Since we are in a season of fasting, and eventually feasting, I thought I'd share an interesting passage from a book by Venerable Fulton Sheen called "Way to Happiness". It appears in a chapter called the "Philosophy of Pleasure" in which he describes 3 laws for our consideration, which I will reproduce below.

1. If you are ever to enjoy yourself, you cannot plan your life around constant pleasure.

He says pleasure, to be enjoyed, requires contrast. Just like with fireworks. You cannot enjoy fireworks if they are shot against a backdrop of a blazing fire or in the light of day. They must be enjoyed with the contrast of night. Pleasure, similarly, is best enjoyed when it is a rare occasion, as a treat or a reward. Nobody would enjoy Thanksgiving if every night were a turkey dinner. Our enjoyment of life is vastly increased if we choose some form of mortification or self-denial in advance of some pleasure. This is why advent is such a perfect opportunity to maximize the joy of Christmas. Deny ourselves no that we might fully enjoy the festivities later.

2. Pleasure is enhanced when it has endured a period of tedium or pain.

Sheen describes this like a second wind. Our work, for example, becomes more productive, and even enjoyable once we have overcome a period of temptation to put it down and be distracted. If you can endure past that, you will achieve a greater reward. He also uses the example of marriage. It becomes a greater joy and stability after a period of disillusionment and the loss of the honeymoon phase.

3. Pleasure is a by-product, not a goal.

Pleasure only comes as the fulfillment of some obedience of duty. You can enjoy ice cream, because it relates to the duty of eating. But if you make that pleasure your aim, you will over indulge and suffer ill consequences - like sickness. To seek pleasure, apart from law, is to miss it. He then says that the Christian way is to fast first and then feast later, that you might savor its reward. By contrast, he says the "pagan way" is to feast first, and be hungover tomorrow.