Page:Thecompleteascet01grimuoft.djvu/234

 "We must,"  says  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  "eat,  in  order to  live;  but  we  should  not  live  as  if  for  the  purpose  of eating." Some, like  beasts,  appear  to  live  only  for  the gratification of  the  palate. "A man,"  says  St.  Bernard, "becomes a  beast  by  loving  what  beasts  love." Whoever, like brute  animals,  fixes  his  heart  on  the  indulgence of the  appetite,  falls  from  the  dignity  of  a  spiritual  and rational creature,  and  sinks  to  the  level  of  senseless beasts. Unhappy Adam,  for  the  pleasure  of  eating  an apple,  is  "compared  to  senseless  beasts,  and  is  become like  to  them." In another  place,  St.  Bernard  says  that, on seeing  Adam  forget  his  God  and  his  eternal  salvation, for  the  momentary  gratification  of  his  palate,  the beasts of  the  fields,  if  they  could  speak,  would  exclaim: "Behold Adam  is  become  one  of  us." Hence, St. Catharine  of  Sienna  used  to  say,  that  "without  mortifying the  taste,  it  is  impossible  to  preserve  innocence, since  it  was  by  the  indulgence  of  his  appetite  that  Adam fell." Ah! how miserable  is  the  condition  of  those ''whose God  is  their  belly! ''

How many  have  lost  their  souls  by  intemperance! In his  Dialogues,  St. Gregory relates,  that  in  a  monastery of  Sienna  there  was  a  monk  who  led  a  very  exemplary life. When he  was  at  the  point  of  death,  the religious, expecting  to  be  edified  by  his  last  moments, gathered around  him. "Brethren," said  the  dying  man, "when you  fasted,  I  ate  in  private,  and  therefore  I  have been  already  delivered  over  to  Satan,  who  now  deprives me  of  life,  and  carries  away  my  soul." After these words he  expired. The same  saint  relates  in  another