Discerning if a Sin is Mortal

[scameter18]

This is something I have never felt really clear about since RCIA. How can an individual discern if their sin is mortal or venial? And this is especially important if it is time for obligatory Mass before you have the chance for confession, because you don’t want to take the Eucharist with mortal sin on you. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

Hello! There is a lot of reading on this topic, but I’ll give to you what I have distilled.

1. The sin has to be that of a grave matter.
2. It has to be done with your full knowledge of the sinfulness of it
3. You have to commit that sin with full and total consent.

Basically, you can’t be going in to church with a mortal sin and not be aware of it. If you have chosen to directly disobey God, walk away, and have nothing to do with him, then you are in mortal sin. If you are just like the rest of us and have your little mistakes that you make, or a big issue that is a legitimate struggle then be sure to confess often and meditate on the glory of God’s immense grace.

 

[scameter18]

Thank you for your reply. The specific issue I’m having is that earlier today, I got angry and insulted Christianity in my mind, and over the course of the day until later at night, I was doubting God and Christianity. It had essentially built up over time with my frustration at some of the problems - mental, physical and spiritual that I have - that make me depressed and angry. That night, I repented of it to God and asked for his forgiveness, but I wanted to make sure before I take the Eucharist this Sunday if I should go to confession first or not.

 

[Oumashta]

That night, I repented of it to God and asked for his forgiveness, but I wanted to make sure before I take the Eucharist this Sunday if I should go to confession first or not.

spins around in circles and foams at mouth It’s receive! You don’t take it!

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

Thank you for your reply. The specific issue I’m having is that earlier today, I got angry and insulted Christianity in my mind, and over the course of the day until later at night, I was doubting God and Christianity. It had essentially built up over time with my frustration at some of the problems - mental, physical and spiritual that I have - that make me depressed and angry. That night, I repented of it to God and asked for his forgiveness, but I wanted to make sure before I take the Eucharist this Sunday if I should go to confession first or not.

I think we all get angry from time to time. I’m sorry you are having troubles that make things hard for you. If you have a chance to get in to confession before mass then do so. A lot of parishes offer confession before every mass. If you can’t get in, maybe communion will give you the graces you need to to get past whatever it is that hurt you so.

 

[rep140]

This is tough. The catechism does not do a good job of explaining, after all, what is “grave matter”? In one place it says that direct sins against a commandment is grave matter. Yet, in another it states that killing is worse than robbery so I’m confused. Can anyone clarify?

 

[FMLJoliecouer]

This is something I have never felt really clear about since RCIA. How can an individual discern if their sin is mortal or venial? And this is especially important if it is time for obligatory Mass before you have the chance for confession, because you don’t want to take the Eucharist with mortal sin on you. Any help would be much appreciated.

Here is an easy way out…THis is what I have done…
If I have something on my conscience really bothering me…sometimes it isnt obvious to me if its a grave matter…but I admit it anyway to the priest and then whether it was a grave matter or not…does not matter

 

[Ron_Conte]

Saint Thomas Aquinas: “Therefore when the soul is so disordered by sin as to turn away from its last end, viz. God, to Whom it is united by charity, there is mortal sin; but when it is disordered without turning away from God, there is venial sin.”
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II, Q. 72, A. 5.

Pope John Paul II: “And when through sin, the soul commits a disorder that reaches the point of turning away from its ultimate end, God, to which it is bound by charity, then the sin is mortal; on the other hand, whenever the disorder does not reach the point of a turning away from God, the sin is venial. For this reason venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity and therefore eternal happiness, whereas just such a deprivation is precisely the consequence of mortal sin.”
Pope John Paul II, Reconciliation and Penance, n. 17.

 

[thistle]

This is tough. The catechism does not do a good job of explaining, after all, what is “grave matter”? In one place it says that direct sins against a commandment is grave matter. Yet, in another it states that killing is worse than robbery so I’m confused. Can anyone clarify?

Whether one mortal sin is worse than another is not relevant. Any mortal sin will land you in Hell if you die in an unrepented state of mortal sin.

 

[Ron_Conte]

This is tough. The catechism does not do a good job of explaining, after all, what is “grave matter”? In one place it says that direct sins against a commandment is grave matter. Yet, in another it states that killing is worse than robbery so I’m confused. Can anyone clarify?

Some mortal sins are more serious than other mortal sins.

The matter is grave if your intention, or the act itself by its very nature, or the consequences of your act, do grave harm or constitute a grave disorder.

A grave intention is any intention that is thoroughly contrary to love of God, neighbor, self.

A gravely disordered act (an intrinsically evil and gravely immoral act) has a moral object (the end toward which the act itself is inherently directed) that is thoroughly contrary to love of God, neighbor, self.

The consequences are grave if the harm or disorder resulting from the act (reasonably anticipated at the time that the act was chosen) outweighs the good done by the act, to an extent that is thoroughly contrary to love of God, neighbor, self.

If any one font of morality (intention, moral object, circumstances) is gravely disordered, then the entire act is a grave matter and an objective mortal sin. The other two fonts, if good, cannot reform the act to make it moral, nor to make it only a venial sin.

 

[crazzeto]

Hello! There is a lot of reading on this topic, but I’ll give to you what I have distilled.

1. The sin has to be that of a grave matter.
2. It has to be done with your full knowledge of the sinfulness of it
3. You have to commit that sin with full and total consent.

Basically, you can’t be going in to church with a mortal sin and not be aware of it. If you have chosen to directly disobey God, walk away, and have nothing to do with him, then you are in mortal sin. If you are just like the rest of us and have your little mistakes that you make, or a big issue that is a legitimate struggle then be sure to confess often and meditate on the glory of God’s immense grace.

This is good, one thing to note is that if you commit a sin which is grave matter, not meeting conditions 2 & 3 it doesn’t mean that the sin is merely veinial. It’s still grave matter, it still requires confession prior to receiving communion (when you become aware of the sin). It is in fact possible for a sin to be grave but not mortal.

Venial sin’s don’t require confession prior to reception of communion, they are automatically forgiven durring mass.

 

[rep140]

Some mortal sins are more serious than other mortal sins.

This is the point the catechism also makes that I don’t understand. Are there degrees of hell?

Pope John Paul II: “And when through sin, the soul commits a disorder that reaches the point of turning away from its ultimate end, God, to which it is bound by charity, then the sin is mortal; on the other hand, whenever the disorder does not reach the point of a turning away from God, the sin is venial. For this reason venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity and therefore eternal happiness, whereas just such a deprivation is precisely the consequence of mortal sin.”
Pope John Paul II, Reconciliation and Penance, n. 17.

If I read JP2 correctly it is your attitude more than the exact sin itself. This is consistent with the theme of righteousness (i.e. correct relationship) found many places in the bible.

 

[Ron_Conte]

Some mortal sins are more serious than other mortal sins.

This is the point the catechism also makes that I don’t understand. Are there degrees of hell?

If I read JP2 correctly it is your attitude more than the exact sin itself. This is consistent with the theme of righteousness (i.e. correct relationship) found many places in the bible.

There are degrees of punishment in Hell, degrees of punishment in Purgatory, and degrees of reward in Heaven.

If you read JP2 in Veritatis Splendor, Evangelium Vitae, and Reconciliation and Penance, you will find that he teaches the three fonts of morality:
intention
moral object
circumstances
as the basis for whether or not an act is a sin.

 

[Ron_Conte]

This is good, one thing to note is that if you commit a sin which is grave matter, not meeting conditions 2 & 3 it doesn’t mean that the sin is merely veinial. It’s still grave matter, it still requires confession prior to receiving communion (when you become aware of the sin). It is in fact possible for a sin to be grave but not mortal.

Venial sin’s don’t require confession prior to reception of communion, they are automatically forgiven durring mass.

Venial sins are only forgiven (e.g. during Mass, or on receiving Communion, or by any prayer) with the correct intention on the part of the participant.

Terminology is not doctrine. The terminology that you are using is fine; but other terminology is also fine.

A sin that does not meet all of the three conditions for an actual mortal sin, but which has a grave matter, is correctly called an objective mortal sin. An objective mortal sin is an act that is objectively gravely immoral.

“Considering sin from the point of view of its matter, the ideas of death, of radical rupture with God, the supreme good, of deviation from the path that leads to God or interruption of the journey toward him (which are all ways of defining mortal sin) are linked with the idea of the gravity of sin’s objective content. Hence, in the church’s doctrine and pastoral action, grave sin is in practice identified with mortal sin… some sins are intrinsically grave and mortal by reason of their matter.”
JP2, Reconciliation and Penance, n. 17.

Also, only a person who is conscious of having committed actual mortal sin (without yet having been forgiven in Confession) is prohibited from receiving Communion. If a person committed an objective mortal sin, but without sufficient knowledge or full and free consent, then he has not committed an actual mortal sin, and he may receive Communion. This is clear from the teaching of Pope John Paul II in Reconciliation and Penance.

If a person is conscious of grave sin (actual mortal sin), he may not receive Communion unless there is a grave reason and no opportunity to confess. In which case he should make an act of perfect contrition, receive Communion, and then go to confession at the next opportunity.

 

[scameter18]

What if a sin you do, the specific one I described before, is not done by deliberate intention, but out of brief anger? Would it still be a mortal sin?

 

[Ruthie_again]

I could make that really complicated. The simple answer is that, if you had no intention, the sin is not mortal.

The example I have heard about the relative gravity of sin is:

When someone with no money steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving family, it is not grave, because it is both an act of sin and an act of love.

When someone cheats people out of their live savings, leaving them in poverty, there is no love at all in that act. It has done grave damage to the victims, and is contrary to our Lord’s command to love our neighbors. That makes it very grave.

But it still has to be deliberately chosen, and fully understood to be sin, before it is mortal.

I hope I’ve helped. God bless you,

Ruthie

 

[Ron_Conte]

What if a sin you do, the specific one I described before, is not done by deliberate intention, but out of brief anger? Would it still be a mortal sin?

Full deliberation does not necessary take a certain amount of time. A person can act with full resolve (full consent) even in a brief spur-of-the-moment act. But generally, an act done out of brief anger would not have full consent, and so would not be an actual mortal sin.

 

[scameter18]

I hope that that is how it was: an act of anger, rather than deliberation. In that hope, I will still take the Eucharist. When I go to confession, though, I will mention it just to be sure. Thank you all for your help.

 

[o_mlly]

This is something I have never felt really clear about since RCIA. How can an individual discern if their sin is mortal or venial? And this is especially important if it is time for obligatory Mass before you have the chance for confession, because you don’t want to take the Eucharist with mortal sin on you. Any help would be much appreciated.

I don’t think one does a “post-mortem” on one’s prior sin to determine now its mortality or veniality – by definition, one know the act is or is not mortally sinful at the moment of choice. So, if you’re not sure now, how could the sin be mortal then?

Much has been posted on what is and is not sin, what is and is not mortal in this forum. There is in Catholic thinking another method to discern the state of one’s soul that some find helpful.

To be in a state of mortal sin is to be absent sanctifying grace, an intimate relationship with God. Some through private revelation (St. Paul, for instance) know they are in an engraced state. No one else can have absolute certainty for that is to know the mind of God. However, no one should be distressed by this lack of certainty as it is normal. One may have a relative certainty that he is in a state of grace based on our limited knowledge. This relative certainty exists if “one delights in God, holds world materialsim in contempt, and is not aware of having committed a mortal sin” (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, 112, 5). If you are not certain you have committed a mortal sin then you are not aware of committing a mortal sin. Go to the Eucharist; talk to your priest in confession on your next visit.

 

[OraLabora]

It seems pretty simple to me: if in doubt, confess! And ask the priest for help in discerning mortal sin.

Regular confession of even venial sins not only is harmless, it’s to be encouraged, and can do a great deal of healing.

Confession of mortal sin is essential.

If in doubt, confession is the surest bet. The priest won’t be mad at you if it’s not mortal, quite the contrary, he’s there for you.