Sorry if this looks like a lot…but I have a few questions. is listening to impure music a mortal sin or venial? (like most rap). is telling impure jokes a mortal sin or venial? (told between teenage boys). Also I created a fake Facebook page and friended a few of my friends to see if they would friend someone they didn’t know (there was a theory that they would) is that a mortal or venial sin? or a sin at all? And finally if you have a impure thought about girls and guys do we have to specify it was about ‘girls and guys’ in confession or would ‘impure thoughts’ be ok? I’m going to confession Friday and I would like a little clarification before I go. Thanks in advance
Baltimore Catechism
52 Q. What is actual sin?
A. Actual sin is any willful thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the law of God. Three ways we may sin, by “thought”–allowing our minds to dwell on sinful things; “word”–by cursing, telling lies, etc.; “deed”–by any kind of bad action. But to be sins, these thoughts, words and deeds must be willful; that is, we must fully know what we are doing, and be free in doing it. Then they must be “contrary to the law of God”; that is, violate some law He commands us to obey, whether it be a law He gave directly Himself, or through His Church. We can also violate God’s law by neglecting to observe it, and thus sin, provided the neglect be willful, and the thing neglected commanded by God or by His Church.
53 Q. How many kinds of actual sin are there?
A. There are two kinds of actual sin–mortal and venial.
383 Q. What are we commanded by the ninth Commandment?
A. We are commanded by the ninth Commandment to keep ourselves pure in thought and desire.
(From A. 59)
“Lust” is the desire for sins of the flesh; for impure thoughts, words, or actions. It comes under the Sixth and Ninth Commandments, and includes all that is forbidden by those Commandments. It is the habit of always violating, or of desiring to violate, the Sixth and Ninth Commandments. Lust and impurity mean the same thing. The followers of lust are, generally, neglect of prayer, neglect of the Sacraments, and final loss of faith.
[Not from the Catechism: St. Thomas Aquinas categorized the parts of lust. The parts of lust are the species or types of lustful sins: fornication, adultery, incest, seduction, rape, unnatural vice. Unnatural vice means the thought or act is *not between a man and woman.]
384 Q. What is forbidden by the ninth Commandment?
A. The ninth Commandment forbids unchaste thoughts, desires of another’s wife or husband, and all other unlawful impure thoughts and desires.
385 Q. Are impure thoughts and desires always sins?
A. Impure thoughts and desires are always sins, unless they displease us and we try to banish them.
59 Q. Which are the chief sources of sin?
A. The chief sources of sin are seven: Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth; and they are commonly called capital sins.
A “source” is that from which anything else comes. The source of a river is the little spring on the Mountainside where the river first begins. This little stream runs down the mountain, and as it goes along gathers strength and size from other little streams running into it. It cuts its way through the meadows, and marks the course and is the beginning of a great river, sweeping all things before it and carrying them off to the ocean. Now, if someone in the beginning had stopped up the little spring on the mountain–the first source of the river–there would have been no river in that particular place. It is just the same with sin. There is one sin that is the source, and as it goes along like the stream it gathers strength; other sins follow it and are united with it. Again: each of these “capital sins,” as they are called, is like a leader or a captain in an army, with so many others under him and following him. Now, if you take away the head, the other members of the body will perish; so if you destroy the capital sin, the other sins that follow it will disappear also. Very few persons have all the capital sins: some are guilty of one of them, some of two, some of three, but few if any are guilty of them all. The one we are guilty of, and which is the cause of all our other sins, is called our predominant sin or our ruling passion. We should try to find it out, and labor to overcome it.
*213 **Q. **When is our confession entire?
**A. **Our confession is entire when we tell the number and kinds of our sins and the circumstances which change their nature.
“Number”–the exact number, if you know it; as, for example, when we miss Mass we can generally tell exactly the number of times. But when we tell lies, for instance, we may not know the exact number: then we say how often in the day, or that it is a habit with us, etc.
“Kinds”–whether they are cursing, or stealing, or lying, etc.
“Circumstances which change their nature.” In the case of stealing, for example, you need not tell whether it was from a grocery, a bakery, or dry-goods store you stole, for that circumstance does not change the nature of the sin: you have simply to tell the amount you took. But if you stole from a church you would have to tell that, because that is a circumstance that gives the sin of stealing a new character, and makes it sacrilegious stealing. Or if you stole from a poor beggar all he possessed in the world, so that you left him starving, that would be a circumstance making your sin worse, and so you would have to tell it. Therefore you have to tell any circumstance that really makes your sin much worse or less than it seems; all other circumstances you need not tell: they will only confuse you, and make you forget your sins and waste the priest’s time.
