appeased, is in itself an excess, and mortal sin may be committed even without going to the last extreme.  Lastly, it is easy to yield inordinately to this passion by attaching undue importance to the quality of our victuals, seeking after delicacies that do not become our rank, and catering to an over-refined palate.  The evil of all this consists in that we seem to eat and drink, if we do not in fact eat and drink, to satisfy our sensuality first, and to nourish our bodies afterwards; and this is contrary to the law of nature.

We seemed to insist from the beginning that this is not a very dangerous or common practice.  Yet there must be a hidden and especial malice in it.  Else why is fasting and abstinence—­two correctives of gluttony—­so much in honor and so universally recommended and commanded in the Church?  Counting three weeks in Advent, seven in Lent and three Ember days four times a year, we have, without mentioning fifty-two Fridays, thirteen weeks or one-fourth of the year by order devoted to a practical warfare on gluttony.  No other vice receives the honor of such systematic and uncompromising resistance.  The enemy must be worthy.

As a matter of fact, there lies under all this a great moral principle of Christian philosophy.  This philosophy sought out and found the cause and seat of all evil to be in the flesh.  The forces of sin reside in the flesh while the powers of righteousness—­faith, reason and will—­ are in the spirit.  The real issue of life is between these forces contending for supremacy.  The spirit should rule; that is the order of our being.  But the flesh revolts, and by ensnaring the will endeavors to dominate over the spirit.

Now it stands to reason that the only way for the superior part to succeed is to weaken the inferior part.  Just as prayer and the grace of the sacraments fortify the soul, so do food and drink nourish the animal; and if the latter is cared for to the detriment of the soul, it waxes strong and formidable and becomes a menace.

The only resource for the soul is then to cut off the supply that benefits the flesh, and strengthen herself thereby.  She acts like a wise engineer who keeps the explosive and dangerous force of his locomotive within the limit by reducing the quantity of food he throws into its stomach.  Thus the passions being weakened become docile, and are easily held under sway by the power that is destined to govern, and sin is thus rendered morally impossible.

It is gluttony that furnishes the passion of the flesh with fuel by feeding the animal too well; and herein lies the great danger and malice of this vice.  The evil of a slight excess may not be great in itself; but that evil is great in its consequences.  Little over-indulgences imperceptibly, but none the less surely, strengthen the flesh against the spirit, and when the temptation comes the spirit will be overcome.  The ruse of the saints was to starve the enemy.