By Tom Thomas.
As far as I can remember, I have struggled with my weight for most of my life. Always on the heavier side, I need to keep my weight in check by rigorous control of diet and exercise. In those moments, I slip; the weight gain happens effortlessly, and I need to restart the whole cycle again. Faced with the prospect of having to lose 5 kgs, I was despairing when a reading of the latest catechesis on Vices and Virtues from Holy Father Pope Francis delivered on 10th January 2024 gave me some insights. This catechesis is on Gluttony.
The definition of gluttony comes from The Ancient Fathers, who says the Holy Father” gave the vice of gluttony the name “gastrimargia” – gastrimargy, a term that can be translated as “folly of the belly.”. Gluttony is a “folly of the belly”. There is also this proverb that says we should eat to live, not live to eat—”a folly of the belly.” It is a vice that latches onto one of our vital needs, such as eating. Let us be aware of this. “
The Holy Father continues to explain the topic: “The bad thing about food, is not the food in itself but the relationship we have with it. And 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. And Jesus values food and eating, also within society, 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, all of them.”
I realise that my issue is that I eat hastily, a form of gluttony as defined by Gregory the Great and St Thomas Aquinas, who said, “We commit gluttony when we eat hastily, sumptuously, too much, greedily, daintily.” Trying to understand further, hastily can mean not just that I eat too fast, but eating between meals—that unnecessary fourth meal, sumptuously—lavish rich meals like how the rich man in the parable of Lazarus used to dine. Eating too much is the intake of food so fast that before the mind processes, excess intake happens, and daintily is over-fastidiousness or pickiness about how the food is prepared.
The Holy Father draws a connection with how we eat by adding, “The way we eat is the manifestation of something inner: a predisposition to balance or immoderation; the capacity to give thanks or the arrogant presumption of autonomy; the empathy of those who share food with the needy, or the selfishness of those who hoard everything for themselves. This question is so important. Tell me how you eat, and I will tell you what kind of soul you possess. In the way we eat, we reveal our inner selves, our habits, and our psychological attitudes.”
This statement provokes me to think. I am blessed not to have to go without food for my three meals a day. Why do I overeat? Do I spare a thought for the plight of my fellow countrymen who are unable to satisfy their basic hunger? According to the Global Hunger Index 2023, India ranks a lowly 111 out of 125 countries, with a level of hunger that is serious, with 16.6 percent of the population being undernourished. I have to start thinking about not overeating and instead think about what I can do more for my fellow hungry brethren in this regard. The ‘Lazaruses’ of our society. For instance, many religious communities, such as the St Antony’s Friary Bread Centre (Seva Nilaya) meal project run by the Franciscans and the Breads project by the Salesians offer ways and means to contribute financially towards meals for the hungry and underprivileged on almost all days of the week. This is a way of reaching out to the hungry.
Starting with food, gluttony can take over other areas of our lives, directing us away from how we should live our lives as moderate Christians. In summing up the topic, the Holy Father says, “If we interpret it from a social point of view, gluttony is perhaps the most dangerous vice, which is killing the planet. Because the sin of those who succumb before a piece of cake, all things considered, does not cause great damage, but the voracity with which we have been plundering the goods of the planet for some centuries now is compromising the future of all. We have grabbed everything in order to become the masters of all things, whereas everything had been consigned to our custody, not for us to exploit. Here, then, is the great sin, the fury of the belly is a great sin: we have abjured the name of men, to assume another, “consumers.”. Today, we speak like this in social life, consumers. We did not even notice when someone started to give us this name. We were made in order to be “Eucharistic” men and women, capable of giving thanks, discreet in the use of the land, but instead the danger is that we turn into predators, and now we are realising that this form of “gluttony” has done a great deal of harm to the world. Let us ask the Lord to help us on the road to sobriety, so that the many forms of gluttony do not take over our lives.”
This is real food for thought. I resolve to digest these words of the Holy Father and make a difference, slowly but surely, as to how I consume the food in front of me, and in fact, anything that Mother Earth offers me. I need to only consume just enough for myself and leave the rest for others. To start with, I think I can follow a practice I have observed in almost every religious community that I have visited at mealtime. One helping is enough.
This quote from a great saint seems apt in summing up:
‘I shall speak first about control of the stomach, the opposite to gluttony, and about how to fast and what and how much to eat. I shall say nothing on my own account, but only what I have received from the Holy Fathers. They have not given us only a single rule for fasting or a single standard and measure for eating because not everyone has the same strength; age, illness, or delicacy of body create differences. But they have given us all a single goal: to avoid overeating and filling our bellies. A clear rule for self-control handed down by the Church Fathers is this: stop eating while still hungry and do not continue until you are satisfied.’ -St. John Cassian