Did I sin by eating a hot dog on Ash Wednesday?

[Holly3278]

Hi everyone. Did I commit a mortal sin by eating a hot dog today? I know we are to abstain from meat today but I wasn’t thinking and started eating the hot dog before I realized that I was supposed to be abstaining from meat. Because I had already started on it, I went ahead and finished it. I don’t think I have committed a mortal sin because I’m pretty sure I didn’t have full consent of the will or full knowledge but I am not certain. Any advice you can give me would be appreciated. I apologize if this is a trivial thread but it is important to me to know whether or not I committed a mortal sin.

 

[rpp]

Hi everyone. Did I commit a mortal sin by eating a hot dog today? I know we are to abstain from meat today but I wasn’t thinking and started eating the hot dog before I realized that I was supposed to be abstaining from meat. Because I had already started on it, I went ahead and finished it. I don’t think I have committed a mortal sin because I’m pretty sure I didn’t have full consent of the will or full knowledge but I am not certain. Any advice you can give me would be appreciated. I apologize if this is a trivial thread but it is important to me to know whether or not I committed a mortal sin.

1. 
   *]For a sin to be mortal, all three of the following conditions must be met., Grave matter,
   *]Knowledge that it is grave matter.
   *]Consent of the will after considering the grave nature of the sin.
   To me this is something you should mention when you go to confession. That you thoughtlessly began eating the hot dog is probably not a serious sin. However, before you finished it, you realized that it is a grave matter that we are to abstain from meat today and that you then gave you willful consent when you finished eating the hot dog. It seems to me that since you continued to eat the hot dog after your realization that you certainly did fulfill the three requirements for a sin to be mortal.
   
   I would suggest you refrain from Holy Communion until you are able to confess this.

 

[Holly3278]

1. 
   *]For a sin to be mortal, all three of the following conditions must be met., Grave matter,
   *]Knowledge that it is grave matter.
   *]Consent of the will after considering the grave nature of the sin.
   To me this is something you should mention when you go to confession. That you thoughtlessly began eating the hot dog is probably not a serious sin. However, before you finished it, you realized that it is a grave matter that we are to abstain from meat today and that you then gave you willful consent when you finished eating the hot dog. It seems to me that since you continued to eat the hot dog after your realization that you certainly did fulfill the three requirements for a sin to be mortal.
   
   I would suggest you refrain from Holy Communion until you are able to confess this.

1. 
   Well, the reason I continued to eat the hot dog was because I didn’t want to be wasteful. I thought I would be committing a sin by being wasteful and so I continued to eat the hot dog. I honestly didn’t know if I should continue to eat the hot dog or not but my gut feeling told me not to. Do you still think I am in a state of mortal sin?

 

[Nino]

Well,It was a slap in the face to the Founder of Christianity…as the Roman Guards did so does any Catholic who ,heading towards the most solemn religious season…the murder of an innocent Man,the most Innocent Man of all time.Jesus the Christ!.Its one thing to forget,another to use the term…“mortal sin” in mock horror! No one who is genuinely hungry,ill,in need of meat and protein,aged etc need to abstain…the RCC is not tyrannical or cold hearted,just sets out rules for a system of self discipline that is for the benefit of all its members…and thats what is needed today more and more…in a culture that has become more and more hedonistic.self-centered,as usual its the RCC that proclaims.'enough is enough allready,learn to say NO! to self-centedness etc etc…plus since the dawg was dead anyway…ya know…

 

[rpp]

Well, the reason I continued to eat the hot dog was because I didn’t want to be wasteful. I thought I would be committing a sin by being wasteful and so I continued to eat the hot dog. I honestly didn’t know if I should continue to eat the hot dog or not but my gut feeling told me not to. Do you still think I am in a state of mortal sin?

I cannot judge the state of your soul, nor can any person. I only mean to humbly suggest that you consider that you may have committed a mortal sin and take the appropriate steps. For myself, when I am in doubt, I try not to presume God’s mercy and go to confession right away.

 

[Holly3278]

Ok, well, I just talked to a priest about this and he said that I did not commit a mortal sin. Just thought I’d let you all know! Thanks again!

 

[Neil_Anthony]

Today was a day of fasting too, not just abstinance.

I think it would have been unreasonable to waste the hot dog after starting it. Maybe even wrong. That’s just my layperson’s opinion. But maybe you could have done some other kind of penance to make up for it?

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Many years back when all Lent was fast and abstinence was Wednesdays and Fridays, an acquaintance, who was a convert, forgot and ate a pickled pigs foot at a party. As soon as she got home, about midnight, she called her priest, a Jesuit who was well advanced in years and didn’t need phone calls at that time of night. He told her she was forgiven and should eat another one for breakfast as penance.

 

[wjp984]

Can someone please explain why eating meat on a Friday or not fasting is a mortal sin. Surely there are more offensive things to God than this. I just don’t think someone will go to Hell for this kind of act. I am not arguing that it is not sinful but I don’t understand how it is mortal.

That being said, I think it is in everyone’s best interest to follow the fast and absinence requirements. I know it is required and as a faithful Catholic one should abide by the requirement. I also think that if one is deliberately eating meat on a Friday in Lent out of spite against the Church then ya, it might be a mortal sin. However, that person probably is already in a state of mortal sin anyways.

Finally, by not following the requirements one is probably opening themselves up to falling into other more serious sins and rationalizing them but I just don’t think the one the OP is concerned with is mortal.

 

[rpp]

Can someone please explain why eating meat on a Friday or not fasting is a mortal sin. Surely there are more offensive things to God than this. I just don’t think someone will go to Hell for this kind of act. I am not arguing that it is not sinful but I don’t understand how it is mortal.

That being said, I think it is in everyone’s best interest to follow the fast and absinence requirements. I know it is required and as a faithful Catholic one should abide by the requirement. I also think that if one is deliberately eating meat on a Friday in Lent out of spite against the Church then ya, it might be a mortal sin. However, that person probably is already in a state of mortal sin anyways.

Finally, by not following the requirements one is probably opening themselves up to falling into other more serious sins and rationalizing them but I just don’t think the one the OP is concerned with is mortal.

Seems your second two paragraphs answered your question in the first.

 

[Mike_Dye]

I would say no. You simply forgot it was a day to abstain from meat. I am like you if the hot dog is half gone rather than waste the life of the animal that died to supply nutrition for us I would probably have finished it too.
I think that sometimes we misunderstand the reasons behind God and the Churches Law. It is not to trip us up and catch us in a wrong doing; but rather to help us grow in holiness.

 

[thistle]

Well, the reason I continued to eat the hot dog was because I didn’t want to be wasteful. I thought I would be committing a sin by being wasteful and so I continued to eat the hot dog. I honestly didn’t know if I should continue to eat the hot dog or not but my gut feeling told me not to. Do you still think I am in a state of mortal sin?

I would say objectively you committed a grave sin by continuing to eat the hot dog when you knew it was wrong so I would go to Confession before receiving Communion.
Why couldn’t you have simply saved the remainder and eaten it the next day?

 

[Neil_Anthony]

Can someone please explain why eating meat on a Friday or not fasting is a mortal sin. Surely there are more offensive things to God than this. I just don’t think someone will go to Hell for this kind of act. I am not arguing that it is not sinful but I don’t understand how it is mortal.

This kind of sin is serious not so much because of the matter, but for the willful disobedience. For it to be a mortal sin, someone has to truly understand that God requires something of him, and then refuse to do it. To disobey a direct command from God seems to me like a pretty serious and grave thing to do no matter how trivial the command was.

 

[Gerard_Nadal]

Eternal Separation from God over unknowingly biting into a hot dog??? You’re fine. Mention it in Confession if it bothers you. Throughout the Bible, God gets pretty steamed over sins against charity. Blowing a discipline for a day doesn’t rank in the same league.