On Gluttony

 

Lent, and a sugarless season. How much could we wish to eat? Places under siege suffer starvation, while who even knows whether prisoners and captives are fed? In times of dire unrelenting conflicts, abundance is unreachably far. Is scarcity, not gluttony, the sin? The concept of gluttony is based upon glut: filled to excess, not only more than you need but more than you can contain.

 A man walked into St Peter’s Bookroom where I worked; he said not to bother the priests, but perhaps as someone from the church I could answer a question about prayer. Is God frustrated or angry at so many pleas? I said was a parent angry when the toddler kept pouring out questions: “Why?” “Are we there yet?” God knows our limited understandings, our big emotions. God knows about us. We Christians, I said, know two things about God. God is good; God is love. Is not love patient, or kind? I said Jesus taught the way of prayer: “Do you know it? ‘Give us this day…’”  “Our daily bread,” he replied. “Keep it simple,” I offered. Pray as you must. Daily bread is daily. Not too little; not too much.

On Racism

Change begins with confession. And one must be careful not to be proud while confessing. I grew up in the USA, which in case you need telling is one of the most racist countries on earth. This produces a stain on the soul, I mean here the white soul, so deep it blends into the bones; to my dismay the utmost scrubbing fails to take it out. However conscious I think I’m being, I still find marks in unexpected places. Things I say and think bring me regret and shame; a continual process of awareness and repentance, meanwhile hurting others.

To which of the vices, (often a failure of virtues), does racism belong? Pride, as a sin, believes that one is better than others; Greed assumes a right to the possessions of others. The first vice of racism is thus a failure of justice, the virtue that returns to everything that which belongs to it. The second is a failure of wisdom (prudence), that assures a right relation to reality. Racism is a wrong relation: since all are God’s creation, no one can be better or more honourable than another. As all are washed in Christ’s blood, all may confess.