FORTY-SECOND LESSON
On Greediness.
"Sober drinking is health to soul and body."—Ecclus. xxxi. 37.
At your age, my dear children, you are so generally inclined to greediness, that you know but too well in what this sin consists; and I should have nothing to say on the subject, did I not consider it necessary to your welfare to have some short conversation with you about it. To be greedy is to drink or to eat unreasonably, excessively and eagerly. This bad propensity may lead to most fatal consequences; those who give way to it, are generally speaking in bad health; they often make themselves very ill, and while we are already to pity from the depths of our heart, those children who are suffering from illness or an accident sent by God himself, we feel it impossible to pity them who suffer through their own fault. Animals who are not as we, endowed with reason and soul, give us, over and over again, good lessons on sobriety, and we should do well to follow their example. Greediness carried on to excess may lead to intemperance, a most vulgar and degrading vice, which deprives man of his reason, makes him a despicable object in the sight of his fellow-men, and lowers him beneath the beast: it is sufficient to be well brought up, to be preserved from such a shameful inclination.
But, my children, there is another kind of greediness, which is more usual among children than the first, and which, though it is more excusable, nevertheless is not without inconvenience. You have already guessed that I mean to speak of daintiness: that is to say, a liking for only certain choice morsels, and eating of them immoderately. No doubt there is no harm in preferring certain dishes to others, nor are we forbidden to derive pleasure from eating a thing that pleases our taste; nor are we commanded to eat what we really dislike; but God demands from us great sobriety, that is to say, we ought to be moderate at our meals, and take nourishment rather to strengthen ourselves than to satisfy our taste, and, to say the least, we ought never to injure our health by any excess.
If, from your childhood, you accustom yourselves to sobriety, at a later period, you will experience less difficulty in fulfilling those precepts of the holy Church, which at certain times of the year deprive us of some kinds of food to help us to atone for our sins.
Before bringing this chapter to a close, let me ask you, my dear children, to reflect with me on the following facts: there are in this world numbers of children, who, their lot being much less fortunate than yours, are in continual want of the daily necessaries of life; these poor little creatures, who have not even bread in abundance, would feast upon what you cast away from your meals as unworthy of your fastidious taste, and what you call a bad dinner would be a banquet for them. Think sometimes of this, my children, and for the future you will not be so difficult to please.
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