Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony

In the interactions Jesus has with people there is a constant issue of bringing light into dark situations, exposing that which may be hidden or possibly simply misunderstood. In exposing this darkness, things that we might classify as sin, Jesus invitation is to live a life transformed by God's love. Sin is no longer used to exclude but to show forth grace and invite people to journey again in communion with God and each other.

In this sense contemplating our sin should not be used simply as a guilt trigger to make us confess to God our wrong doings but as a way of seek to live our lives in God's time. With these thoughts in mind I have been contemplating the old "Seven deadly Sins" wondering how they might speak to us in these days.

Consider the sin of gluttony. I was interested to discover how Aquinas further elucidated the topic. You can read more about that here.

Whist this is interesting I consider it pertinent to view this issue of gluttony in light of the words of the Lord's prayer "give us this day our daily bread" which I hear as words of interecession longing for justice and equity for the whole world "give to all humanity the basic necessities of life".

In the West our consumption of food, our desire to eat so much meat, our demand for variety in our diet, our super sized meals, our feasts seem to contradict the words which we pray. I have been to so many church functions where the generosity of people have seen tables groaning because they are laden with so much food. Such generosity may be a sign of our encoutner with God but I wonder sometimes whether it is misdirected.

Of course some may argue that there is a fine line to walk here between celebrating appropriately God's providence and offering generous hospitality. Yet it would seem apparent that in a world where food shortages are so widespread and the potential for this situation to get markedly worse in the near future we are well overdue to contemplate whether we have embraced a gluttonness life and what Jesus might be saying to us about how we are to live now.