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

[SHoJjhmou]

The sinful character must be known, unless it is a case of willful ignorance, which is culpable. Also, it is possible to mistakenly think that the act you freely consent to is grave matter. This is the opposite situation and shows an intention to sin gravely.

Estoy de acuerdo…(I agree)

 

[SHoJjhmou]

By the way however, if you are scrupulous, then you should follow your confessor’s advice.

If one is scrupulous, he is generally considered “on a different boat” and should strictly follow his confessor’s advice.

 

[ProVobis]

By the way however, if you are scrupulous, then you should follow your confessor’s advice.

If one is scrupulous, he is generally considered “on a different boat” and should strictly follow his confessor’s advice.

Yes, but scrupulosity shouldn’t be confused with examination of conscience, which all should be doing before communion. Many recommend confession before every communion for this reason.

 

[SHoJjhmou]

Yes, but scrupulosity shouldn’t be confused with examination of conscience, which all should be doing before communion. Many recommend confession before every communion for this reason.

True, true. It’s just that since there are so many scrupulous people on the forums, I feel like there is a need always to make sure they know what is sinful and what is not.

And since this is a topic which may attract MANY scrupulous people, I feel that the need is increased ten-fold.

But you are right, one should examine their conscience before receiving (but please, any scrupulous person reading this, don’t scruple about it).

 

[Mongol]

I’m not sure this topic is really something that should be talked about with anyone but your confessor.

It’s frankly pretty discouraging to me to hear that others are able to go years without mortal sin. I usually come up with some creative way to amputate myself from Christ at least a couple times per month. If not per week.

I remember one time I went to confession, committed mortal sin the next day, went back to confession, and told father that it had been two days since my last confession. He looked at me in disbelief and said “two days?”

That didn’t feel very nice. Then again maybe some shaming was appropriate here.

 

[SHoJjhmou]

I’m not sure this topic is really something that should be talked about with anyone but your confessor.

It’s frankly pretty discouraging to me to hear that others are able to go years without mortal sin. I usually come up with some creative way to amputate myself from Christ at least a couple times per month. If not per week.

I remember one time I went to confession, committed mortal sin the next day, went back to confession, and told father that it had been two days since my last confession. He looked at me in disbelief and said “two days?”

That didn’t feel very nice. Then again maybe some shaming was appropriate here.

Don’t be discouraged. Peter denied Jesus three times, and look how he turned out.

Don’t give up, that’s the devil’s plan. Worry about how you can love God more, not about how you can avoid committing mortal sins…or at least that’s how I think we should live.

 

[backtocatholic]

I’m delighted to hear someone speak about loving God because that is what catholicism is really about. Unfortunately (and I am truly guilty of this myself) sometimes when we are focussed on the rules ironically we are not too focussed on loving God and loving our neighbour. One frequent poster always refers back to the concept of love and that all else springs from that. Yes - sin is a serious concept and should not be ignored but surely through love of God and love of neighbour as we grow in faith and spurituality we should be able to decrease or possibly almost eliminate mortal sin from our lives. We will never be perfect and believe me I am not but surely we can get to a stage where the sins we are committing are less serious. And yes - we all fall based on our individual weaknesses but it should surely be easier to avoid the more serious sins with a little effort.

 

[Cat]

I’m not sure this topic is really something that should be talked about with anyone but your confessor.

It’s frankly pretty discouraging to me to hear that others are able to go years without mortal sin. I usually come up with some creative way to amputate myself from Christ at least a couple times per month. If not per week.

I remember one time I went to confession, committed mortal sin the next day, went back to confession, and told father that it had been two days since my last confession. He looked at me in disbelief and said “two days?”

That didn’t feel very nice. Then again maybe some shaming was appropriate here.

I hope that scrupulous people WILL read this thread. It seems that some have read it and have found solace in knowing that others struggle, too. Hopefully this will help them to seek out a priest/confessor and get help for their condition.

I honestly think that some Catholics admire scrupulosity and secretly wish that they were more scrupulous because it seems more “holy” to them. This is really sad, because from what I have seen, scrupulous people suffer. But again, to many Catholics, the suffering is noble and holy, and they want it.

Again, so sad. If we want to suffer, then we should give away our possession to the poor, and work with people who are sick or in prison, and spend much time in prayer for all those in our local newspapers who are in trouble or injured/sick. This would result in holiness without seeking to acquire a form of mental illness (which is what scrupulosity is). We don’t deliberately seek to harm our bodies by trying to “catch” physical illnesses, so why would we covet a mental-emotional illness?

So sad.

 

[backtocatholic]

I agree with Cat. I have been advised on this forum to speak to a priest - which I have done. I feel that only a priest can answer these questions.

I also agree that scruples has absolutely nothing to do with spirituality - it is simply a lack of ability to put any perspective on things and also the need for certainty. Believe me - there is nothing good about it.

 

[Mongol]

I hope that scrupulous people WILL read this thread. It seems that some have read it and have found solace in knowing that others struggle, too. Hopefully this will help them to seek out a priest/confessor and get help for their condition.

I honestly think that some Catholics admire scrupulosity and secretly wish that they were more scrupulous because it seems more “holy” to them. This is really sad, because from what I have seen, scrupulous people suffer. But again, to many Catholics, the suffering is noble and holy, and they want it.

Again, so sad. If we want to suffer, then we should give away our possession to the poor, and work with people who are sick or in prison, and spend much time in prayer for all those in our local newspapers who are in trouble or injured/sick. This would result in holiness without seeking to acquire a form of mental illness (which is what scrupulosity is). We don’t deliberately seek to harm our bodies by trying to “catch” physical illnesses, so why would we covet a mental-emotional illness?

So sad.

I’m not talking about scrupulosity. I’m talking about actually committing mortal sin at least a few times a month. Good for OP that she/he doesn’t commit mortal sins, but hearing how little OP sins does very little to encourage the rest of us.

Don’t be discouraged. Peter denied Jesus three times, and look how he turned out.

Don’t give up, that’s the devil’s plan. Worry about how you can love God more, not about how you can avoid committing mortal sins…or at least that’s how I think we should live.

Thanks for the encouragement. Denying Jesus three times seems awfully tame though by my standards.

 

[ProVobis]

I hope that scrupulous people WILL read this thread.

With virtually everyone receiving, I doubt this is a serious issue. You might have had an argument maybe 100 years ago when very few were receiving. If anything, rationalizing sin and/or ignorance seems to be more of a problem.

 

[switalabe]

I don’t know why I’m replying to this thread, but I’ll do it anyway.

I do get the sense that a particular group of people on CAF are quite accusative of themselves and others of committing mortal sins.

A priest-confessor once described mortal sin to me as “actively trying to separate yourself from God” (my paraphrase, don’t remember what he said exactly).

Didn’t our Lord say, “Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do.” ?

 

[Brendan_64]

With virtually everyone receiving, I doubt this is a serious issue. You might have had an argument maybe 100 years ago when very few were receiving. If anything, rationalizing sin and/or ignorance seems to be more of a problem.

Indeed. If scrupulosity was a widespread problem within the Church, wouldn’t we be seeing Confession lines so long that priests couldn’t keep up with them.

A look at the queues (or lack of) at Confession is enough to see whether the real problem is scrupulosity, or people believing that their sins are either not really sins, or that their sins are not really all that serious.

 

[steve_b]

as catholics we cannot judge others. (I struggle with this one myself) and we are not allowed to judge the souls of others. We cannot know the intentions behind other peoples actions.

We can’t say a person has gone to hell. That’s a judgement we can’t make because we don’t know what happened at a person’s moment of death. However, John makes it clear we can make judgements about people’s actions. Otherwise the following would be complete nonsense

1 Jn 5: 16 If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God**(“1 jn 5 RSVCE - Faith Conquers the World - Every one - Bible Gateway”)] will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.

 

[JakeWI]

Our Priest discussed confession at one of my wife’s RCIA meetings a week ago (ironically, her first confession). He said that we can go as many times as we feel the need to. Even for venial sins if we so please (even though receiving the Eucharist takes care of that). Sometimes to even state the progress you made with previous sins and continued prayers from the Priest.

I guess, it is totally up to the person involved on how much or how little. More often than not, I will find myself sinking into getting upset with other people on the freeways, or getting upset/judgemental at some at my work and confess these things. We all have bad weeks, and usually those are what cause me to sin… and what I will confess. Consider yourself blessed if there aren’t things in your life that make yourself less God-like!

 

[backtocatholic]

I don’t think that anyone here is implying that a large percentage of catholics are scrupolous but rather that there are a lot of scrupolous people on this forum which i feel is representative of a small percentage of catholics. I also feel that not everyone on this thread understands the concept of scrupolosity as a manifestation of OCD. I feel that what started out as an interesting post is going nowhere.

 

[steve_b]

We also must know at the time we make the decision to sin that the sin we are committing is mortally sinful…this is included in the sufficient reflection/full knowledge condition…

Let’s use an example.

God said to Adam & Eve, don’t do THAT over there or you will die.

• they are given a command by God.
• They have knowledge of grave wrong
• they know of consequence if they disobey God

Adam & Eve aren’t mentally challenged. They are intellegent people, and they have the ability to reason. And they chose to disobey

When they committed the sin, their consent / decision to sin, only had to be sufficient that it’s a choice. Same with anybody who sins. It’s not some big mystery. It’s not any more complicated than that…

**1859 **Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

lack of knowledge isn’t always innocent

[1791 (Catechism of the Catholic Church - Paragraph # 1791) 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.” In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.

When scripture says one is condemned, or won’t inherit heaven, etc etc, if they die in any of those sins scripture lists, then we can be sure that, that class of sin listed, are mortal sins.

It’s not complicated.

 

[SHoJjhmou]

Let’s use an example.

God said to Adam & Eve, don’t do THAT over there or you will die.

• they are given a command by God.
• They have knowledge of grave wrong
• they know of consequence if they disobey God

Adam & Eve aren’t mentally challenged. They are intellegent people, and they have the ability to reason. And they chose to disobey

When they committed the sin, their consent / decision to sin, only had to be sufficient that it’s a choice. Same with anybody who sins. It’s not some big mystery. It’s not any more complicated than that…

**1859 **Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

lack of knowledge isn’t always innocent

[1791 (Catechism of the Catholic Church - Paragraph # 1791) 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.” In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.

When scripture says one is condemned, or won’t inherit heaven, etc etc, if they die in any of those sins scripture lists, then we can be sure that, that class of sin listed, are mortal sins.

It’s not complicated.

Wait, how does that go against anything I’ve said?

 

[pnewton]

“Grave” and “Mortal” are synonymous terms. thesaurus.com/browse/mortal . That’s not my opinion. It’s definitional.

A thesaurous is not the Church. If you want to think your opinion is fact and definitive, fine. I still consider it an opinion.

A thesaurus list words which may be used as synonyms. In the Church theology, a distinction is made in documents like the one quoted here. That is why two word are used, not one.

 

[vsedriver]

this is a struggle for me. I am planning to go to confession tomorrow but I really don’t know what to confess! I don’t want to sound like some kind of saint but I do have an anxiety disorder and this makes it hard for me to focus or reflect. I lead a very quiet life and have increased my prayer time. So pray for me that I can make a good confession tomorrow.