The Virtue of Temperance

As Catholics, we are blessed by the teachings of the Catholic church, and the church proposes seven heavenly virtues for us to consider. They are faith, hope, and love prudence justice, fortitude, and temperance.

Now the first three are called theological virtues, faith, hope, and love. Sometimes it's called faith, hope, and charity. And the other four are called the cardinal virtues.

Now the cardinal virtues are found both in classical philosophy, and it's part of the foundation of Christian ethics. They're meant to guide people, us, toward a virtuous and fulfilling life.

Today, I wanna talk to you about temperance. You might call this self control or moderation. Temperance promotes balance by controlling our desires and our impulses.

It prevents overindulgence, and it leads to a lot of wonderful things. The great Thomas Aquinas, saint and doctor of the Catholic church, described temperance this way.

He said, temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion. By binding our passions and our immediate impulses in all areas of our life, we are able to grow spiritually.

We're able to gain self mastery. We're able to be free. You know, our culture sells us this lie that pursuing every carnal pleasure is freedom.

Give in to whatever you want. If it feels good, do it. But nothing could be farther from the truth when it comes to defining freedom. True freedom is found in mastering your emotions and your desires.

And temperance, that cardinal virtue, helps us to grow spiritually. It guides us. It's like guardrails. It's the virtue that frees us from being controlled by our desires and helps us to focus on what is right and true.

Now the catechism of the Catholic church has something to say about the virtue of temperance. In paragraph 18 o nine, the catechism explains temperance as moderating our attraction to pleasures, ensuring we use god's gifts with balance.

Now this kind of self control is absolutely necessary to have moral integrity, to do the right thing.

It's hard to do the right thing when our desires are so powerful, but through temperance, we gain freedom from being controlled by our desires.

And this allows us to make the right choice more easily. So by growing in the cardinal virtue of temperance, you're just more likely to do the right thing, and it's going to be easier.

You'll be living in line with Catholic teachings rather than being a slave to whatever your impulses might be at that moment. Some practical examples.

Moderation in pleasures, like food and drink. This is very self explanatory. Right? This is gonna make us healthier. That's that's looking at our physical health. The body is seen as the temple of the Holy Spirit.

By moderating what we eat and what we drink, we're showing that we respect the gift that God has given us in our bodies, and not only are we having improving our physical health, but we're also improving our spiritual health.

Temperance helps us improve our relationships, keeps your urges in check, perhaps keeps you from saying the wrong thing at the wrong time so you don't go overboard. It's going to bring more respect to all your relationships.

It's not easy to practice temperance in a world full of temptations. The temperance linked with fortitude, one of the other cardinal virtues, gives us the strength to live a life of moderation even on days that that is challenging.

By practicing temperance, we orient our lives towards the eternal rather than temporary things here on Earth. Part of being temperate is preparing our hearts for heaven.

From the Christian perspective, temperance, it's not just about denying ourselves joy, but it's finding joy in the right order. That is gonna lead to a fuller, more meaningful life here and in the hereafter.