Guard Your Soul When You Travel
Some of us travel for business. And some of us - weakened as we are by our sinful human natures - face unusual temptations on the road. Remember that temptation isn't a sin. Of course, unless you're vigilant temptation can lead to sin.
I once worked for a large corporation that held sales and marketing meetings every quarter, sometimes at distant locations. Men and women were away from their families for a couple of days. The meetings proceeded during the day in business-like fashion. Then came the evening as all gathered for dinner, maybe a speech or two - accompanied by drinking.
Drinking alcoholic beverages isn't a sin. Getting drunk is. And getting drunk when you're far away from home in mixed company is a recipe for real trouble. Dealing with temptation is a lot easier when you're sober.
As Catholics, we don't believe all alcohol is bad. Many Protestants think this, but we don't. Indeed, monasteries in the Middle Ages were the source of various kinds of beer, liquors, even champagne (Dom Perignon, for example, was created by monks). Drinking moderately is a legitimate pleasure.
I'm writing about this because I now Catholics who take the idea that drinking is a legitimate pleasure to extremes. They justify their drinking too much as if it were somehow "Catholic" to drink like that - as opposed to those Protestants. This is not only silly, but its dangerous - like when you're traveling for business.
So this morning, I came across this in Proverbs 23. Read it slowly, because it's a good description of the lure of drink and the consequences of immoderate drinking:
When we drink too much, the results can be ugly, eh?
The thought of a few drinks after a long day at meetings sounds good. A drink or two, maybe. But it frequently doesn't stop there.
With more drink, reason abandons you. And temptation grows stronger as reason dwindles. Instead of your mind thinking clearly, it's thoughts are twisted, perverted. You can just hear the devil chuckling as you let your attention slip away from the True, the Good and the Beautiful into the cesspool of illicit, even perverse pleasure...until finally you're caught in the grip of temptation fed by drunkeness, resulting in - God forbid - more sins than the sin of drunkeness.
Guard your soul when you travel. Don't drink to much. Stay awake. Get home to your family safe and sound with a clean conscience.
I once worked for a large corporation that held sales and marketing meetings every quarter, sometimes at distant locations. Men and women were away from their families for a couple of days. The meetings proceeded during the day in business-like fashion. Then came the evening as all gathered for dinner, maybe a speech or two - accompanied by drinking.
Drinking alcoholic beverages isn't a sin. Getting drunk is. And getting drunk when you're far away from home in mixed company is a recipe for real trouble. Dealing with temptation is a lot easier when you're sober.
As Catholics, we don't believe all alcohol is bad. Many Protestants think this, but we don't. Indeed, monasteries in the Middle Ages were the source of various kinds of beer, liquors, even champagne (Dom Perignon, for example, was created by monks). Drinking moderately is a legitimate pleasure.
I'm writing about this because I now Catholics who take the idea that drinking is a legitimate pleasure to extremes. They justify their drinking too much as if it were somehow "Catholic" to drink like that - as opposed to those Protestants. This is not only silly, but its dangerous - like when you're traveling for business.
So this morning, I came across this in Proverbs 23. Read it slowly, because it's a good description of the lure of drink and the consequences of immoderate drinking:
Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
Those who tarry long over wine,
those who go to try mixed wine.
When we drink too much, the results can be ugly, eh?
Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
The thought of a few drinks after a long day at meetings sounds good. A drink or two, maybe. But it frequently doesn't stop there.
At the last it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder .
Your eyes will see strange things,
and your mind utter perverse things.
With more drink, reason abandons you. And temptation grows stronger as reason dwindles. Instead of your mind thinking clearly, it's thoughts are twisted, perverted. You can just hear the devil chuckling as you let your attention slip away from the True, the Good and the Beautiful into the cesspool of illicit, even perverse pleasure...until finally you're caught in the grip of temptation fed by drunkeness, resulting in - God forbid - more sins than the sin of drunkeness.
You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on top of a mast.
"They struck me," you will say.
"but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I will seek another drink."
Guard your soul when you travel. Don't drink to much. Stay awake. Get home to your family safe and sound with a clean conscience.
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