Gluttony

Gluttony is excess in eating and drinking. It is animmoderate indulgence in the delights of the palate. Gluttony is therefore inordinate, therefore unreasonable, therefore an evil.

Gluttony is usually not a serious sin, but it could besuch a sin. It would be a mortal sin in a person so given to the delights of eating and drinking that he is ready to abandon virtue,and God himself, to obtain this pleasure.

Gluttony is a sin of the flesh, a carnal sin. Hence, in itself, it is not so great a sin as a spiritual sin or a sin of malice.

Gluttony denotes inordinate desire in eating and drinking. It shows itself in the avidity with which a personindulges his appetite; in his love of delicate and expensive foods;in the importance he attaches to the discerning of fine qualities in foods, vintages, cookery; in voraciousness or greediness; in eating or drinking too much. St. Isidore (De Summ. Bon.ii) says that a gluttonous person is excessive in what, when,how, and how much he eats and drinks.

A capital sin is a source-sin; a spring, large or small, from which flow many evil streams. Now gluttony leads readily to other sins, for it indulges pleasure of the flesh whichis the most alluring of all pleasures. Gluttony is, therefore, a capital sin.

Gluttony leads to inordinate fleshly delight, to dullness of mind, to injudiciousness of speech, to levity of conduct, and touncleanness.