Do regular Catholics (like me) really commit so many mortal sins? Really?!

[Cat]

As many of you know, I (and my husband) converted to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism in 2004. We are 57 years old, and were enthusiastic, uber-involved Evangelical Protestants.

Over the years that I have been involved with CAF, I’ve read many threads and posts in which a Catholic states that they have committed a mortal sin, or several mortal sins.

Really?!

I go to Confession at least every few months, but in the decade that I have been Catholic, I have only committed mortal sin a few times, and it was the “m” word sin. The older I get, the less of a problem this is for me. I guess that’s one advantage of growing old.

I honestly am not aware of any mortal sins in my life. My husband is the same way.

I assume that since we are not aware of committing any mortal sins, that we have not committed any, since one of the requirements for a sin to be mortal is being aware that it is a sin and deliberately choosing to commit it anyway and disregard our Lord Jesus.

My husband and I commit plenty of venial sins, mainly sins of overindulgence, laziness, carelessness, or just failing to be enthusiastic about the Lord Jesus and our Church. These are what we confess, and it is so wonderful to receive forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and start over with a clean heart.

So…what exactly do all of these Catholics do that is mortal sin?! And how much of this is just scrupulosity? I’m having a hard time believing that so many Catholics who have been in the Church longer than we have are committing so many mortal sins.

OTOH, do my husband and I have dull consciences because we were raised in the Evangelical Protestant churches where all our sins, past, present, and FUTURE, are forgiven? Are we perhaps the worst sinners of all because of our unawareness of our many serious sins each day?

 

[turtle18]

envy, jealousy, gossip, selfishness, not honoring your parents-I am middle age and still fight with my dad.

We all have blind spots. I ask every day for God to give me the grace to know my sins and repent of them. Then, one night in a dream it was revealed to me that I was being envious of something and I had never really thought of it that way. But I guess was.

One of the things about sexual sin as soon as you do it, you know it is wrong. It is so clear cut. But other sins are harder to see and you can more easily fool yourself with other sins.

 

[phil_at_dayboro]

Interesting Thread, I can understand what your saying,
It’s a bit like when I was a child going to weekly confession
What bad thing could a child consistently do to warrant going to weekly confession ,
I would make things up to fill in the time, and try to sound interesting to the Priest,
That in itself was not good,
And same as an adult, we’re not perfect, and not sure if I want to be squeaky clean,
I’d rather show that even with failings,I never lost my faith,being perhaps tested in fire …

 

[JamalChristophr]

This might sound strange, but sometimes I think deliberate venial sins that we never try to get rid of can be almost as bad.

I think many here who are asking about mortal sins are a bit on the scrupulous side. As an aside, I wonder how many Catholics fail now to show up for mass on a regular basis. They know it is a mortal sin to not go to mass, but it’s like they don’t believe it, it seems, or they just don’t care. That seems like a fairly common serious sin.

 

[Viki63]

I’m having a hard time believing that so many Catholics who have been in the Church longer than we have are committing so many mortal sins.

I suspect as you do that many of these folks suffer from some scrupulosity. And others may be young people who struggle with sexual sins, alone or with fiances, etc.
As you say, one must be conscious that it’s a sin for it to be mortal. My husband doesn’t go to church often, he just doesn’t get it. Explanations don’t seem to help.
I worry more about my sins of omission, since I drive past people begging on the street. But I can’t give to all of them, so hope that giving to my church will help relieve some.

 

[Usige]

OTOH, do my husband and I have dull consciences because we were raised in the Evangelical Protestant churches where all our sins, past, present, and FUTURE, are forgiven? Are we perhaps the worst sinners of all because of our unawareness of our many serious sins each day?

I’m obviously not trying to speak for you, but I know that I can often overlook my sins when I don’t examine how I am leading my life regularly. In a sense I can become dull to my sins as you say.

By that I mean, when I don’t perform a nightly examination of continence, after a couple weeks I tend to gloss over sins that might well be mortal. I start to justify things in my mind that they weren’t “that bad”. When I do remember to do a nightly examination and actually try to look at how I behaved over the course of the day I tend to find that I probably come much closer to crossing the line from venial to mortal sin much more often than I think. And no I do not suffer from scruples, but rather by examining how I have failed in being the man Christ calls me to be I become much more aware of what He wants of me. I can see how all those flaws weaken my relationship with Christ.

I have seen so many sides of the mortal sin debate that the debate itself can dull you to sin. Some see every grave act as mortal sin, where as others see anything less than a deliberate act to separate ourselves from God as merely venial; to them it is nearly impossible for anyone to commit a moral sin. I’ll be honest, I try not to dwell too much on weather something is venial or mortal. Even venial sin puts a wedge between us and God. No, venial sin doesn’t kill grace, but it can act as a fog that obscures and leads us to mortal sin.

 

[Nelka]

Of all the mortal sins I have committed over the last ten years for example would be 99% down to that M problem and the other 1% missing Mass or saying bad things. I don’t commit the 1% anymore and haven’t committed the 99% for quite a while but that is because my wife and I do have sex. I wouldn’t be strong enough for celibacy.

The big step with the M problem was going from the secular view of fun to total desperation but is still sinful.

I am not 40 yet but if I found myself living alone I would have to work 160 hours per week.

I do pray more a lot than I did ten years ago, read more of the Bible and enjoy Mass more which plays a big part in it.

I am guessing many Catholics never commit mortal sins whilst others are perennial sinners.

 

[Blessedwithfive]

I try not to get too caught up in the differences between mortal and venial sins. All are sins in Gods eyes and in my opinion all need to be confessed. Plus I am REALLY good at justifying my sins. I tell them all and let God sort them out.

 

[JRKH]

I honestly am not aware of any mortal sins in my life. My husband is the same way.

I assume that since we are not aware of committing any mortal sins, that we have not committed any, since one of the requirements for a sin to be mortal is being aware that it is a sin and deliberately choosing to commit it anyway and disregard our Lord Jesus.

Quite so.

My husband and I commit plenty of venial sins, mainly sins of overindulgence, laziness, carelessness, or just failing to be enthusiastic about the Lord Jesus and our Church. These are what we confess, and it is so wonderful to receive forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and start over with a clean heart.

Are you sure that these are venial sins?
Consider and compare what you list above to the list of the seven deadly (mortal) sins.

• Pride
• Anger
• Greed
• Lust
• Gluttony
• Sloth (Spiritual sloth)
• Envy

I make no judgement here because I am also guilty of these things, but I see Gluttony (overindulgence) and Sloth (laziness, carelessness, or just failing to be enthusiastic about the Lord Jesus and our Church) in the sins you listed above.

I actually like the list of deadly sins because, to me, they speak to the “root cause” of most of our sinful acts. They are the systemic issues - dare I say, character flaws - that we need to work on correcting.
Many of us never seem to get past the practice we learned as kids…totaling up our sinful acts and confessing these. While there is nothing essentially wrong this this method, it really does not address the root causes. Measuring ourselves against the Seven Deadly Sins can be very enlightening.

So…what exactly do all of these Catholics do that is mortal sin?! And how much of this is just scrupulosity? I’m having a hard time believing that so many Catholics who have been in the Church longer than we have are committing so many mortal sins.

I do think that a lot of it is scruples. At least that is what I see here on the forums.

OTOH, do my husband and I have dull consciences because we were raised in the Evangelical Protestant churches where all our sins, past, present, and FUTURE, are forgiven? Are we perhaps the worst sinners of all because of our unawareness of our many serious sins each day?

I do not think that you have a dull conscience. I DO think the we ALL can allow ourselves to become lazy in regard to sin.

As you mentioned, awareness is one of the requirements for mortal sin. Gravity is another. Yet - what is "grave’…where is the tipping point? This is an equally tricky question.
For myself, I have come to the conclusion that the measure of “seriousness” is connected to our level of love for the Lord. The more we Love God, the more we will see even small sins as serious and strive to avoid them. That is simply the nature of love. We do not want to offend our lover even in a small way. Thus, such a person sees even small sins as “grave” because they are offenses against love.

Of course there is an opposite to this - the person who fears God to the point of believing every infraction will get them sent to hell. Here again - the gauge must be love. Would one who loves us reject and leave us for a minor offense - especially if we are contrite? It is generally this view that I see displayed by those who suffer from scruples.

It can all get very complicated to try to explain…but it all revolves around Agape.

Peace
James

 

[weller2]

The fun thing about Catholicism is that it has translated the concept of “sin” into a set of checklists, and everyone is so busy doing the checklists that they are completely oblivious to the underlying concepts. The result is that meaningless acts are treated seriously, while really evil actions are not seen as sinful at all.

Example: say that I am a professor and there is a very talented Ph.D. student who has been slaving on his thesis for the last four years. He is about three months away from finishing. I get him fired so he cannot finish his thesis. And since he is a foreigner his visa gets terminated also and he will have to leave the country. The student cannot take it and commits suicide.

“Ruining some’s life” is not on the checklist… nor is shadenfreude. I’m in good standing and take Communion every week.

 

[Cat]

envy, jealousy, gossip, selfishness, not honoring your parents-I am middle age and still fight with my dad.

We all have blind spots. I ask every day for God to give me the grace to know my sins and repent of them. Then, one night in a dream it was revealed to me that I was being envious of something and I had never really thought of it that way. But I guess was.

One of the things about sexual sin as soon as you do it, you know it is wrong. It is so clear cut. But other sins are harder to see and you can more easily fool yourself with other sins.

But…your sin of envy wasn’t mortal because you were not aware that it was a sin. (You said that "you never really thought of it that way.) For a sin to be mortal, you must be aware that it is a sin and you must deliberately CHOOSE to commit it.

It was serious sin–I’m not denying that. The fact that the Lord called it to your attention in a dream means that He wants you to work on getting that sin out of your life.

But mortal, no. You didn’t know you were sinning.

 

[Cat]

Quite so.

Are you sure that these are venial sins?
Consider and compare what you list above to the list of the seven deadly

 

[Vico]

As many of you know, I (and my husband) converted to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism in 2004. We are 57 years old, and were enthusiastic, uber-involved Evangelical Protestants.

Over the years that I have been involved with CAF, I’ve read many threads and posts in which a Catholic states that they have committed a mortal sin, or several mortal sins.

Really?!

I go to Confession at least every few months, but in the decade that I have been Catholic, I have only committed mortal sin a few times, and it was the “m” word sin. The older I get, the less of a problem this is for me. I guess that’s one advantage of growing old.

I honestly am not aware of any mortal sins in my life. My husband is the same way.

I assume that since we are not aware of committing any mortal sins, that we have not committed any, since one of the requirements for a sin to be mortal is being aware that it is a sin and deliberately choosing to commit it anyway and disregard our Lord Jesus.

My husband and I commit plenty of venial sins, mainly sins of overindulgence, laziness, carelessness, or just failing to be enthusiastic about the Lord Jesus and our Church. These are what we confess, and it is so wonderful to receive forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and start over with a clean heart.

So…what exactly do all of these Catholics do that is mortal sin?! And how much of this is just scrupulosity? I’m having a hard time believing that so many Catholics who have been in the Church longer than we have are committing so many mortal sins.

OTOH, do my husband and I have dull consciences because we were raised in the Evangelical Protestant churches where all our sins, past, present, and FUTURE, are forgiven? Are we perhaps the worst sinners of all because of our unawareness of our many serious sins each day?

The mortal sin has three channels: ignorance, passion, and malice. Mortal sin it the willing choice of evil directly or in willfully not preserving spiritual good because there is another non-spirital good that is desired.

It can come from passion when restraint it not applied, but can be applied. It can come from not avoiding the near occassions of sin. This includes not taking care to protect our faith. It can come from not following the precepts of the church, and from not doing good, rather than not doing evil. It can come from ignorance:
Catechism of the Catholic Church
1791 This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man "takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin."59 In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.

 

[Gertabelle]

“Ruining some’s life” is not on the checklist… nor is shadenfreude.

Actually, those are both on “the list.” Most of the examinations of conscience that I’ve seen are based on the ten commandments. Here’s part of a brief one from the USCCB:

You shall not kill.
Have I harmed another through physical, verbal, or
emotional means, including gossip or manipulation of
any kind?

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Have I gossiped, told lies, or embellished stories at the
expense of another?

Christ’s Two Commandments
How well do we love God and others?
Do we love as Christ calls us to?

Gertie

 

[Stylteralmaldo]

…I don’t consider them “mortal” in my life because I don’t deliberately choose to do them, and I am constantly fighting the tendency…

This may fall under the ‘full consent of the will’ clause.

…I think a lot of people who know me would be shocked to hear me say that I am spiritually lazy…

…I’m not bragging. I’m just demonstrating that I probably have a tendency to think I’m lazy…

No one knows your soul better than yourself (except our Lod of course who knows us better than ourselves). If you think you’re lazy, you may very well be lazy. I try to keep in mind that everyone is unique. Someone who may appear to be very spiritually lazy may be ten times less lazy than the person who appears to be far from spiritually lazy.

 

[Wampa]

So…what exactly do all of these Catholics do that is mortal sin?! And how much of this is just scrupulosity? I’m having a hard time believing that so many Catholics who have been in the Church longer than we have are committing so many mortal sins.

Between birth control, missing Mass on Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation, the “m” sin as mentioned, viewing pornography, and looking at people other than your spouse lustfully, I think most Catholics are in a state of mortal sin a fair chunk of the time. I know that I am.

I just picked five things that are clearly grave matter according to the Church and are pretty well-known, so the knowledge requirement is not usually coming into play. I realize that that list would be more applicable for younger, and especially male, Catholics.

 

[steve_b]

As many of you know, I (and my husband) converted to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism in 2004. We are 57 years old, and were enthusiastic, uber-involved Evangelical Protestants.

Over the years that I have been involved with CAF, I’ve read many threads and posts in which a Catholic states that they have committed a mortal sin, or several mortal sins.

Really?!

I go to Confession at least every few months, but in the decade that I have been Catholic, I have only committed mortal sin a few times, and it was the “m” word sin. The older I get, the less of a problem this is for me. I guess that’s one advantage of growing old.

I honestly am not aware of any mortal sins in my life. My husband is the same way.

I assume that since we are not aware of committing any mortal sins, that we have not committed any, since one of the requirements for a sin to be mortal is being aware that it is a sin and deliberately choosing to commit it anyway and disregard our Lord Jesus.

My husband and I commit plenty of venial sins, mainly sins of overindulgence, laziness, carelessness, or just failing to be enthusiastic about the Lord Jesus and our Church. These are what we confess, and it is so wonderful to receive forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and start over with a clean heart.

So…what exactly do all of these Catholics do that is mortal sin?! And how much of this is just scrupulosity? I’m having a hard time believing that so many Catholics who have been in the Church longer than we have are committing so many mortal sins.

OTOH, do my husband and I have dull consciences because we were raised in the Evangelical Protestant churches where all our sins, past, present, and FUTURE, are forgiven? Are we perhaps the worst sinners of all because of our unawareness of our many serious sins each day?

It’s true, one might go through life thinking they are free of mortal sin…at least until they see a list of sins that by their consequencesm, show one will forfit heaven i.e. land in hell if they should die in any of them

#15

to take just one sin mentioned from the list #22

Absolution & contrition
“By itself however, **imperfect contrition **cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance” see 1453

Which is why Our Lord established the sacrament of reconciliation.

 

[ProVobis]

I try not to get too caught up in the differences between mortal and venial sins. All are sins in Gods eyes and in my opinion all need to be confessed. Plus I am REALLY good at justifying my sins. I tell them all and let God sort them out.

That’s probably the best advice.

If we weren’t sinners, we would have no need for Christianity.

 

[Wampa]

Example: say that I am a professor and there is a very talented Ph.D. student who has been slaving on his thesis for the last four years. He is about three months away from finishing. I get him fired so he cannot finish his thesis. And since he is a foreigner his visa gets terminated also and he will have to leave the country. The student cannot take it and commits suicide. “Ruining some’s life” is not on the checklist… nor is shadenfreude. I’m in good standing and take Communion every week.

Assuming that the facts of this highly-detailed story are accurate (Did the professor really get him fired SO THAT he could not finish his paper i.e. that was his intention? Do you know that for a fact, or have you just heard one side of the story?), then this definitely falls within the realm of grave matter and potential mortal sin. Going to Communion every week and partaking of the Eucharist would only heap more mortal sin upon existing sin. That’s not likely to end well for the professor.

For myself, I have come to the conclusion that the measure of “seriousness” is connected to our level of love for the Lord. The more we Love God, the more we will see even small sins as serious and strive to avoid them. That is simply the nature of love. We do not want to offend our lover even in a small way. Thus, such a person sees even small sins as “grave” because they are offenses against love.=

This is an excellent point. In my own experience, as you dispatch with the major sins in your life and grow closer to God, you should necessarily begin to become more aware of the “smaller” (smaller in relation, but still serious) sins that need correction, but which you did not notice when you had “bigger fish to fry”. I’ve had that experience in my life and observed it in others.

A priest once explained it to me this way. When you have major sin in your life, your window is really, really dirty. The large smudges dominate your view. Once you confess and vanquish those, you start to notice the smaller smudges on the glass. When the window was really dirty, you were not even aware that the smaller smudges existed. Now, once the window is mostly clean, these small smudges are suddenly very obvious to you, as they are the only things preventing you from having a clean piece of glass.

 

[Denise1957]

As many of you know, I (and my husband) converted to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism in 2004. We are 57 years old, and were enthusiastic, uber-involved Evangelical Protestants.

Over the years that I have been involved with CAF, I’ve read many threads and posts in which a Catholic states that they have committed a mortal sin, or several mortal sins.

Really?!

I go to Confession at least every few months, but in the decade that I have been Catholic, I have only committed mortal sin a few times, and it was the “m” word sin. The older I get, the less of a problem this is for me. I guess that’s one advantage of growing old.

I honestly am not aware of any mortal sins in my life. My husband is the same way.

I assume that since we are not aware of committing any mortal sins, that we have not committed any, since one of the requirements for a sin to be mortal is being aware that it is a sin and deliberately choosing to commit it anyway and disregard our Lord Jesus.

My husband and I commit plenty of venial sins, mainly sins of overindulgence, laziness, carelessness, or just failing to be enthusiastic about the Lord Jesus and our Church. These are what we confess, and it is so wonderful to receive forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and start over with a clean heart.

So…what exactly do all of these Catholics do that is mortal sin?! And how much of this is just scrupulosity? I’m having a hard time believing that so many Catholics who have been in the Church longer than we have are committing so many mortal sins.

OTOH, do my husband and I have dull consciences because we were raised in the Evangelical Protestant churches where all our sins, past, present, and FUTURE, are forgiven? Are we perhaps the worst sinners of all because of our unawareness of our many serious sins each day?

No, I don’t think it’s scrupulosity. When I attended the Extraordinary Form of the Mass every Sunday, there was always a long line for confession. I assume that most folks (especially the older one’s, like me) are mostly confessing venial sins. If we are to grow in holiness, we want to eradicate even venial sin, though we don’t obsess on it. Many of the saints of old went to confession every week, even though they committed no mortal sins.