Can I Say No? Gluttony and Self-Mastery, by Joannie Watson

By Joannie Watson, Integrated Catholic Life, March 21, 2025

from Christendom College with a B.A. in History and Franciscan University with a M.A. in Theology, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to be part of the explosion of Catholic culture in the middle of the Bible Belt.  …

Everything in Moderation

Like the deadly sin of avarice, the danger in a narrow definition of gluttony is that we might write it off as a problem other people deal with, but not us. Narrowly speaking, gluttony is “taking unreasonable pleasure in food and drink.” Perhaps we think of Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or another extreme. That’s not me! I try to eat healthy! Moving on…

But not so fast! We can be gluttonous is a lot of things other than food or drink. At its heart, gluttony is a failure of temperance. We can be gluttonous in our use of social media, watching television, sleeping in, or even talking.

It’s not that these things are wrong. In fact, they are good! Food and drink are gifts of God, and he wants us to enjoy them. We believe that the material world is good, and that these things should be used for good. There is nothing inherently wrong with taking pleasure in them….

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