Temperance – abstinence from alcoholic drink; Middle English from Anglo-Norman French temperaunce, from Latin temperantia ‘moderation,’ from temperare ‘restrain.’
– Oxford dictionary
Look, look! We have a cardinal virtue with a name that looks like the name of the principal virtue! There is exactly one on the list, and we’re here. Jackpot! We can explore this concept a little deeper than we had a chance to yesterday.
I’m so tempted to use my beautiful stick figure Paint-ing painting from yesterday, but I’ll spare you the repetition.
Diving Into Temperance
Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable.
– Catechism of the Catholic Church
Temperance is a key ingredient in honor. Well, that’s an interesting way to put it. It’s true, though it’s not among the first connections I’d make. So why is temperance honorable?
Sometimes, what we want is good and noble and right. Sometimes. Other times, it may not be. And still other times, what we want is fine, but we may want it in a way or amount that isn’t proper.
Temperance means that we can control our appetites.
– Fr. Ben Bradshaw
Let’s take an example.
The Case of Pumpkin Delight
For Thanksgiving, we got together with friends for a potluck. My brother made a pumpkin roll (seen below). He invited my mother and I to have slices off the ends for breakfast because the ends make the confection appear unfinished. It still tastes wonderful, but the frosting and the folding doesn’t appear as aesthetically impressive with the ends on it.
Knowing that he was planning to bring this treat to share at the big Thanksgiving meal, I sliced off the end as little as possible while still removing the frosting dips and any other un-evenness. It was delicious. I wanted more but I didn’t have more because it is good to share yummy delights: I wanted others to be able to experience it as well. I tempered my want because I wanted others to experience that excitement of a bite of the treat. Sharing delight is a good, noble, and kind thing to do. But as great as sharing is in and of itself is, I wanted to share because I wanted our family and friends to share in this experience of delight.
Controlling our appetites can mean inviting others to share joy with us.
It is not a fault to feel pleasure in eating: for it is, generally speaking, impossible to eat without experiencing the delight which food naturally produces. But it is a defect to eat, like beasts, through the sole motive of sensual gratification, and without any reasonable object. Hence, the most delicious meats may be eaten without sin, if the motive be good and worthy of a rational creature; and, in taking the coarsest food through attachment to pleasure, there may be a fault.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori, The True Spouse of Jesus Christ, Or, The Nun Sanctified by the Virtues of Her State
Warmth of the Blaze
Here’s another example.
Waking up Thanksgiving day, the power lines were down and the electricity was out. The heating system doesn’t work without electricity, and we had no generator to pick up the slack. I rolled into the living room to find a fire going to keep the climate inside relatively temperate.
Wood is the fuel of the fire, and it generates heat by burning up. I noticed that the fire was getting low and fetched more logs. Opening up the screen, the whoosh of hot air greeted me wholesomely: it felt so good! (People had been in and out cleaning off vehicles and shoveling, so the temperature inside was around 50-55°F, or 10-13°C.) That gush of warmth was definitely welcome.
I did feel chilled, and I wanted more of the fire. I marveled at how much heat the screen blocked, but I still closed it after adding the logs. Cold though I may have been, I tempered the desire to put my toes right up close to the fire, or stick my hands in the fireplace to warm up. Why? Because there’s a good chance that if I stick my hands in the fire, I’m going to get burned literally.
That was temperance. I stilled my inner desire to basically jump into the fire. I controlled that appetite because I didn’t want to deal with the consequences of burning myself.
Moderation is the key of lasting enjoyment.
– Hosea Ballou, Treatise on Atonement
Aside
Bless the workers who went out to repair all the lines on Thanksgiving day! Those conditions were awful, it was no doubt dangerous, and they were giving up family time to help us stay warm. God bless them for all that they do!
Summary
Temperance is our ability to control ourselves regardless of emotions or hormones or any desires. Temperance helps us fend off our most ignoble desires and decide to be whom we are called to be, our best version of ourselves.
What do you think? What does temperance mean to you? Does temperance bring to mind quelling a stomach’s demand for food, or a certain activity, or alcohol? (The tee-totaling definition threw me for a loop; is that a common usage of the term now?) Let me know in the comments!
