Hi,
Today, at mass, I had a bad impure thought that I had not wanted or premeditated.
I was in confusion and still decided to receive communion. Maybe it would have been better for me to refrain from communion ? What do you think ? Have I committed a sacrilegious communion ? I’m worried.
Thanks.
Temptation → Partial Consent (slight sin) → Evil Desire with Enjoyment (interior sin) → Commission (Exterior sin)
Bishop of Krishnagar Louis LaRavoire Marrow, My Catholic Faith - A Manual of Religion pp. 50-51, Copyright, 1949, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963 by Louis LaRavoire Morrow
- Sin is not committed without temptation. First an evil thought comes into the mind. This in itself is not sinful; it is only a temptation.
- A man may be in a jewelry store looking at some jewels. The salesman turns away to talk to someone else, leaving a precious diamond ring on the counter. The thought enters the man’s mind that it would be easy for him to take the ring and walk away unnoticed. This is temptation, not sin.
- If we do not immediately reject the thought, it awakens in the mind an affection or liking for it.
- If the man in the above example does not resist and reject the thought, but plays with it, and
becomes pleased with the idea, he thereby gives partial consent, and commits a slight sin.
- Next the thought is followed by an evil desire in which we take pleasure.
- If, still playing with the thought, the man wishes that he could take the diamond ring without being noticed, the consent is complete, and he commits a sin in his heart (interiorly).
- The resolution to commit the sin when occasion presents itself follows. Then the exterior act is committed.
- Finally, the man glances to see if the salesman is still busy. Then he takes the ring and walks away with it. Thus the wish or desire has been translated into an exterior act. Even should the man be prevented from stealing, he is guilty of grave sin.
An exterior sin is more evil than an interior sin, because it is attended by worse consequences.
An exterior sin often causes scandal, and is therefore more severely punished by God here on earth as well as after death.
Drunkenness reduces the drunkard and his family to poverty and sickness. Impurity destroys the body, sometimes producing insanity. Murder often leads the culprit to the electric chair.
And worse, an exterior sin increases the malice of the will, and destroys the sense of shame. The repetition of exterior sins forms the habit of sinning, and vice is formed. The conscience goes to sleep, and the sinner becomes so hardened that he no longer sees the evil and wickedness of his sin.
