Despair

[mymamamary]

I was wondering.

Is despair a sin of the thought or an action?

Suppose someone had despairing thoughts but kept praying, I don’t think that would be despair? I am open to charitable correction

I always thought that despair is where You stopped praying completley, threw the hands up and said “I can’t do it anymore”.

Anyone wanna chime in?

 

[DexUK]

Despair is that position we hold where we consider that we are so sinful that we cannot be forgiven by God.

It denies God’s infinite power, grace and love and in that denial we separate ourselves from He who only wants to help us but because we have that free will, He won’t intervene without being asked.

One who feels despairing (or the tendency towards) but continues to pray anyway continues to invite God’s grace and thereby avoids the separation from God.

Whether you classify ‘despair’ as a thought or an action is up to you. If it’s more of a state of mind based in the intellect, then it may land on the ‘action’ side, but if it’s something over which a person has no control, then it might well fall under the category of mental illness or incapacity, in which case there is no culpability anyway and God’s mercy is unobstructed.

 

[wanabesaint]

Loss of hope, faith, trust in God, despair…

sin seperates US from God, recognition of sin is essential if we are to be forgiven, and the sacrament of confession is to focus that we work towards stopping the seperation from God, and focus to stay in a focus of Gods will, not ours.
depair is that of lossing our hope, faith and trust in God, that we want to go our way, and the greater sin is when we take our wanting to go our own way and bring it to be others to follow us in denial of God.

tribulations are a normal part of life, for others to sin is normal, human nature, to turn away from God and from US as well, or to bring us to sin…

standing, recongnizing, and being agaisnt despair is tough for us directly, ourselves, for that is not what is politcally correct today to be breeds despair…

abortion denies God at every level, chasity, denial of God at every level.
bigotry against others, islamic, denies God at every level. (( this site breeds hate and bigorty towards the islamic) ) (( calling for war and pilfering of the middle east by the military))

despare sells, buy this new car, take a cruise, buy this book , it will take away your despair of Gods will, and give you your will to be…

We really cant hold a demand for our will over Gods will, then complaign that we are in despair., for Gods will be done, and forgiving others for their sin, denial of ourselves, brings a content to what God has given us, even tribulations and challenges.

Following the Beatitudes, wipes out despair, for we accept Gods will, not our will, our wants and desires.

We are only a humble servant of God, if we think we are anything else, we are nothing.
and fall to despair in denial… if others bring us to despair, then we recognize its Gods will, and thank them that we come to the wisdom to not bring others to the same.

forgive them, and to then recognize it is a sin for us to do the same, for them it was only their ignorance and personality, for us, we recognize the wisdom it was a sin, and not acceptable for us to do the same.

 

[thistle]

I was wondering.

Is despair a sin of the thought or an action?

Suppose someone had despairing thoughts but kept praying, I don’t think that would be despair? I am open to charitable correction

I always thought that despair is where You stopped praying completley, threw the hands up and said “I can’t do it anymore”.

Anyone wanna chime in?

Modern Catholic Dictionary:

DESPAIR. The sin by which a person gives up all hope of salvation or of the means necessary to reach heaven. It is therefore not mere anxiety about the future or fear that one may be lost. It is rather a deliberate yielding to the idea that human nature cannot co-operate with God’s grace, or that the despairing person is too wicked to be saved, or that God has cast one away. It is a grave crime against God’s goodness. Experience also shows that a tendency to despair can seriously injure one’s physical and mental health, and ironically can lead to all kinds of sinful indulgence. (Etym. Latin de, the opposite of + sperare, to hope: desperatio, hopelessness, despair.)