[Music]
hi my name's father Mike Schmitz and
this is Accenture presents um a couple
years ago my dad was at a conference in
England that they went to Oxford keen my
mom and they went into a pub called the
Eagle and the child they knew I would be
pretty excited when they told me they
went to the pub called the Eagle no
child so they took a picture of a booth
you know a booth in a bar but booth in
pub and to send back to me like what
that's really weird why would they go to
a pub in Oxford take a picture of a
booth and send it to their son the
priest and the reason is because the
Eagle and the child is the name of a pub
that CS Lewis and j.r.r tolkien and some
other of their compatriots
contemporaries known as the Inklings
would would spend a lot of time and they
would that's where they grew a lot of
ways a lot of ways that they grew their
fraternity together they grew in there
their friendship and fellowship with
each other talked about big ideas
criticized each other's works and then
built each other up to the babe and the
bear or baby in the bird yeah the burden
the babe the eagle and the child is that
pub and that's there that was there
booth and I can just a picture in
Tolkien and see us Louis sitting there
with you know pint of some kind of beer
and it always has this a great romantic
idea in my head of just these these
friends gathered together with a couple
beers and just like becoming closer and
closer friends and becoming better and
better fellow Christians with each other
because that's what like getting
together over food or getting together
over drinks can do but here's the
question if that's what can happen if we
can drink as Catholic Christians like
how do you drink as a Catholic Christian
with your mouth but here's what I'm
saying is is you know there are some
Christians to say absolutely not I can't
drink at all
no alcohol absolutely as Catholics we
say no wine beer those spirits as they
say alcohol is it good it's a gift in
fact Psalm 104 says you know wine gives
warmth to men's hearts Jesus at that
wedding feast at Cana
turn the water into wine I know there's
it's much more symbolic it represents
that well flowing grace but imagine
someone who drank that wine they had to
taste it in order to say it was the best
scripture icing
Paul writes to Timothy and says have
some wine not just you know water for
your stomach so there is no condemnation
of alcohol itself in Scripture there
absolutely is a condemnation of
drunkenness in Scripture I have found a
lot of Catholics who say that yeah we're
Catholics we're not we're not like some
other Christians who can't drink we're
Catholics so we can drink all the time
that's actually not what the teaching is
Chesterton Tolkien CS Lewis they drank
in a way that would help them live in
the moment they drank in a way that
would help them save her like the
pleasures of the body that God has given
to them they drank in such a way that
actually bonded them more because it
didn't distort the goodness of that
moment and didn't distort the goodness
of themselves and it didn't distort the
goodness of alcohol but but so many
Catholics like no we can we're Catholic
so we can drink so I'm just gonna drink
indiscriminately and that's a problem
because every time I get to say this
again every time the Bible talks about
drunkenness it's always in a way that
condemns it now when facts about alcohol
doesn't always condemn it it's all often
seen as a gift it's even it's it's even
talked about as like kind of the reward
in some ways it's the blessing of God is
to have abundant wine but to drink to
the point of drunkenness is absolutely
always condemned in the Bible why I
would say this it exacerbates the
consequences of the fall think about
what happened when in the fault like
regional sin right to fall in Garden of
Eden with a darkened intellect with a
weakened will and we lost our freedom
not completely but we've lost freedom
what is in abundance of alcohol due to
us well it dims our intellect that's for
sure we're not making good decisions it
weakens our will
sorry lowers our inhibitions and I I say
yes to things I shouldn't say asked to I
say notice things that I shouldn't say
that should you know I'm saying and it
reduces my freedom it makes me more of a
slave now think about this to take a
good gift of God and to use it in such a
way that it exacerbates the consequences
of the fall will be to take a good thing
and use it for an evil purpose so
drunkenness is always condemned so how
do I approach alcohol as a Catholic one
as a gift
but secondly not simply as a gift to be
indiscriminately taken in but as a gift
to truly be enjoyed this is the big
point this is the big piece here's what
I mean a couple years ago I always had
with a some family friends and they had
some wine and so we're having wine out
in the deck you know and it's a nice
night and whatever and they ran out of
wine and so we're like okay whatever yes
is fun night just hanging out with each
other and so that would the the
patriarch of the group you know he's
like the dad he was like no no no he had
a kid a seller down in his basement like
wow this is nice and he said I'll come
up with a really nice bottle for just us
and great this is awesome
and he comes up with this like really
nice bottle like kind of the nicest most
expensive wine I've ever had in my life
his wife meanwhile goes into the kitchen
starts you know chopping up some
strawberries and like making slivers of
chocolate and you're chopping up citizen
slivers of chocolate and the bring that
she brings it out like okay here's how
you drink it now I tell that point we've
been enjoying the moment enjoying each
other's presence enjoying each other's
company and kind of enjoying like you
know the cheaper wine but at this moment
everything changed it was like a
slowdown now when you take a sip of wine
here is how you taste it you have a
strawberry now taste this now here's a
have a thing of chocolate now taste this
and what they're doing was they're
saying okay what we're going to do is
you're not just gonna like you know
pound it back we're going to enjoy every
sip because this is the thing when it
comes to being Catholic we enjoying
something is not a bad thing and so
don't get drunk it's not stop enjoying
it don't get drunk is it's basically the
law of diminishing returns right
the more and more you drink alcohol the
less and less you can actually enjoy it
the church is saying scripture saying
that to enjoy alcohol but to absolutely
avoid drunkenness is to learn how to
enjoy a good thing as it is to not have
the law of diminishing returns with each
glass you enjoy it less and less and
less but to be what they call moderate
in such a way that you don't enjoy it
less but you can actually be free to
enjoy it more to slow down
and say the reason why we're here is to
be with each other what we're drinking
or eating or whatever it is we're doing
this is actually for God's glory and I
can savor this moment I can savor your
presence and I can actually save her
this drink but the moment the law of
diminishing returns kicks in and I can
no longer savor this good thing that the
Lord has given to me is the moment that
I should probably dial it back this is
how Catholics drink we drink to enjoy
the gifts of God we drink to enjoy the
presence of our friends and we drink to
enjoy the moments that God has given us
and to give glory to him by our joy
because God takes joy in our joy in joy
after over your older - over 21 enjoy
the drink or if you're under 21 enjoy
the soda pop or the sparkling water or
whatever it is that you're drinking
that's non alcoholic but savor it enjoy
the good things of the Lord so that in
all things whether eating or drinking we
can give glory to God hope that made
sense I don't know that's what I got
though for all of us here this inch
presents my name is father Mike god
bless that's what I got
like subscribe like subscribe thumbs up
thumbs down if you disagree if you think
that was the dumbest thing I've ever
heard in my life tell me don't I don't
know that that's really harsh okay
whatever