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The Virtue of Sobriety (Sobrietas) a Part of Temperance - VirTrue Episode 41

VirTrue - Helping Man Grow in Truth and Virtue

What comes to mind when you hear the word sobriety? For many people, it’s a twelve-step program or someone recovering from alcoholism. Those are important things, but that’s not what St. Thomas Aquinas means by the virtue of sobriety. Sobriety isn’t primarily about alcohol. It’s about protecting something far more valuable than alcohol. It’s about protecting your reason. God gave you an intellect so that you could know the truth, choose the good, and freely love Him. Every time we willingly surrender that gift for the sake of pleasure, escape, or entertainment, we act against the purpose for which we were created. On the other hand, some Christians make the opposite mistake. They treat alcohol as though it were inherently evil and judge anyone who drinks it. Yet Christ’s first public miracle was turning water into wine. God never asks us to reject His gifts. He asks us to remain their master. And that’s why Sobriety matters. 🎙️ Introduction Welcome to virtrue where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to. Today we’re continuing our season on Temperance with the sub virtue of Sobriety (Sobrietas). Most people think sobriety simply means not getting drunk. St. Thomas teaches something much richer. Sobriety is the virtue that preserves the clear use of reason by moderating intoxicating drink and refusing every voluntary attempt to cloud the intellect God has given us. Like every part of Temperance, this virtue is ultimately about freedom. The sober man is not controlled by his appetites. He governs them with reason, and he receives God’s gifts with gratitude rather than becoming their slave. 📖 Virtue Description What it is Sobriety is the virtue that moderates the use of intoxicating drink and every voluntary alteration of consciousness so that reason remains free to govern the soul according to God. Unlike fasting, which moderates food, sobriety guards our intellect. God created us as rational creatures. We know Him, love Him, and practice every virtue through the proper use of reason. That is why St. Thomas teaches that drunkenness is sinful. A person willingly deprives himself of the very faculty by which he performs virtuous acts and avoids sin. The question is never: “May I have a drink?” The question is: “Will this preserve the clear use of the reason God has entrusted to me?” Sobriety is not opposed to celebration. It is opposed to intoxication. The sober Christian enjoys God’s gifts without ever surrendering mastery over himself. Why it belongs under Temperance Temperance moderates our desire for bodily pleasures. Sobriety applies that moderation specifically to intoxicating drink and everything that impairs reason. This principle also helps us understand why alcohol and recreational drugs are not morally identical. Wine has a legitimate purpose. Scripture presents it as one of God’s good gifts. A person may enjoy wine while remaining fully in possession of reason. Many recreational drugs are fundamentally different. Their purpose is to alter consciousness, impair judgment, or escape reality. When the object of the act is to become intoxicated or “high,” there is no virtuous mean to seek because the impairment of reason is precisely what is being chosen. Sobriety therefore teaches us not only to avoid drunkenness, but to reject every voluntary attempt to escape reality by abandoning the intellect God has given us. 📖 Scripture Psalm 104:14-15 (NABRE) “...bringing forth bread from the earth, and wine to gladden the heart...” Scripture presents wine as one of God’s good gifts. Like every created good, it is meant to be received with gratitude and used according to reason. John 2:1-11 Christ’s first public miracle was turning water into an extraordinary abundance of excellent wine at the wedding feast of Cana. If drinking wine were intrinsically evil, Christ could never have chosen wine as the sign through which He first revealed His glory. Instead, He teaches us that God’s gifts are good when they are received according to God’s design. 1 Timothy 5:23 (NABRE) “Stop drinking only water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” Paul doesn’t command Timothy never to drink wine. He commands moderation. That little word—“a little”—beautifully captures the virtue of sobriety. Ephesians 5:18 (NABRE) “And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” Notice the distinction. Scripture condemns drunkenness. It never condemns wine. A Common Misconception You’ll occasionally hear someone claim that the “wine” of Scripture was really just grape juice. That simply doesn’t fit what we actually read in the Bible. Noah became drunk. Lot became drunk. Proverbs warns that wine leads many astray. Paul commands Christians not to become drunk on wine while telling Timothy to drink a little wine for his health. Whatever differences may have existed between ancient wine and modern wine, the wine of Scripture was unquestionably capable of causing intoxication. The Bible condemns drunkenness, not drinking. ⚖️ Vice of Deficiency Drunkenness (Ebrietas) What it is Drunkenness is the voluntary surrender of reason through intoxication. Notice that St. Thomas doesn’t begin with alcohol. He begins with reason. The sin is not found in the drink itself. The sin is willingly choosing to impair the very faculty by which we know truth, choose the good, and love God. A sober man remains master of himself. A drunkard willingly gives that mastery away. What it looks like Drunkenness certainly includes excessive drinking, but the vice reaches much further. Any time we deliberately seek intoxication, we reject the proper use of reason. Today this includes: • Getting drunk for entertainment. • Recreational drug use. • Hallucinogens and psychedelics taken for the purpose of “tripping.” • Abusing prescription medications to become intoxicated. • Any deliberate attempt to cloud the mind for pleasure or escape. Our culture often speaks about “expanding consciousness” or “escaping reality.” The Christian understands that reality is where God has placed us. Grace perfects nature; it does not require us to abandon reason. This is why there is no true moderation in recreational drug use. Their very purpose is ordinarily to alter perception, impair judgment, or escape reality. The loss of reason is not an accidental side effect. It is the desired effect. Sobriety reminds us that the intellect is too precious a gift to trade away for a passing experience. ⚖️ Vice of Excess Pharisaism What it is If drunkenness abuses God’s gifts, Pharisaism condemns them. This vice appears when we bind consciences with rules that God Himself has never given. A person may freely abstain from alcohol for many good reasons. Perhaps he struggles with alcoholism. Perhaps he has made a private vow. Perhaps he abstains out of charity for someone else. Perhaps he simply dislikes alcohol. All of those can be virtuous. The vice begins when we claim that everyone else must live by our personal discipline. When someone teaches that no Christian should ever drink alcohol, he has gone beyond the teaching of Scripture. He has created a law that God Himself never made. What it looks like Jesus drank wine. He created wine at Cana. St. Paul instructed Timothy to drink a little wine for his health. The Church has always used wine in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To declare that drinking wine is inherently sinful is not greater holiness. It is Pharisaism. It mistakes human rules for God’s commandments. One of my favorite stories comes from Palladius of Galatia, who recounts a desert monk whose pride in abstaining from wine became a greater spiritual danger than another monk’s moderate use of it. The lesson is unforgettable. Refusing God’s gifts can become just as sinful as abusing them when abstinence becomes a source of pride instead of humility. The drunkard says, “God’s law doesn’t apply to me.” The Pharisee says, “My law applies to everyone.” Sobriety says, “God’s gifts are good, but my reason must always remain their master.” 🪞 My Life I heard someone say this week that college is a ridiculous time, where, as a society, we take a bunch of unfinished, unformed minds, and dump them all in a group together without any parental supervision and are shocked to find them engaging in vices. In college, I was trying to live two different lives simultaneously. I was trying to attend church and be involved in ministry, but I was also very much a college student enjoying parties with my friends and too much alcohol. At college parties, you don’t drink a moderate amount ot enjoy time together with friends. Drinking becomes a competition, a race to be the first to lose your connection to reason. Maybe I’m being a bit too self-deprecating, but I fell into this trap as much as the next guy. All of my friends did, even friends that I met at church through the Newman Center. Freshman year was definitely the worst. I come from a culture and a family that appreciates the gift of alcohol. I very much enjoy sitting on the porch and enjoying a glass of whiskey with my dad, or a glass of wine with my wife. Age definitely improves your ability to be moderate in your consumption of alcohol. For one thing, you fall asleep often before you lose your reason. But even if that is the case if you fall asleep before you pray at night that’s something to consider. 🌍 The World Our culture attacks sobriety from both directions. On one side, intoxication has become entertainment. Movies celebrate drunkenness. College culture treats getting drunk as a rite of passage. Recreational drugs are marketed as enlightenment, therapy, or self-discovery. People don’t merely tolerate intoxication. They celebrate it. On the other side are those who confuse personal discipline with divine law. They measure holiness by rules that God never imposed and judge others for enjoying gifts that God Himself declared good. The Christian belongs to neither camp. We neither worship God’s gifts nor condemn them. We receive them with gratitude, govern them with reason, and use them for His glory. Sobriety reminds us that the clearest mind is the freest soul. 🌿 Example Saint St. John Cassian (c. 360–435) Who he was St. John Cassian was born around A.D. 360, probably in what is now modern-day Romania. As a young man, he left home to seek God, first living in Bethlehem before spending many years among the Desert Fathers of Egypt. There he learned from some of the greatest monks in Christian history, preserving their wisdom in his Institutes and Conferences. Later, he founded monasteries in southern Gaul and became one of the great teachers of Western monasticism. His writings profoundly influenced St. Benedict, and through Benedict they shaped the spirituality of the entire Western Church. St. Thomas Aquinas frequently drew upon the monastic tradition Cassian helped preserve. Why he fits St. John Cassian understood that holiness is rarely found in extremes. Throughout his writings, he teaches that voluntary acts of self-denial should never be confused with God’s universal commandments. A Christian may freely choose stricter disciplines, but he may never judge others for failing to keep rules that God Himself has not imposed. Cassian tells the story of an elderly desert monk who had abstained from wine for many years. When guests offered him wine, he accepted it rather than reveal his private discipline or make his hosts uncomfortable. His humility was greater than his desire to preserve his own ascetical practice. For Cassian, that was true virtue. Humility was greater than appearances. Charity was greater than personal sacrifice. Reason governed both. What we can learn St. John Cassian reminds us that holiness is not measured by how many rules we invent. The drunkard abuses God’s gifts. The Pharisee condemns God’s gifts. The sober Christian receives them with gratitude, uses them with moderation, and never allows anything to overthrow the reason God has entrusted to him. 🙏 Act of Sobriety O my God, I acknowledge that every good gift comes from You and is meant to lead me closer to You. I resolve to receive Your gifts with gratitude, never allowing pleasure to master the reason You have entrusted to me. I will remain vigilant over my mind, reject every temptation to escape reality through intoxication, and refuse to burden others with laws You have not given. May I always use Your gifts according to Your will, so that my thoughts remain clear, my judgment sound, and my life a witness to Your truth. Amen. 🙏 Closing Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. Go out and fill the world with virtue, Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe