Gluttony is one of the capital sins. Father John Hardon defined gluttony as “inordinate desire for the pleasure connected with food or drink.”
This desire may become sinful in various ways, he wrote:
“By eating or drinking far more than a person needs to maintain bodily strength; by glutting one’s taste for certain kinds of food with known detriment to health; by indulging the appetite for exquisite food or drink, especially when it is beyond one’s ability to afford a luxurious diet; by eating or drinking too avidly, i.e., ravenously; by consuming alcoholic beverages to the point of losing full control of one’s reasoning powers. Intoxication that ends in complete loss of reason is a mortal sin if brought on without justification, e.g., for medical reasons.”
The Baltimore Catechism states: “The Church commands us to fast and to abstain in order that we may control the desires of the flesh, raise our minds more freely to God, and make satisfaction for sin.” According to Sacred Scripture, “healthy sleep depends on moderate eating; he rises early and feels fit. The distress of sleeplessness and of nausea and colic are with the glutton.” (Sir 31:20)
Blessed Antony Grassi called abstinence “the mother of health.” He said, “a few ounces of privation is an excellent remedy for any ailment.”
Let’s never forget the proverb: “Eat to live, don’t live to eat.”
In the Gospel, Jesus declared all food clean (Mk 7:19) and thus eliminated the distinction between pure and impure foods. “Jesus clearly says that what makes something good or bad, let’s say about food, is not food in itself but the relationship we have with it,” said Pope Francis.
“We see this when a person has a disordered relationship with food; we see how they eat, they eat hastily, as though with the urge to be full but without ever being sated. They do not have a good relationship with food; they are slaves to food. This serene relationship that Jesus established with food should be rediscovered and valued, especially in so-called affluent societies, where many imbalances and many pathologies manifest themselves. One eats too much, or too little. Often one eats in solitude. Eating disorders – anorexia, bulimia, obesity – are spreading. And medicine and psychology are trying to tackle our poor relationship with food. A poor relationship with food produces all these illnesses.”
The Holy Father added: “Tell me how you eat, and I will tell you what kind of soul you have. In the way we eat, we reveal our inner selves, our habits, our psychological attitudes.”
Father Adolphe Tanqueray proposed three means to foster a serene relationship with food. “Our guiding principle in the struggle against gluttony is that pleasure is not an end but a means, and that therefore it must be subjected to right reason enlightened by faith. Faith, however, tells us that the pleasure of eating and drinking must be sanctified by purity of intention, moderation and mortification,” he wrote.
“First of all, we must take our repasts with a right and supernatural intention, not like the animal that merely seeks its pleasure, not like the philosopher who goes not beyond a naturally good intention, but as Christians the better to work for God’s glory... This purity of intention will make us observe the rules of sobriety, for wanting to take our food in order to acquire the strength needed for the fulfilment of our duties of state, we shall avoid all excess that might compromise our health... The Christian must add to sobriety certain practices of mortification.”
St. Josemaria Escriva wrote, “the day you leave the table without having made some small mortification, you will have eaten like a pagan. Ordinarily you eat more than you need. And the natural result, a heavy fullness and discomfort, benumbs your mind and renders you unfit to savour supernatural treasures. What a fine virtue temperance is, even by earthly standards!”
Jesus told the mystic Gabrielle Bossis, “never drink your cup of pleasure to the last drop. Keep a little for Me as a sacrifice – My part – you understand what I mean? Since in secret we are together in everything. If you took it all, what would I have? You would be alone with yourself.”
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「吃為生存，而不為吃而生存」
貪饕是七宗罪之一。約翰·哈登神父說，貪饕是「過度渴望對食物或飲料所帶來的快感。這種渴望可能會在某情況下變成犯罪：例如，吃或喝的量遠超過維持身體力量所需的；因為偏愛某些食物而明知有害健康仍然暴飲暴食；在無法負擔的情況下，沉迷於豪華的飲食；狼吞虎嚥地進食或喝飲品；飲酒過度，以至於理智失控。沒有正當理由（例如醫療原因）過量藥物以至中毒而導致完全失去理智是一種大罪。」
教理問答指出：「教會命令我們禁食和守齋，是為了控制肉體的慾望，才可更自由地將心靈提升至天主，並為罪惡作出補贖。」
根據聖經：「飲食有節，睡眠安逸；這樣的人，清晨起來，明悟自然清爽；但是沒有節制的人，卻要感到失眠、肚疼、嘔吐等痛苦。」（德訓篇 31:23）真福安多尼、格拉西說：「守齋是健康之母。少量的克制對任何病痛都是極好的療法。」讓我們永遠不要忘記這句格言：「吃為生存，而不為吃而生存」。
在福音中，耶穌宣告所有食物都是潔淨的（谷 7:19），從而廢除了潔淨和不潔食物之間的區別。教宗方濟各說：「耶穌明確地說，判斷食物的好壞，不是食物本身，而是我們與食物之間的關係。當一個人與食物有錯亂的關係時，我們會在他們的飲食方式中看到：他們匆忙地吃，好像有一份衝動只為填飽肚子，但卻無法滿足。他們與食物的關係不好，他們是食物的奴隸。耶穌所建立的這種與食物之間的平靜關係應該被重新發現並珍惜，特別是在所謂的富裕社會中，許多不平衡和病症表現得尤為明顯。有人吃得太多，有人吃得太少。經常一個人孤獨地吃飯。飲食失調——厭食症、暴食症、肥胖症——正在蔓延。醫學和心理學正在努力解決我們與食物之間的糟糕關係。糟糕的飲食關係導致了所有這些疾病。」教宗還說：「告訴我你怎麼吃，我就會告訴你你有什麼樣的靈魂。在我們的飲食方式中，我們揭示了我們的內心、自身的習慣和心理態度。」
Adolphe Tanqueray神父提出了三種方法來培養與食物之間的平靜關係。他寫道：在對抗貪饕的鬥爭中，我們的指導原則是，快樂不是終點，而是過程，因此必須由信仰啟發的正確理性。然而，信仰告訴我們，吃喝的快樂必須以純潔的意向、節制和自我克制來聖化。首先，我們必須以正確和超自然的意向來進食，不像動物僅僅為尋求快樂，也不像哲學家不超越自然的善意，而是像基督徒一樣，為了更好地光榮天主而工作 … 這種純潔的意向會讓我們遵守保持清醒的規則，因為我們希望進食是為了獲得履行職責所需的力量，我們會避免一切可能損害健康的過度行為 … 基督徒必須在保持清醒的基礎上多加一些克己實踐。」
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