Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. St. Paul (Rom. 13:13) gives the precept that we are notto engage "in rioting and drunkenness." Drunkenness is aspecies of the vice of gluttony. It is a manifest evil.
2. Drunkenness is a mortal sin in the person who willinglyand knowingly deprives himself of the use of reason by excessivedrinking. Reason is man's guide and control for the exercise ofvirtue and the avoiding of sin. Foolishly and unwarrantedly todeprive oneself of reason is therefore a serious fault.
3. Drunkenness is not the worst of sins, for it is acarnal sin, and hence is not so evil in itself as spiritualsins.
4. If a man becomes intoxicated without his fault, eitherbecause he does not know that what he drinks is intoxicating, orbecause he underestimates its strength, or because he is affectedby the drink in a manner unusual and unexpected, he is not guiltyof sin, and he is excused from the responsibility for anyregrettable conduct which results from his intoxication. If,however, a person becomes intoxicated by his own fault, he is atleast partially responsible for any evils that result from hisexcessive drinking, just as he is responsible for the intoxicationitself.
"It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides.
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Thomas á Kempis
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"Lord, here burn, here cut, and dry up in me all that hinders me from going to You, that You may spare me in eternity."
St Louis Bertrand
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"Before a man chooses his confessor, he ought to think well about it, and pray about it also; but when he has once chosen, he ought not to change, except for most urgent reasons, but put the utmost confidence in his director."
St Philip Neri
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