According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), “Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honourable.”
“Temperance is a power over oneself,” Pope Francis has said. “This virtue is thus the capacity for self-mastery, the art of not letting oneself be overcome by rebellious passions.”
The Holy Father has pointed out that temperance is also the virtue of the right measure.
“In every situation, one behaves wisely, because people who act always moved by impulse or exuberance are ultimately unreliable,” Pope Francis has said. “People without temperance are always unreliable.
“The free course of impulses and total license accorded to pleasures end up backfiring on us, plunging us into a state of boredom. How many people who have wanted to try everything voraciously have found themselves losing the taste for everything! It is better, then, to seek the right measure.”
Temperance includes choosing one’s words well.
“The temperate person knows how to weigh words and dose them well.” Pope Francis has said. “He thinks about what he says. He does not allow a moment’s anger to ruin relationships and friendships that can then only be rebuilt with difficulty.
“There is a time to speak and a time to be silent, but both require the right measure. And this applies to many things, for instance being with others and being alone.”
A temperate person is balanced and displays modesty, discretion and meekness, says the Pontiff.
The virtue of temperance is the cure for the vice of gluttony.
The three degrees of eating, according to St. Gregory the Sinaite, are temperance, sufficiency, and satiety. Temperance involves abstaining from eating as much as we want, sufficiency is eating what is needed for nourishment, and satiety is overeating.
Church Fathers such as St. Basil and St. Gregory the Theologian have highlighted the significance of moderation in eating as a way to control desires and passions. Nowadays, we should fast not only from food but also from social media and the use of electric devices.
Symeon the New Theologian (949 - 1022) is an Eastern saint. Theologian and Jesuit priest Father George Maloney wrote, “For Symeon there could be no serious prayer life without fasting. Each person was to fast habitually, but according to each one’s needs, abilities, and attractions given by the Holy Spirit. Fasting brings about a healing of the unspiritual parts of us.”
Spiritual writer Father Adolphe Tanqueray also described eating as something we should do with temperance so as to grow in our faith.
“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,” wrote Tanqueray.
“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; in a spirit of gratitude towards God, who in his goodness deigns to give us our daily bread; in a spirit of humility, saying, like St. Vincent de Paul, that we do not deserve the bread we eat; in a spirit of love, placing our renewed strength at the service of God and of souls.”
Temperance allows the faithful to turn more fully to the divine, wrote St. Augustine.
“The whole duty of temperance, then, is to put off the old man, and to be renewed in God, that is, to scorn all bodily delights, and the popular applause, and to turn the whole love to things divine and unseen.”
That great theologian and philosopher also wrote, “The office of temperance is in restraining and quieting the passions which make us pant for those things which turn us away from the laws of God and from the enjoyment of his goodness, that is, in a word, from the happy life.”
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節德是掌控自我的力量
根據天主教教理指出：「節德是倫理的德行，它調節感性樂趣的 吸引，並使人在運用世物時，保持平衡。節德確保意志對本能的自主能力，使人的慾望維持在合乎正理的範圍之內。」（天主教教理第1809條）
教宗方濟各說：「節德是自我掌控的力量。因此這個德行是自我克制的能力，是不讓自己被叛逆的激情所征服的藝術。」
教宗指出，節德也是保持適度的德行。他說：「在任何情況下，有節德的人都能明智行事，因為那些總是受衝動或過度情緒驅使的人最終是不可靠的。沒有節德的人永遠不可靠 …。 放任衝動和縱容享樂最終會反噬我們，使我們陷入無聊之中。有多少人曾貪婪地想要嘗試一切，最後卻發現自己對一切失去了興趣！因此，最好是尋求適度的 … 。有節德的人知道如何斟酌言詞，並且能精確掌控。他會思考自己所說的話，不讓一時的憤怒破壞人際關係和友誼，而這些關係一旦被破壞，重新建立將非常困難…。有說話的時候，有時卻要靜默，但兩者都需要適度。這原則適用於許多事情，例如與他人相處和獨處時…。因此，有節德之人的禮物是平衡，這是一種既珍貴又罕見的品質。事實上，我們的世界處處趨向過度。相反，節德與福音的價值觀，如謙遜、審慎、節制、溫和，彼此相得益彰。」
節德是對抗貪饕的良藥。根據西奈聖額我略的教導，飲食有三個層次：節制、足夠和飽足。節制是指即使想吃，也要節制不吃，足夠是指攝取身體所需的營養，而飽足則是過度飲食。
教父如聖巴西略和神學家聖額我略強調在飲食上保持節制，以控制欲望和激情。當今，我們不僅應該在食物上禁食，也應在社交媒體和電子設備的使用上禁戒。
新的神學家聖西默盎（949-1022年）是一位東方的聖人。喬治·馬洛尼(George Maloney)寫道：「對於西默盎來說，不守齋就不可能有真正的祈禱生活。每個人都應由聖神引領根據個人的需要、能力和所吸引的而習慣性地守齋。守齋能治癒我們不屬靈的部分。」
Adolphe Tanqueray神父寫道：「我們在與貪饕的鬥爭中的原則是：享樂不是目標，而是手段，因此必須依從由信德啟示的理性…。首先，我們必須以正確和超性意向來進餐，不像動物那樣僅僅追求享樂，也不像哲學家那樣僅僅停留在自然的善意上，而是作為基督徒，以更好的方式為天主的光榮而努力；懷著感恩的精神，感謝天主在祂的美善中賜給我們每日的食糧；懷著謙卑的精神，像聖雲仙一樣，說我們不配享用我們的食物；懷著愛德的精神，將我們更新的力量奉獻為天主和靈魂的服務。」
聖奧斯定說：「節德的全部責任，就是要脫去舊人，並在天主內更新，即鄙棄一切肉體的享樂和世俗的讚譽，將整個愛心轉向神聖而看不見的事物。」他還說：「節德的職責在於抑制和平息那些令人渴望遠離天主法律和祂美善所嚮往的享受，簡而言之，遠離享樂的生活。」
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