If she doesn’t understand what she did wrong, then it’s not a mortal sin. One of the requirements for a sin to be mortal is knowing/understanding that what you did was wrong. You mean to say, “…and doesn’t understand that it was grave matter.”My friend became Catholic at this past easter vigil. However, I’m still not sure she understands various aspects of the faith. She recently slept with her boyfriend and doesn’t it understand that it wasa mortal sin. How can I help her understand?
How do you know that she does not understand?My friend became Catholic at this past easter vigil. However, I’m still not sure she understands various aspects of the faith. She recently slept with her boyfriend and doesn’t it understand that it wasa mortal sin. How can I help her understand?
Gaudium et Spes1790 … Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed.
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.
59 Gaudium et Spes 16.
- In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged.(9) Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths.(10) In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor.(11) In fidelity to conscience, Christians are joined with the rest of men in the search for truth, and for the genuine solution to the numerous problems which arise in the life of individuals from social relationships. Hence the more right conscience holds sway, the more persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and strive to be guided by the objective norms of morality. Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity. The same cannot be said for a man who cares but little for truth and goodness, or for a conscience which by degrees grows practically sightless as a result of habitual sin.