The Seven Deadly Sins: gluttony

Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, or intoxicants to the point of waste.

Gluttony

Excess in eating; extravagant indulgence of the appetite for food; voracity.


Punishment in hell: Forced to eat rats, toads, and snakes
Animal:Pig
Color:Orange

Demon:Beelzebub

Canto VI
I see new sufferings and new suffering souls
5 Surrounding me no matter where I walk,
No matter where I turn or where I look.

I am in the third circle, a place of rain
Accursed, freezing, heavy, and unending:
Its density and direction never change.

10 Huge hailstones, mucky sleet and snow
Keep pouring down through the gloom-filled air
So that the soil that sucks it in is putrid.

Cerberus, that weird and vicious beast,
15 Howls like a mad-dog out of all three throats,
Baying above the people wallowing here.

His eyes are red, his beard is greasy black,
His belly bloated and talon-sharp his hands:
He claws the spirits, skins and splits them up.
......
"But tell me who you are who in so sad
A place are plunged to suffer such a torture
That, though worse exists, none's more repulsive."

And he told me, "Your city, so crammed full
50 Of envy that already the sack spills over,
Held me in its walls in the tranquil life.

"You citizens had nicknamed me Ciacco.
For the damnable sin of gluttony,
As you can see, I am drubbed by this rain.

55 "And I, unhappy soul, am not alone,
For all these souls bear the same punishment
For the same sin." With that he said no more.

I answered him, "Ciacco, this anguish of yours
So weighs on me it summons me to tears.
60 But tell me, if you know, what shall become

"Of the citizens of that divided city?
Is anyone there just? Tell me too the reason
Why so much discord has assaulted it?"

And he replied, "After long contention
65 They shall come to blood, and the rural party
Shall push the other out with strong offense.

"Then that party itself is doomed to fall
Within three years: the other will prevail
By the might of one now straddling the middle.

70 "This party shall hold its head up high
While keeping the other under heavy burdens,
However much it moans and feels ashamed.

"Two men are just, but no one minds them there:
Pride, spitefulness, and avarice
75 Are three sparks that have fired up their hearts."

According to St. Gregory the Great there are 5 ways to consider a person guilty of gluttony if:

* Time - Eating before the time of meal in order to satisfy the palate
* Quality - Seeking delicacies and better quality of food to gratify the "vile sense of taste."
* Stimulants - Seeking after sauces and seasonings for the enjoyment of the palate.
* Quantity - Exceeding the necessary amount of food.
* Eagerness - Taking food with too much eagerness, even when eating the proper amount, and even if the food is not luxurious.(story of Esau selling his birth rite for food)

and for St. Thomas Aquinas;

* Praepropere - eating too soon.
* Laute - eating too expensively (washedly).
* Nimis - eating too much.
* Ardenter - eating too eagerly (burningly).
* Studiose - eating too daintily (keenly).
* Forente - eating wildly (boringly).

Apparently, most people are guilty of the sin gluttony. I think that it is preposterous if we eat something bland. Why make your life hard eating bland food when you can dress it up with Bechamel Sauce and have a hearty meal. I am not saying that we should eat like a pig whenever food is served. Just eat gradually. I don't think that it is sinful to eat something expensive such as Foie gras (goes so well with bread and Gouda cheese!) on such special occassions. If people can afford to eat those things, why prevent them from eating something good?

They consider gluttony as one of the deadly sins because it destroys the home of the souls (as to what my Teacher tells us before). It also includes alcholics, addicts and such I believe, they are having too much of something that really corrupts their bodies.

According to the definition of a gourmand (A person who is fond of good eating, often indiscriminately and excess.). Whichever name you call it, it is still considered as gluttony.

Here's what St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote explaining gluttony:

"Pope Innocent XI Odescalchi has condemned the proposition which asserts that it is not a sin to eat or to drink from the sole motive of satisfying the palate. However, it is not a fault to feel pleasure in eating: for it is, generally speaking, impossible to eat without experiencing the delight which food naturally produces. But it is a defect to eat, like beasts, through the sole motive of sensual gratification, and without any reasonable object. Hence, the most delicious meats may be eaten without sin, if the motive be good and worthy of a rational creature; and, in taking the coarsest food through attachment to pleasure, there may be a fault."

Does it mean that some people eat food thinking of something dirty in their minds? Oh my that is so sick.


xoxo