If you find out something is a mortal sin later?

[Mnhs10]

What if you do something and then later find out it is a mortal sin? Does it become a mortal sin if you find out later, and need to be confessed?

 

[1ke]

Grave matter is a mortal sin if you do it freely and knowing it is grave matter.

So, now you know and shouldn’t do it again.

Regarding confession, you can confess venial sins as well as mortal sins.

 

[BelovedofChrist]

It depends, before doing it if you say “I don’t think I should do this” ,like you are doubting whether or not you should do it: then it may be a sin. If it is done without thought and you feel humility right away and if you automatically say an act of contrition and trust God’s mercy you’re o.k.

 

[Vico]

What if you do something and then later find out it is a mortal sin? Does it become a mortal sin if you find out later, and need to be confessed?

It’s also no excuse if we fail to make the effort to form our conscience based on divine law as revealed in Scripture and Church teaching.

CCC Catechism of the Catholic Church

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

1783 Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings.

1784 The education of the conscience is a lifelong task. From the earliest years, it awakens the child to the knowledge and practice of the interior law recognized by conscience. Prudent education teaches virtue; it prevents or cures fear, selfishness and pride, resentment arising from guilt, and feelings of complacency, born of human weakness and faults. The education of the conscience guarantees freedom and engenders peace of heart.

1785 In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path, we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord’s Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church.

1792 Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one’s passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church’s authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.

2039 Ministries should be exercised in a spirit of fraternal service and dedication to the Church, in the name of the Lord. At the same time the conscience of each person should avoid confining itself to individualistic considerations in its moral judgments of the person’s own acts. As far as possible conscience should take account of the good of all, as expressed in the moral law, natural and revealed, and consequently in the law of the Church and in the authoritative teaching of the Magisterium on moral questions. Personal conscience and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral law or the Magisterium of the Church.

 

[odile53]

It’s funny: I was unaware of the “four o’clock rule” for the Anticipated Mass. On Holy Saturday, at work, I volunteered to take a group of patients to Mass at the hospital chapel, and thought I had fulfilled my Sunday Mass obligation. The Mass was at 2 PM, but the Easter Sunday daytime Mass was celebrated. Since the patients were all pretty stable, and there were only five of them, I was able to pay attention to the Mass and pray while I was monitoring them.

I thought I had fulfilled my Sunday obligation, but it turns out that I don’t think I did, from what I’ve read on these fora.

I think what I’m going to do is to go to confession and just run it past the priest. I really didn’t know about the four o’clock cutoff point, so I know that whatever I did wasn’t a mortal sin, but it’s still bugging me.

I mean, oh, crud. Did I actually miss Mass on Easter, of all Sundays???

I need to run this past an actual priest, and get some resolution for it.

 

[Vico]

It’s funny: I was unaware of the “four o’clock rule” for the Anticipated Mass. On Holy Saturday, at work, I volunteered to take a group of patients to Mass at the hospital chapel, and thought I had fulfilled my Sunday Mass obligation. The Mass was at 2 PM, but the Easter Sunday daytime Mass was celebrated. Since the patients were all pretty stable, and there were only five of them, I was able to pay attention to the Mass and pray while I was monitoring them.

I thought I had fulfilled my Sunday obligation, but it turns out that I don’t think I did, from what I’ve read on these fora.

I think what I’m going to do is to go to confession and just run it past the priest. I really didn’t know about the four o’clock cutoff point, so I know that whatever I did wasn’t a mortal sin, but it’s still bugging me.

I mean, oh, crud. Did I actually miss Mass on Easter, of all Sundays???

I need to run this past an actual priest, and get some resolution for it.

The time of 4pm is what one normally encounters in the US. The bishop may have made a declaration for the diocese. There are different canon law opinions on it, 12 noon, 2pm, 4pm: What is ‘the evening of the previous day’? Despite the view of some commentators that this should be interpreted as beginning only at 1400 hours (2 pm) on that day, it is the firm view of this commentary that the evening of the previous day begins at midday (12 noon) on that day itself. In some dioceses there is a local regulation to the effect that the so-called vigil or anticipated Mass may not be celebrated before, say, 5 pm or 6 pm: this is normally for pastoral reasons, e.g. to facilitate weddings or funerals in the parish and other churches. Those regulations do not in any way concern the time prescribed for fulfilling the obligation to assist at Mass: thus, e.g., if . . . a person were to attend a nuptial Mass in the early afternoon on a Saturday, that person would thereby have fulfilled the obligation.
The Canon Law: Letter & Spirit : A Practical Guide to the Code of Canon Law, Edited by Gerard Sheehy et al., 1995, p. 702. (Opinion of Fr. Raymond Browne)

 

[Bookcat]

The time of 4pm is what one normally encounters in the US. The bishop may have made a declaration for the diocese. There are different canon law opinions on it, 12 noon, 2pm, 4pm

I know there has been debate on this at times.

Check the New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (Canon Law Society) --I think I recall it noting there that the term used is “vespere” from which we get “vespers” and not the term for noon. So as I recall they note that noon would not be the time (otherwise the term for noon would have been used) …but rather point to the 4pm (which makes sense to me). But one would have to look --this is going from memory.

 

[anruari]

I am not a cannon Laywer.

I would say that you acted in good faith and did attend an Easter Mass which was intended explicitly for the Chaplaincy mission at the hospital. I would suggest that as you were unaware of “the 4 o clock rule” that you are genuinely innocent on this matter. Whether this mass meets the normal rule in your diocesse or not, I would assume that if it did not the priest had the appropriate dispensations from any local rule due to the nature of the chaplaincy.

I would tend to take the quote from Raymond Brown with a huge pinch of salt. While he is a prolific author, he is not the most respected as teaching unquestionable opinions.

I remember in Dublin there were some questions and restrictions on this matter. I remember the question being raised that the First mass on a Saturday should not be before the time of day that the last mass on the sunday is permitted. This draws from the fact that in traditional Jewish liturgy the day is considered to start at sundown and end at sundown.

Therefore to be strict about it a vigil mass should not be before sundown. and the last mass on a sunday must not be after sun-down. However due to variations in the time of astronomical sunset this gets interpreted more loosley, and the rules define “Evening” (Vesper). Except in extraordinary circumstances (such as the example given by the O.P.) I would not consider it appropriate to have a “Vigil Mass” in the early afternoon.

 

[Vico]

I know there has been debate on this at times.

Check the New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (Canon Law Society) --I think I recall it noting there that the term used is “vespere” from which we get “vespers” and not the term for noon. So as I recall they note that noon would not be the time (otherwise the term for noon would have been used) …but rather point to the 4pm (which makes sense to me). But one would have to look --this is going from memory.

A couple of treads on this forum has discussed it:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=492772

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=7445358

 

[odile53]

Well, now I know better. I’m going to make sure, if I do this next year, to get to either the evening Easter Vigil Mass or one of the daytime Easter Masses in addition to the early one at the hospital, and I’m going to stop obsessing about it, and leave it at that. I thought I was doing a spiritual work of mercy when I took those patients down to the Mass in the chapel, and I think I will remind myself of that, since that was my motive for doing so, not any attempt to get a jump start on a day off. Thanks for the well-researched replies, and I’m sorry if I hijacked the thread.