WHAT I’M GOING TO SAY MAY, IN SOME OF ITS PARTS, STRIKE SOME AS OFFENSIVE, BUT IT’S MY INTERPRETATION FROM WHAT I’VE LEARNED FROM THE SOURCES OF OUR TRADITION (Sacraments, Scripture, Liturgies, Creeds, Ecumenical Councils, Fathers, etc):
We know that, as Catholics, we are Members of the same Body, the Body of Christ, the Church. We can, in light of this primarily Pauline understanding, conclude that committing any sins in regards to the Ten Commandments (which are still offered today for examinations of conscience in preparation for Confession) rips apart the Communion that is this Body. If you deny God by apostasy through the worship of occult practices of idolatry, deny him by invoking His Name and making false oaths, avoid coming to the Sacraments, then you forfeit life in Christ and break apart the Church through scandal and denying both God and others. This is the first tablet of the Commandments. If you reject your Christian parents, denying them the support they need, if you murder other Christians, if you break apart Christian marriages, kidnap family members of other Christians or steal from them to so great an extent that they are in want, bear false witness against other Christians to get them arrested, tried, sued, or executed, as well as covet their belongings (coveting being a sinister and deliberately planned firm resolution to take what does not belong to you, out of honour, greed, and envy), then you also rip apart the Body of Christ. We are not free, however, to treat non-Christians in any like manner since then we would fail in being “a light to the nations,” keep people from receiving the Gift of Faith, and also merit the fulfilment of natural death which is hell.
THEREFORE, mortal sin is “ripping the Body apart, and denying God who is the Body,” and this can only be healed when Church Authorities deal with the matter, casting out those who cause this, or providing the healing means whereby the offender is reintegrated within the Body after repentance and through Confession. Only sins that actually destroy the unity between Members of the Church in a real and visible way (coveting being the only exception) are truly mortal sins. Venial sins do this, too, but not to so great an extent with such dire consequences. What I’m saying is simple: mortal sin must be understood in a communal context with God and neighbour in a family covenantal understanding. Mortal sin is not the breaking of “rules” created before time began. Also, mortal sin is not natural law oriented in terms of philosophy, nor can it be a personal, hidden, sin that actually does not affect the Body like coveting would. Personal, hidden sins, apart from coveting, are still dangerous since they may weaken us to be open to committing mortal sin, but they are only venial. A mortal sin not only destroys the Body that is the Church but also requires Divine Intervention through the actions of the bishop, who casts out but also reintegrates the offender.
In the Old Covenant, the people were commanded to be, starting with Adam, Temple Builders…to bring the Presence of God, after the first sin, in a limited way, to the rest of the world, and to all people. But this was fulfilled in the Chosen Seed, the Seed of the Woman, Christ Himself, the final and true Temple Builder, resurrected in the Spirit! Furthermore, while the 10 Commandments are still binding, and the secondary penitential symbolic laws of the Mosaic Covenant no longer are, there was a real sense in which the Old Covenant people were in slavery to God. But we are no longer slaves, but Children of God, Heirs, Co-Redeemers, and Friends. Jesus, in fact, says “I no longer call you slaves, but friends” (paraphrased) in John’s Gospel.
