Grave Sin and deliberate consent

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What exactly is deliberate consent? How do I, a sinner, know if I have deliberately consented to sin, or whether some unconscious or subconsious motivation caused me to sin? How do I know what my motives are? I may think I know, but what if I am wrong? As it says in Psalm 19, “Who can discern his errors?”

I ask these questions in ALL seriousness. I am often angry, impatient, irritable, anxious, and full of guilt, but what if these are caused by things beyond my control? (Like depression or lack of sleep. . . )

If I attribute sins to myself that I did not consent too then I have excessive/un-necessary/erroneous guilt. If, I do NOT attribute sins to things I deliberately consent to, then I am living in sin and do not even know it.
 
Mental disease may limit your culpability, but the essential determination as to whether you “consented” can simply be stated as did you choose to engage in a sinful action. Some mental illness limits a person’s free-will, but usually these are very severe and disabling mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bi-polar affective disorder, or borderline personality disorder.

If you know something is sinful and you do it anyway, you have sinned. One cannot sin by accident. Sin is always a choice. If the conscience has been dulled or poorly formed, that does not mean you do not sin, rather it may reduce your culpability, as I said before.

If you frequently have the feelings you described, or you have a sense that you are somehow not responsible for your actions, consider seeking a psychological evaluation from a medical professional. Beyond that suggestion, I will not not offer any medical advice.
 
Thank you for your reply.

How does the priest discern or help you discern whether the sin is grave or not?

I concur that it is a sin but a grave sin?
 
Agent said:
Thank you for your reply.

How does the priest discern or help you discern whether the sin is grave or not?

I concur that it is a sin but a grave sin?
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There are a number of factors that go into determining whether a sin grave or not and these are spelled out very explicitly in the Catechism. The list of sins that are grave has not really changed at all except with regard to the march of technology. If something is wrong, it has always been wrong and will always be wrong.

See the section of the Catechism that uses the 10 Commandments as an outline.
 
How does a priest interpret this quote from the Catechism:

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.
 
Agent said:
How does a priest interpret this quote from the Catechism:

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.
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It seems rather self-explanatory.
 
Agent said:
What exactly is deliberate consent? How do I, a sinner, know if I have deliberately consented to sin, or whether some unconscious or subconsious motivation caused me to sin? How do I know what my motives are? I may think I know, but what if I am wrong? As it says in Psalm 19, “Who can discern his errors?”

I ask these questions in ALL seriousness. I am often angry, impatient, irritable, anxious, and full of guilt, but what if these are caused by things beyond my control? (Like depression or lack of sleep. . . )

If I attribute sins to myself that I did not consent too then I have excessive/un-necessary/erroneous guilt. If, I do NOT attribute sins to things I deliberately consent to, then I am living in sin and do not even know it.
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I also get angry, impatient, irritable, anxious, etc, when these things come upon me, I try to put them out of mind & pray for strength to overcome these feelings, but guess what, I keep having the same feelings over & over, this is the human condition, I wouldn`t accuse myself of any sin
 
Agent said:
How does a priest interpret this quote from the Catechism:

To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.
Click to expand...
Hi Agent. This quote, to my knowledge, only appears in the Catechism once and that is specifically in dealing with the sin of masturbation (CCC 2349).

The priest interprets it as he is trained to do.

I’m going to go out on a limb here: Your real question, though, is not really, that, is it? I think your real question is: Am I committing a mortal sin or does any of the parts of 2349 apply to me. The way you answer this is in the confessional along the lines of “Father, I have masturbated 5 times but I am not sure if it is a sin…” and allow your Priest to take it from there.

That help any?
 
I went to confession on Saturday and my interpretation of what the priest told me is that I am not committing sins and that I probably should seek “outside help”. I am probably suffering symptoms of mental illness.

The priest says God will forgive us our sins but we will still have problems.

I think I have problems but maybe not sins.
 
Agent said:
What exactly is deliberate consent? How do I, a sinner, know if I have deliberately consented to sin, or whether some unconscious or subconsious motivation caused me to sin?
Click to expand...
motives are not about consent, they are about excuses. Did I do it? Did I do it of my own free will? did yI know it was gravely wrong? Did I take any steps to find out if it was wrong before I did it? Did somebody put a gun to myu head? No? Then I freely consented, assuming I am of age and have the mental capacity to give consent.

If you believe, with regard to some particular sin, often a habitual sin, that you may have some propensity such as addiction or OCD that lessens your guilt, you must discuss your personal situation with a trusted confessor. Anything said here or in a general on-line or printed guide on morality and confession, will be general teaching. A specific individual question has to be asked and answered that way, and the confessional is the time and place. Trust in God’s mercy it abounds for you and is the sure way to combat any such difficulty.

you sound like you found a very wise priest. Trust him. there is no need to ask these questions again here, when you have such a good confessor. Bless you for having the courage and wisdom to come to Christ in this sacrament. He heals all wounds and makes all things new
 
If you are having trouble determining the matter, one thing you should do is try to learn more about your own interior life and how it works through introspection and prayer.

Learn to carefully discern what comes out spontaneously, and what you actually will, and how your will participates in certain acts. See if you partially consent, fully consent, habitually consent, etc.

If you have a bad habit of instant consent to certain sins by habit the instant the temptation arrives, take that into account but also take into account that you must make war against it and form a directly different default reaction lest you not be truly repentant and just putting off the sin until you stop paying full attention. 🙂

New habits can take several weeks to form solidly and so undo solidly. We replace evil habits with virtuous habits and reactions.

Hate the sin, literally, truly with your emotions. 🙂 Love God.
 
Agent said:
I went to confession on Saturday and my interpretation of what the priest told me is that I am not committing sins and that I probably should seek “outside help”. I am probably suffering symptoms of mental illness.

The priest says God will forgive us our sins but we will still have problems.

I think I have problems but maybe not sins.
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There you are!

You’ve just answered your own question. Now the question becomes: Are you being honest with yourself?

And,

If you’re not being honest with yourself…then - the priest simply told you what he could surmise from what you indicated to him. But, God is not fooled.

You are taking good steps in frequenting the Sacraments - and there is a lot of good advice on these threads. Free will and intellect are in your nature…good conscience is nutured by the Sacraments and a life of prayer.
 
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