Temperance

The word temperance is often used to mean drinking only a little alcoholic drink or drinking none at all.  But in the Catechism it has a much wider meaning, namely, self-control, having control over all the desires of the body.  Among these are the desires to eat, to drink and to sleep.  Our business is to see to it that our bodies do not eat too much, or drink too much or spend too much time in bed, and so make us greedy or lazy.  And we can also be greedy by being too fussy about food, by not liking this and not liking that, and always wanting something different from what we are given.  For greediness is really treating food as being much more important then it is.

Another thing to guard against is smoking.  Smoking has got such a grip on many people that they have lost the necessary will power to shake it off.  They have got to the stage when they cannot do without it, so that they can no longer be called free people.  It wastes their money and it affects their health, and those of other people who have to breathe their smoke.  Yet they find it very difficult to give up because they have become the slaves of their own bodies. 

People can become slaves to other things too.  For example, they may lose the ability to control the amount of alcohol they drink, or their gambling behaviour or the amount of time they spend playing computer games.  People can also become slaves to drugs which is one reason why you should avoid using illegal drugs or substances.

Self-control

We can compare our body and soul to a horse and its rider.  Temperance is making the horse do what the rider wants, and in particular stopping when it is told to.  Self-control is something which we should practise every day.  There is also one season in the year when we make a special effort to strengthen our wills and to increase our mastery of our body, and that season is, of course, Lent.  That is the chief purpose of giving up sweets and other pleasures at that time.  Jesus did exactly the same when, in preparation for his Ministry, he spent 40 days in the wilderness of Judea, only he went without food altogether.  In that way he proved himself the complete master of his body and made it his slave.  So we must make sure we become the masters and not the slaves of our bodies.