happiness based on love of comfort, in the lack of sobriety, that will make us forget that we are pilgrims on our way to God.
In the midst of a materialistic environment, sobriety will help us to be very apostolically effective. It’s a feature of Christian life. A Christian should always make an effort to give a good example. For many, the beginning of a true encounter with the Lord will come from the example of sobriety that a Christian must give.