Have I comitted a mortal sin?

[Mike5575]

I have been struggling with the sin of impurity. However, being received into the Church just a week ago, I feel stronger and am able to resist the urges much more effectively after receiving the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion. But just the other day, after coming home from work, I felt greatly tempted to sin, and was tempted to and for a second or two looked at an erotic story that was saved off an old email account. Funny I know I shouldn’t of visited it, but when I did, I looked to the part of the section of the story I started to fantasize about, then I exited out of it as soon as I found that section. At best I viewed the story for only 1 or 2 seconds. Maybe even 3. I think I know what I need to do with that old email account.

Another thing, I was tempted to look at some immodestly dressed girl on youtube dance. I was so close to falling. I did not even begin to masturbate.

Is this a mortal sin? Do I need to confess this before my next communion? One of the reasons for asking this is because I know that the bible speaks of adultery as simple as looking at another woman while you are married. Usually I am able to close my mind to the slightest impulse. But it is when I am getting off work from the night shift is when my will is weakest.

PAX

 

[Barbkw]

Who prayed this?

“Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.”



St. Augustine of Hippo

You might want to pick up a copy of his book.

The easiest way that I’ve found to practice chastity is to attend daily Mass & receive the Eucharist.

Daily connecting and remaining pure of heart. Receiving Jesus into your body.

Also, don’t be embarassed about confessing this sin to a priest. The process of confessing these sexual sins (whether venial or mortal) will heal you much faster.

Stay clear of your areas of temptation (red zone, yellow zone, green zone).

And be aware, bad habits - go domant - they don’t disappear.

And they may reappear into a area that was never a concern for you before.

Developing a relationship with Mother Mary would be helpful and I’d suggest praying individual prayer to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

It eventually becomes a very liberating feeling to see the opposite sex as persons and not as sex objects.

 

[Mike5575]

Problem is, I plan on going to daily mass in the morning and the vigil mass in the afternoon. There is Confession before the vigil, but not the morning mass. I just want to make sure it is ok to receive communion in the morning before going to confession.

 

[Mike5575]

Is this a mortal sin or a venial sin? The reason I ask is because I am worried about receiving Holy Communion before confession.

PAX

 

[Barbkw]

Mike,

“… I know I shouldn’t of visited it, but when I did, I looked to the part of the section of the story I started to fantasize about, then I exited out of it as soon as I found that section.”

This is the area of thought that guides action and what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5:27.

“But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Have you watched Caesar Milan the dog trainer? He has the program titled “Dog Whisperer”. His success with dogs is his ability to read their body language and to check (change) their thought processes one second before the dog triggers bad behavior. And, Caesar is extremely deligent and watchful for triggers.

My major sin now, is gluttony and slouth. Sin transference. There’s a series of diet books out titled “Eat this, Not that” with photos of food to visually show people how to eat healthy. Triggering healthy responses.

My advice, don’t receive Jesus until after confession. Let your longing for the Eucharist be your mental check. Your priest may offer helpful guides for you as well, they take a vow of chastity.

P.S. Try to see your weakness in this area as a form of a blessing. Oddly enough it can be used to bring you closer to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit. St. Paul and St. Peter both spoke about how to make a weakness a strength:

2 Corinthians 12:9

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.

2 Peter 1:3-10

"His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and power. Through these, He has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love. If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who lacks them is blind and shortsighted, forgetful of the cleansing of his past sins.”

And in:

Romans 5:3

“Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly.”

In the Catechism:

741
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” The Holy Spirit, the artisan of God’s works, is the master of prayer.

 

[Barbkw]

Mike,

The principle statements of the 12 Step Program - to overcome compulsive behaviors - were also helpful to me.

These 12 Steps are practices, things to actively do.

They include:

THE TWELVE STEPS

1. We admitted we were powerless over (_:slight_smile: insert compulsive behavior here _) - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to
   sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
   understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature
   of our wrongs. Sacrament of Reconciliation
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make
   amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do
   so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
    admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with
    God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us
    and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to
    carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our
    affairs.

 

[teachccd]

To me it sounds more like you are fighting temptations. Yes, you need to get rid of that old email. delete If YouTube is a temptation (which it can seem to be a mild thing since, well, it’s only You Tube) then stay off of it for a while. YouTube has a lot of good stuff on it but it has a lot of garbage as well.

Whenever I am in a quandry as to whether or not I am in the state of mortal sin I tend to always take the side of caution. Can anyone here tell what was exactly going on in your mind as you watched that YouTube clip? No. Can anyone here tell whether or not you crossed the line from temptation to entertaining thoughts when you read your old email? No. So just get to confession and clear your mind. To not receive the Eucharist shows your immense understanding of Who the Eucharist is and your respect for this Sacrament of Sacraments.

In closing, I would like to advise you to speak with your priest about scrupulosity. This is where one finds almost everything a serious sin. Satan would love nothing more that for everyone to think that they are so unworthy that they cannot go to God. So be careful here. Well, I’m off to morning Mass so may God be with you and the peace of Christ be yours…teachccd