How long do Catholics normally go without committing mortal sin?

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Point is concupiscence. All of us - every single one - has an inbuilt attraction to sin. And all sin IS very attractive on some level or another. Sexual sin is pleasurable, as are drugs and alcohol on a superficial level. Some people murder in cold blood, not because they get some thrill out of it, but because it seems a quick way to solve problems that the victim may be causing, and that part of it is very attractive.

If mortal sin is so easy to avoid, why not venial sin as well? Why do any of us sin to any degree since we know ALL sin deeply wounds Christ? Why do all of us not ‘just say no’, as Nancy Reagan put it.
 
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LilyM said:
If mortal sin is so easy to avoid, why not venial sin as well? Why do any of us sin to any degree since we know ALL sin deeply wounds Christ?
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Venial sin is the type of habitual sin we commit by being thoughtless, by giving in to our small human faults (as opposed to some big temptation) or by acting on our human impulses without really thinking it through. Or by just not thinking of the other person but instead putting ourself first.
It can be diminished greatly, but it’s sort of like cleaning a kitchen counter. A mortal sin to me is like a big, obvious, dried spill that you may need to scour pretty hard to get rid of it, but it’s also not something that a careful person is going to have on their counter every day. Venial sins on the other hand are like dust specks that just constantly land there. You can wipe the counter quite a few times a day but you are going to miss some dust specks and some are going to land and sit there awhile before you can wipe them up.

I also think that while you’re correct that everyone has an “inbuilt attraction to sin”, for some people that inbuilt attraction is much less, or much less for the types of sins generally recognized as grave. Sexual sin and recreational drug use are the first ones you mention. I have met people in my life who were just not very attracted to either thing. It doesn’t mean they were sin-free, but it means that whatever pleasure they might have gotten out of the sex or drugs was so small in comparison to the gravity of the sin or the other negative consequences of the act in their mind, they just didn’t want to do those things. I doubt they could have relaxed enough to even feel good doing them.

I think it’s very common for people to assume that all people have the same level of concupiscence, or that if a particular person is tempted in a certain way, then certainly all other people must be feeling the same level of temptation. They simply aren’t. Some people feel temptation more strongly than others. Some people’s temptations are also for things that are not generally regarded as grave matter.
 
LilyM said:
Point is concupiscence. All of us - every single one - has an inbuilt attraction to sin. And all sin IS very attractive on some level or another. Sexual sin is pleasurable, as are drugs and alcohol on a superficial level. Some people murder in cold blood, not because they get some thrill out of it, but because it seems a quick way to solve problems that the victim may be causing, and that part of it is very attractive.

If mortal sin is so easy to avoid, why not venial sin as well? Why do any of us sin to any degree since we know ALL sin deeply wounds Christ? Why do all of us not ‘just say no’, as Nancy Reagan put it.
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I think a lot of venial sin is done by accident - that is why it isn’t mortal sin. I know for myself that sometimes I might say something that is basically gossip or caused by envy or pride but it is only afterwards that I examine what I said or did and realise that it wasn’t particularly edifying. I try to go through the 7 deadly sins at least once a day in my mind and see if I have committed any of them. I use a mnemonic to help me remember them all. I might be going through the list and think, ‘Oh yeah, I ate more than I needed, that was gluttony.’ - or whatever other sin I have committed. It helps me to see where I need to make effort.

I think our efforts please Jesus. He knows we make mistakes, but nothing says we love Him more than making efforts to please Him.
 
SergiusPaulus said:
Really? You’ve never been in a state of mortal sin? That means you’ve never deserved to go to Hell, then. That seems to be an unorthodox position, don’t you think?
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Nope. Mortal sin is not something that you stumble into. It must be deliberate. People who think that its as easy as breathing are the ones who are in the unorthodox position.
Paul in Romans 3:10-18 makes the point that all human beings (who are capable of reason) are under condemnation because they have deliberately turned away from God. Notice the language Paul uses. It’s not referring to merely venially sinning.
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That is not what that means. If you cross reference to the Old Testament, he’s referring to people who do not believe in God.

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Their deeds are loathsome and corrupt; not one does what is good.

The act of denying God’s existence is a mortal sin, by definition.
I’m aware of the skit you’re referring to. That is a good strategy, and we should stop sinning, even venially sinning. The question is whether or not anyone has measured up to the task (other than Jesus, of course).
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Many have done so. You might want to study the lives of the Saints. Try St. Therese Liseaux to begin.
You’re saying that you have, but the fact that you claim to have never committed a mortal sin you’re aware of leaves me skeptical, especially given what St. Paul says.
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Devout people who avoid the occasion of sin, easily avoid mortal sin. I doubt that any of the people you mentioned above have committed mortal sin in years.

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c1a8.htm#1856
 
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De_Maria said:
Many have done so. You might want to study the lives of the Saints. Try St. Therese Liseaux to begin.
You’re saying that you have, but the fact that you claim to have never committed a mortal sin you’re aware of leaves me skeptical, especially given what St. Paul says.
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I just wanted to add that although I cannot say for a fact that I know people who have never committed a mortal sin (I don’t know their souls or what they confess), I have lived in monasteries with women who inspired me with their holiness and whom I would have a hard time believing committed a mortal sin from one confession to the next, unless they continued to receive Communion while in such a state of mortal sin. We had confession once every two weeks, but had Communion every single day. I actually found it hard to find things to confess when the priest came, apart from venial sins like envy, pride, etc, and as I said elsewhere, these were usually unconscious sins that I consciously looked for during an Examen of Conscience. I do remember one or two confessions where I told the priest that I honestly couldn’t think of a single sin that I had committed since his last visit, even venial. At these times I just told him that I was sorry for any sins that I had committed unconsciously, without remembering and asked for forgiveness for these.

I find it hard to understand why people sin consciously, but it seems that there are others like @SergiusPaulus who find it hard to believe that some people don’t sin consciously! God has truly made us all unique.

Environment does help one avoid sin though, so if a person wants to avoid sin, they should look around at their environment and see how they can change it to make it easier to avoid sin.
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LilyM said:
… They are not generally let off the hook in terms of culpability unless they have some serious defect in understanding or seriously compromised ability to freely consent.
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Exactly what the Church teaches in the Catechism:
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.
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nunsense said:
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Yes all good comments. As the Catechism states something important about that relationship which you mention is so important in avoiding sin:
2562 According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain. …

2563 … The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant.

2564 Christian prayer is a covenant relationship between God and man in Christ. …
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Personally, I typically wind up committing a mortal sin every 2-4 weeks.

My wife has a very low sex drive, so no matter how much I try, I eventually give into unchaste desires. I’m weak and struggle badly with living as if I was celibate with my wife under the same roof and in the same bed.

Please pray for me.
 
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TheLittleLady said:
However, simply taking a second helping of pie is not gluttony.
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I do find it hard to define some sins. When does overeating become gluttony? Is overindulgence in other things also considered gluttony?
When does admiring an attractive woman become lust? If a man finds themselves checking out a woman but doesn’t really delve into sexual thoughts, is it sin? Sloth is another one difficult to define. I’m not getting any younger and I have a bad back. I’m retired and some days I don’t do much. Is that sloth?
 
There is a cool online version of the Catechism and of the Catholic Encyclopedia were you can learn in depth:

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a6.htm#2351
[2351] Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06590a.htm (The Gluttony entry)

" Clearly one who uses food or drink in such a way as to injure his health or impair the mental equipment needed for the discharge of his duties, is guilty of the sin of gluttony. "

You might also look up “food” in the Catechism.

2290 The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess : the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air.
 
I think one of the problems of practicing Catholics today are that most of us don´t attend Confession as frequently as we should - not because we don´t sin - but because we don´t look at our sins as “that serious”. We don´t sin any less than we did a hundred years ago, but the usage of the Sacrament has indeed reduced.

Personally, I´ve been to Confession for both venial and serious sins although I´ve only been a Catholic for - soon to be - two years. We all commit serious sins from time to time, and are indeed in need of God´s amazing grace.

Literally: thank God for Confession! 🙂
 
Tis_Bearself said:
St. Joan was speaking of herself, not making judgments about others.
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That’s correct. If one is uncertain of the state of their own soul then how much less certain must they be about others. Uncertain enough to not judge that others presume?
 
i don’t have to “judge that others presume” when people post openly on the forum that there must be people receiving unworthy communions because the confession lines aren’t very long at their parish but the communion line is. The person who posts that sort of thing is openly presuming right in front of my eyes.

We have had speculation on this thread also that most Catholics commit a mortal sin every 5 minutes. This by logical necessity would mean that most Catholics are not in a state of grace.
 
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Me too. The point I was trying to make is that I find myself in mortal sin quite easily. It’s easy to do and I haven’t found a way to conquer it either.
 
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