other liquors for themselves from the juice of other fruits, for the sake not of
124 SAINT A UG USTINE - SERMONS from the pots in which flesh meat has been cooked as though they were defiled, and don't shrink from the luxury of belly and palate in their own flesh. They fast, not to diminish their usual appetite by restraint, but to increase their intemperate greed by delay; because when the time for the meal arrives, they rush to their lavishly laden tables like animals to their feeding troughs; they overload their hearts and distend their stomachs with more numerous dishes than ever; they tickle their gullets and palates with a whole variety of fancy and foreign condiments, in case they should be defeated by the sheer quantity of the food. Finally they take so much on board by eating, that they can't even digest it by fasting.
Those who seek new forms of self-indulgence
11. Then there are the people who give up drinking wine, only to search out other liquors for themselves from the juice of other fruits, for the sake not of their health but of their enjoyment; as though Lent did not impose an obligation to humble oneself with devout self-denial, but provided an occasion for grati¬ fying oneself with new forms of self-indulgence. After all, how much more honest it would be, if the weakness of your stomach does not allow you to drink water,33 to keep yourself going on your usual moderate glass of wine, rather than to seek out wines which know no vintage, and have experienced no wine-press; not by way of choosing a purer beverage, but of rejecting a more frugal one?
And what could be more ridiculous, than at a time when the flesh is meant to be treated more strictly, to procure the flesh such agreeable experiences, that the very appetite of the gullet doesn't want Lent to come to an end? What could be more unsuitable than in days of self-effacement, when everyone should be imitating the fare of the poor, to live in such style that if one lived like that all the time, the estates of the wealthy could scarcely bear the cost? Beware of these things, beloved; think about what's written, Do not go after your lusts (Sir
18:30). It's a most wholesome precept that should be observed all the time; how much more so in these days, when it is considered so disgraceful to give our greed free rein to pursue unaccustomed attractions, that we are rightly blamed if we don't refrain from our customary ones?
Alms and forgiveness
12. First and foremost, clearly, please remember the poor, so that what you withhold from yourselves by living more sparingly, you may deposit in the treasury of heaven.34 Let the hungry Christ receive what the fasting Christian receives less of. Let the self-denial of one who undertakes it willingly become the support of the one who has nothing. Let the voluntary want of the person who has plenty become the needed plenty of the person in want.
Again, let there be in mild-mannered and humble spirits a compassionate ease in forgiving. Let the one who has done an injury ask pardon; let the one who has suffered an injury grant pardon; so that we may not be possessed by