Zagreb (IKA) — The archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, sent the faithful a Lenten message on the virtue of moderation. Referring to remarks by the Pope to young people last year in Rijeka, in which the Holy Father said that a person’s worth is in that which he is an not what he does, Cardinal Bozanić urged the faithful to think about moderation, which is important in everyday life, which allows a person to remain calm and experience genuine joy in life.

“Moderation teaches us that we know how to govern ourselves, and this is the source of enjoyment in small pleasures and the satisfactions of life. Impatience, immoderation, and the desire to see and know everything are sources of dissatisfaction, tension, satiety of the senses and boredom that deprive us of cheer and peace,” writes the cardinal and notes that this virtue makes it possible for a person to follow Christ “because Jesus is an example of balance and self control. His whole life was harmonious and so were his sufferings and death. Jesus is oriented to zeal, enthusiasm, creativity and the love of all creation. Jesus loves people. He speaks with love about animals, flowers and heaven. In him a harmony of desire, passion and emotion combine to form a whole,” writes Cardinal Bozanić, noting that moderation is also a virtue of all saints. Jesus and the saints “bear witness that moderation is not a synonym for coldness, rigidity and lack of feeling” and in our days “we could find the virtue of moderation in food and drink; in cleanliness, in the cultivation of a clear attitude, imagination and works, resisting sexual disorders that can result in perversions which cause much evil; in modesty, as moderation in the use of material goods, particularly money; in healthy personal and social affirmation, as well as moderation in a correct aspiration to success and honor that is the opposite of arrogance and excessive desire for authority; moderation in the passion for victory and the avoidance of curiosity, in the rational use of time…” writes the archbishop of Zagreb.

“Moderation teaches us how to control nervousness, irritability, loss of temper, small and large desires for revenge, sometimes in the circle of the family or among friends. Moderation is a virtue that gives a person a powerful feeling of balance in order to bear difficult situations well, to reprimand correctly and punish justly if necessary. If we do not know how to restrain anger in the family or in the milieu in which we live, there is danger of constant argument, quarrel, obstinacy or even worse, leaving everything to chance. Moderation is the middle path. It helps us to make a correct assessment of how much seriousness and rigor are necessary in understanding and forgiveness,” emphasizes the archbishop of Zagreb and notes that this appeal for measure and moderation is not intended only for those who live in abundance or at least in a satisfactory condition regarding the possession of material goods, but to each person individually. “This is our appeal, because it regards our personality, our human and religious maturity. It also encompasses moments and conditions when perhaps we do not feel that we are well off, or when we feel that we are better off. In question is our fundamental attitude toward that which we possess, have available and use. A person is defined and recognized by his thoughts, yearnings, desires and plans.”

Speaking about the relationship between freedom and dependence, Cardinal Bozanić cites Jesus’ beatitude of “the poor in spirit,” by which a person’s spiritual freedom toward everything that he possesses or does not possess is emphasized. “At a time of crisis and uncertainty, and even of privation, it is certainly crucial not to lose our spiritual eyes: the illumination to differentiate that which is truly necessary from that which might perhaps be good,” so that for the virtue of moderation it is also necessary to pray for the gift of wisdom. “Temptation perhaps also goes in the opposite direction, in the direction of irrational, unjustified renunciation. This is also immoderation. It is not necessary to choose between two evils: bulimia in obesity leads to disease and anorexia in thinness leads to the destruction of the body. The consumer mentality destroys a person, either by excessive demands or excessive deprivation. Life is a gift and an obligation. Therefore it is necessary to guard life and keep watch over freedom,” writes the Zagreb archbishop, pointing out the specific quality of the Christian lifestyle. In this context, he cautions that many spend more than they have and therefore experience many problems. “How many difficulties, uncertainties and sleepless nights are due to unnecessary overspending with credit cards? It appears that governments, associations, individuals and families seem to be competing to exceed their own spending abilities and incur lethal indebtedness. If the financial logic of unbridled capitalism is to live in debt, does this not mean to live in insecurity, to blackmail a person, to make him completely dependent on the favor or disfavor of certain transactions and un/intentioned bankruptcy, and all of this with the corrosion of interest?” asks the cardinal, pointing out that moderation is a guarantee according to which we can achieve a beautiful and harmonious life.

“Moderation is a lifelong attempt in many areas” and there is no virtue of the moment, instant virtue, says the cardinal, but virtue is achieved through ongoing practice. Moderation is an unnoticed virtue that is continuously imposed by seemingly insignificant demands. “As a little rudder guides a boat, thus the virtue of moderation guides our life. Therefore, moderation is an important virtue because it makes life beautiful and harmonious. On the other side, it is very important to keep watch over the senses because instincts left to their own devices become transformed into destructive force,” teaches the Zagreb archbishop and points out that a lifestyle guided by moderation does not mean moroseness, gloominess, self-important martyrdom or insensitivity. Virtue bears joy, he says, because joy is inseparable from a life of virtue. “Virtue and joy go together. Virtue and freedom go together. Virtue and a full life go together. Moderation liberates us from the tyranny of appetites, sick hunger for pleasure. It liberates us from the pressure of ‘I need, I must.’ Self control does not negate needs but it does not delve into or wallow in them, it does not lose itself in them. The virtue of moderation liberates a person from the trifling difficulties that this world imposes.” Therefore, the cardinal asks himself whether we must be the best or the most famous according to the criteria of the world, whether we must completely surrender to the material and forget the spiritual and the eternal? Not to believe in the destructive force of our instincts is a virtue that is based on the Bible and in the teachings of the Church. The wisdom of life teaches us that appetites are not satiated by themselves but it is necessary to have a hunger for the spiritual, for God, states Cardinal Josip Bozanić in the conclusion of his Lenten message to the faithful.