Dying and Mortal sin

  • Thread starter Thread starter cajun2core
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

cajun2core

Guest
Given the following are true:
  1. Intentionally missing mass on Sunday without good cause is a mortal sin. (CCC 2191)
  2. If one dies with a mortal sin on his or her soul, that person goes directly to hell. (Please forgive the monopoly analogy). (CCC 1861,1035)
  3. The only way for Catholics to receive forgiveness from a mortal is through the sacrament of reconciliation. (CCC 1456)
Therefore, if a person intentionally misses mass on Sunday (out of sheer laziness or want to go to a football game or something similar) and then dies instantly on Sunday evening before receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation that person will go to hell. Let’s assume that the person does die instantly and does not have time to make a perfect act of contrition.

I must admit that I have trouble with the above situation. I don’t see how a single lapse in judgment can equate to a lifetime of turning away from God.

Does it make a difference if on Sunday afternoon (assume there is no Sunday afternoon mass) the person realizes that he should have gone to mass and begins to feel guilty about it but it is more out of knowing that he disobeyed the Church’s teaching and not a true sorry that he offended God. What if it is a true sorry that he offended God? According to Fathers Levis and Trigilio, it is very difficult to make a perfect act of contrition.
 
cajun2core said:
Given the following are true:
  1. Intentionally missing mass on Sunday without good cause is a mortal sin. (CCC 2191)
  2. If one dies with a mortal sin on his or her soul, that person goes directly to hell. (Please forgive the monopoly analogy). (CCC 1861,1035)
  3. The only way for Catholics to receive forgiveness from a mortal is through the sacrament of reconciliation. (CCC 1456)
Therefore, if a person intentionally misses mass on Sunday (out of sheer laziness or want to go to a football game or something similar) and then dies instantly on Sunday evening before receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation that person will go to hell. Let’s assume that the person does die instantly and does not have time to make a perfect act of contrition.

I must admit that I have trouble with the above situation. I don’t see how a single lapse in judgment can equate to a lifetime of turning away from God.

Does it make a difference if on Sunday afternoon (assume there is no Sunday afternoon mass) the person realizes that he should have gone to mass and begins to feel guilty about it but it is more out of knowing that he disobeyed the Church’s teaching and not a true sorry that he offended God. What if it is a true sorry that he offended God? According to Fathers Levis and Trigilio, it is very difficult to make a perfect act of contrition.
Click to expand...
It isn’t a question of ‘equations’.

Mortal sin = mortal sin = mortal sin.

Mortal sin --ONE–kills the relationship with God.

Two mortal sins does not mean the relationship is ‘twice as dead’, or three mortal sins equals three times as dead.

So a person who has only ‘one’ mortal sin for which at death he is NOT REPENTENT is just as ‘dead’ in his relationship as a person who has 10,000 mortal sins for which HE is not repentent. It only takes ‘one’ UNREPENTED mortal sin to kill one’s relationship with God.

Your example is a very common (and wrong) one which assumes that God is so ‘unfair’ as to demand hell for a person with just ‘one’ itty bitty mortal sin and that it is unfair to ‘equate’ this with a person with two, or three, or a hundred mortal sins.

But that is not the question at all.

A person who has met the full requirements of mortal sin (full knowledge, grave matter and full consent of the will) and who has repented that sin (even if ‘imperfectly’) yet dies prior to sacramental confession will have his ‘heart’ known by God. If God knows this person is sincere in repentence, would God not show mercy? How dare we ‘assume’ we know more than He?

Your example of missing Mass through ‘laziness’ does not ensure that it was a mortal sin. Did the person truly understand it was a sin? Was he not capable of full consent through being perhaps hung over, or in pain?

Nobody is ‘destined’ for hell because even with great sin one can repent. It can be difficult indeed to make perfect contrition yet it is not impossible, so how can you imply it is not possible by asserting that an action which you cannot even know was fully consented to or known to be mortal sin by a person will ‘send him to hell?’
 
There is room for perfect contrition, which restores the relationship with God, right up to the very moment of death…this is why the Church has declared that some people are in Heaven (i.e., canonized Saints) but has never declared that any particular person is in Hell. Even somebody as evil as Adolf Hitler could have had perfect contrition in that very last moment of his earthly life.

Also, the intent to confess comes into play. If I have committed a mortal sin, and intend to confess it, but die before I have actually made it to the confessional, God is aware of my intent and forgives those sins. He does not expect the impossible of us (e.g., finishing the intended trip to the confessional when we are dead).

One thing I learned from my Priest while I was going through RCIA: God works through the Sacraments, but He is not limited to the Sacraments. The Sacraments are the best, surest way to receive His grace, but He can and does work through other channels when He deems it necessary.

God bless you!
 
One thing to remember is that God is perfectly good. We humans have only a limited capacity and knowledge of good.

We need to be careful that we don’t try to limit God to only what we think is good. Rather, we need to ‘stretch our understanding’ and accept that God will do what He will. . .and that it will be good. Truly good.
 
Thank all of you for your comments.

Tantum ergo – I put the intentionally missing mass due to laziness or a football game in my situation to imply that it was a mortal sin. You are absolutely correct in the fact that all three aspects do need to be there. I put intentionally and due to laziness and football to show that the person knew better and did have full consent. I should have been more explicit. My apologies for not being clear. Also, yes, you are right that even one mortal sin does sever our relationship with God.

It seems though that my third assumption above:

The only way for Catholics to receive forgiveness from a mortal is through the sacrament of reconciliation. (CCC 1456)

is incorrect.

I will admit that I often think in black and white and sometimes I forget that God does not. Also sometimes I may take logic to an extreme and apply it where it is not appropriate.
 
achmafooma said:
…
One thing I learned from my Priest while I was going through RCIA: God works through the Sacraments, but He is not limited to the Sacraments. …
Click to expand...
That’s well said, and worth remembering!
🙂
 
Great topic! God knows we are imperfect creatures. He also knows our very thoughts. If he see’s that we made an error in judgement and we are thinking about it with remorse, I beleive that is the first act of conscious penance. As a ‘bridge’ to the next available confession, a Divine Mercy Chaplet would help. Not just at 3PM but anytime needed! A Rosary would be nice. How our Lord looks at us with such compassionate love just as we look at our kids with love when they realize they are in fault. “O my Jesus, Mercy”…“My sweet Jesus, Mercy”. How could he condemn anyone that flees to his Sacred Heart and endless ocean of Divine Mercy? This is not a ‘get out of jail’ card…we still need to do our part and make the effort to reconcile with our creator. Go to confession as soon as possible! “Jesus, I trust in you”.
 
Think of it this way: would a loving God allow his child(ren) to be hurt?

That basically answers all these kind of questions. You don’t even need the Bible for that. 😉
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top