TEMPERANCE

A Conference by James Bolner, Sr., M.C.A.

Christ the Servant Missionary Cenacle, Baton Rouge, LA

[These are notes in outline form of conference presented at a retreat for the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate on July 5-7, 1998, at Blessed Trinity Shrine Retreat, Holy Trinity, Alabama. I was called upon to substitute for one of the Associates of Christ the King Missionary Cenacle, Ocala, Florida, conference who was unable to make the presentation. I would like to take this occasion to thank the Custodian and my dear friends from Ocala for asking me to do this. The entire weekend was a time of great grace.]

Like the professor I am, I begin with some definitions. First some definitions from the dictionary:

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Latin temperantia, from temperant-, temperans, present participle of temperare to moderate, be moderate
Date: 14th century 1 : moderation in action, thought, or feeling : RESTRAINT 2 a : habitual moderation in the indulgence of the appetites or passions b : moderation in or abstinence from the use of intoxicating drink

Here's the entry from the thesaurus:
Function: noun
Text: 1 an avoidance of extremes (as in action, thought, or feeling) <a man who knew no temperance in his opinions>
Synonyms measure, moderateness, moderation
Related Word reasonableness; constraint, restraint happy medium
Contrasted Words extremeness, radicalness; excess, excessiveness; immoderateness, immoderation, unconstraint, unreasonableness, unrestraint
Antonyms intemperance, intemperateness
2 strict habitual and usually complete self-denial in the gratification of appetites or passions <an ascetic who practiced complete temperance>

Synonyms abstinence, continence, sobriety
Related Word: abnegation, eschewal, forbearance, forgoing, refrainment, sacrifice, self-denial, self-deprivation; control, restraint, self-control, self-discipline; asceticism, austerity, mortification
Contrasted Words intemperance, intemperancy, intemperateness, prodigality
Antonym: excess

I would like to invite you to consider three visions of temperance:

1) the "textbook" version;

2) Fr. Judge's view of temperance;

3) what temperance should mean for the lay apostle in today's world.

THE TEXTBOOK VERSION

Temperance is one of the cardinal virtues; closely allied with moderation; connotes following the middle course and avoiding extremes; core doctrine is that it is a good for the human person to be free from any domination of material things, in this case those things which can be taken into the body.

Like all virtues, temperance calls us to be attuned to our true higher nature; the very word "virtue" comes from the Latin "vir," meaning "man"; today we would prefer to say "person";
Virtue is the habit of doing good; but it is more pointedly the consistent practice of striving to realize our true higher selves.

We say someone has "lost his or her temper": we mean by that that they have lost their self-control; practicing the virtue of temperance involves keeping control of our passions and appetites.

Temperance is a most immediate virtue because we are by nature and necessity involved with taking in food and drink, just as we are by nature and necessity involved with living:


next to our neighbors (grounds for pride).


next to our neighbor's goods (grounds for envy or covetousness);


next to our neighbor's wife or husband (ground for lust);

We are involved with having relationships with our neighbors and being caught up in the web of our neighbor's lives (ground for prudence).

Temperance is clearly the opposite of the vice of gluttony; being intemperate means consuming to an extreme; the "Temperance circa Movement" of the late 1800s and early 1900s aimed at intemperance in the consumption of alcohol.

We may benefit from thinking of temperance in connection with the concepts of "function" and "dysfunction": Function is the good use of the earth's goods; Dysfunction is the abuse of the world's goods.

Temperance is a ancient doctrine, related to the idea of balance and the mean; the Pythagoreans (580-circa 500 B.C.) believed in living in harmony with nature and stressed the importance of a healthy and balanced diet to a good and happy life. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) had as a key doctrine the idea of the mean: it is unjust to be extreme; we ought to strive for the mean; injustice is a deviation from the mean; justice is achieved in a restoration of the mean.

FATHER JUDGE'S VIEW OF TEMPERANCE

Father Judge's Meditations do not have "temperance" as an entry in the index; there is a logic to this, because Father Judge was not a temperate man and he did not found a temperate movement (neither did he found a temperance movement).

For Father Judge charity was charity at white heat. It is not charity in moderation; Fr. Judge does not preach moderation when it comes to the missionary spirit;

Father Judge himself was hardly a model of temperance in the sense that he acted "in moderation" in his own life; he felt called by God so strongly that his response was recklessness itself.

He did not let considerations of health stop him; as far as we know, he lived a life free of any addiction or marked intemperance, but on so many occasions he acted contrary to what we would call "common sense." Consider:

• his insistence on having a "confraternity" in the face of his community's discouragement;

• his involvement of the good laypersons from the North in the southern missions;

• his founding of the communities associated closely with himself.

TEMPERANCE FOR THE LAY MISSIONARY IN TODAY'S WORLD

As I understand the MCA call to be a missionary, I find temperance to be this dictate: "Be moderate in all things except in the love of God."

First:

As Associates in the Cenacle we are called to return to the "natural" roots of the virtue; we have a special call to appreciate the healthiness of temperance, to appreciate the aesthetic dimensions of temperance.

Secondly:

We are called to extract and apply Fr. Judge's view of temperance, which involves living a life of moderation in relating to material things while at the same time living a life of excess in God's love.

Thirdly:

We are called to respond positively to the innumerable concrete ways that Associates of the MCA are called to manifest temperance in their live. We have a duty to live temperately because living intemperately will interfere with out relationship with God. There are additional reasons for living out our missionary lives marked by temperance:

• we ought to live temperately in order to give good example;
• and we ought to live temperately to challenge others in the MCA to live temperately.

Let us go forth and live out the virtue of temperance!