Lent 2026 - Reading #25 - Temperance
Reading
C.S. Lewis, in The Screwtape Letters, reveals the strategies of temptation against temperance through the voice of a senior devil instructing his nephew: "One of the great achievements of the last hundred years has been to deaden the human conscience on the subject of gluttony. The humans are so occupied with what they regard as gluttony of Excess that they have no conception of what we call the gluttony of Delicacy. A woman who ate very little but insisted on having it exactly as she liked it, a little piece of really good toast, properly done, not too much and not too little, would never suspect herself of gluttony." Screwtape continues: "But what do quantities matter, provided we can use a human belly and palate to produce querulousness, impatience, uncharitableness, and self-concern? The real value of the quiet, unobtrusive work which Glubose has been doing for years on the old woman's palate is that she now has a sort of false spirituality about food. She is always turning from what has been offered her to say with a demure little sigh and a smile, 'Oh please, please... all I want is a cup of tea, weak but not too weak, and the teeniest weeniest bit of really crisp toast.'" Lewis brilliantly exposes how intemperance disguises itself. The glutton of Delicacy appears moderate, even ascetic, while actually placing the entire household in servitude to their exacting demands.
Reflection
Twenty-seven days into Lent, Lewis shows us temperance's subtlest adversary: the intemperance that looks like refinement. Our journey through the virtues has been teaching us to see more clearly, to act more justly, to endure more courageously, and now to govern ourselves more honestly. And Lewis reminds us that self-deception is the constant enemy of all these virtues. The gluttony of Delicacy is everywhere. It lives in the person who eats very little but makes everyone miserable with their dietary requirements. It lives in the consumer who owns few things but agonizes endlessly over each purchase. It lives in the spiritual seeker who prays little but is exquisitely particular about the conditions under which they will pray. The common thread is not excess but demand, the insistence that the world conform to our preferences. Lent exposes this brilliantly. When you fast, you discover not just your hunger for food but your hunger for control. When you simplify, you discover not just your attachment to things but your attachment to having things exactly as you like them. True temperance is not merely eating less or spending less; it is loosening the grip of preference itself, learning to receive what is given with gratitude rather than demanding what is wanted with petulance. Today, notice where the gluttony of Delicacy operates in your life. It may be the most important thing Lent teaches you this year.