mortal and venial sin

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K-McD:
I have an interesting twist to venial sins. Venial sins are forgiven when one goes to Mass. Do they still need to be confessed? I usually do because I want the counsel.
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No, they are not forgiven when one goes to Mass, per se.

They are remitted by a worthy reception of Communion, as well as a sincere general Confession of sins to God (such as the general Confession made in Mass), and even by Holy Water insofar as it excites contrition in your heart, so they are probably remitted when you go to Mass, but not because you go to Mass necessarily

They are under no obligation to be Confessedd, period, even if they aren’t remitted otherwise. However, at least with habitual sins it is a good practice to confess them, even if in generality.
 
I thank God and all of you for this topic and the great comments! 👍

My problem is that I tend to be quite hard on myself. Some people say that I ‘beat myself too much’ when it comes to defining what is mortal and venial. I do not wish to sin, because it hurts our Lord, but as a human, I cannot escape that.

I believe that I have not committed any serious sin. (Like someone said on here that ‘you’d know when you do commit it.’ But is doubt itself a sin?

I was not taught well enough for my understanding back in grade school (late 1960’s) and after returning back to the Church in 1997, I have picked up bits and pieces of a lot of things that I have missed as a young grade school student.

I just do not want to sin against the Trinity or have an unworhty acceptance of Holy Communion.
 
Edwin1961 welcome home!!!

Doubt in not a sin in of its self. Everyone has doubts from time to time. Just because you have doubts doesn’t mean that you aren’t worthy to recieve the holy Eucharist. Mortal sin needs to contain 3 things for it to be considered mortal…
  1. Grave matter -specified by the ten commandments taking into account the gravity of sins (murder is graver than theft) and whom is wronged (violence against the parents is graver than violence against strangers)
2/3. Full knowledge and complete consent -it presupposs knowlege of the sinful character of the act of its opposition of God’s law, it alos implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice.

(…taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church)

unless the sin meets all three of these requirements it isn’t mortal. Hope that helps and God bless.
 
Tyler,

Thanks for the post!

I just seem to be going through a Dark Night of the Soul thing that St. John of the Cross talks about. (and that is another topic to be discussed somewhere else on here).
Glory be to Jesus Christ! Glory be to Him forever! :bowdown: :bowdown2:
 
I hear you on the dark night of the soul, I have gone though that myself and it is not fun, I recomend just relaxing a little bit. Do you think it is a burn out ( just to many things to much religous stuff all at once) or just a period of trial?
 
Without making this personal, and hopefully not causing too much embarrassment for anyone … (indeed, I dunno if I should mention this one at all!!)

There is a lot of confusion out there about whether masturbation is a mortal or venial sin.

It WAS considered mortal ages ago, but I’ve heard that some priests or most priests regard it as venial.

What I mean is - is it grave matter IN ITSELF?

Human weakness, I guess, would be a mitigating factor, which might take it out of the “mortal” category.

This ain’t something I’ve mentioned in confession for the last couple of decades, so I don’t know what priests in confession generally are saying about it.
If no-one replies, I’ll know I shouldn’t have mentioned this topic!!
:o :o :confused:
 
LOL, you missed the sexual self gratification thread.

My suggestion, if you want to overcome it, is to confess it. If you’re embarrassed, go to a priest in another city. (London is a good choice ;), they have very nice confessionals at Westminster Cathedral )
 
i think just about any sexual sin would be grave matter, in and of itself; just because of the important part God has given our sexuality in His design for the salvation of humanity. But, i actually do not even look at my sins as mortal or venial, because i confess every thing i can think of that i consider a sin and let the priest guide me if necessary. The important thing for me, well the 2 important things i get from confession: forgiveness for my sins and the grace to resist future temptation (especially with frequent confesssion). i find that if i go for more than a couple of weeks i am much more likely to slip back into bad habits and given into the temptation to sin.
 
I’d say it’s mortal if you know it’s something that is forbidden and do not refrain. Then too there could be mitigating circumstances of not keeping out of the occasion of sin…

Oh, on withholding mortal sins under the presumption that they are forgiven in the sacrament… this sin actually nullifies the whole Confession so that none of the sins confessed are actually absolved. It’s serious. Tell the priest first off, and let him guide you. Make sure it’s a good priest who values the sacrament of confession!
 
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MooCowSteph:
That’s what I thought. AND, here’s the kicker! I am learning that if you deliberately withhold a mortal sin in confession, that itself is a sin. AND, since I did just that, I am guilty of the sin, guilty of the sin of withholding the sin, and guilty of the sin of pride from withholding the sin! AAHHH! TOO MANY SINS! :eek:
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Kellie and Moo, you cannot commit a sin without knowing that you are sinning. If you were misinformed and really thought you didn’t have to confess the other mortal sins, then you are not guilty of withholding the sins in confession. It is still necessary to confess them now, because you now understand, but don’t beat yourselves up over the misunderstanding. To sum up: if you commit an act without knowing that it is sinful (being really sincere about this is important - if you have an inkling that it’s wrong, you have the duty to find out whether it is or not), then you do not commit a sin, even if you find out later that the act is sinful. Of course, once you find that it’s sinful, you’ll want to make sure that you don’t do it again and try to rectify whatever wrong has been done. Technically, you don’t have to confess it, but I think it’s wise to bring it up anyway. By the time you read this, you will have been to Confession and straightened it all out, but for others, I would recommend that you just lay it all out for the priest and move on from there.

Betsy
 
I was away from the church for over 30 years, and as so many of my generation (I’m 50 something) was involved in just about everything I shouldn’t have been in.
When I went to confession it turned out to be face to face :eek: I almost left when I found that out but somehow made it in the door of the reconcilliation room. I just couldn’t get all the words out but I said in the time since my last confession I had broken all the laws of the church and was mortified by my actions. Father was very good to me, he didn’t give me absolution then. My 2nd husband and I had been married by a jp and he helped us get everything we needed to be married in the church.

Sometimes I wonder if I have made a good confession because I didn’t name every act individually. :confused: I guess there are more out there that feel the same way.
maggiec
 
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MooCowSteph:
OK, I’ve been reading about mortal and venial sin, and now I am afraid I may be in a state of mortal sin. I was always taught that when you go to confession, you do not necessarily have to confess everything single thing you’ve done, but that all your sins will be washed away anyway, assuming you go with an open heart and are sorry for all your sins. Now I am reading contradictory things saying you must confess EVERY sin you’ve committed, and that withholding a confession of a sin is in itself a mortal sin! Which is true! (I’m on my way to confession tomorrow either way. I can’t handle the stress!)
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NO, If you think you are in the state of mortal sin and you’re not sure, then you’re probably not. There has to be three things present for a sin to be mortal: Grave matter, Full knowledge, and Deliberate consent. And reguarding if you forgot a sin, if you truly forgot a sin and didn’t confess it don’t worry, because any sin you truly forget will be forgiven at the words of absolution. If you go to confession and confess all the sins you remembered, but then while driving home you rememered a sin you hadn’t confessed, you don’t have to confess that sin. I mean it would be silly to go to confession then remember a sin and go back and say, “Bless me Father for I have sinned, I was just here 5 min. ago and I forgot a sin.” Now, if you are willfully withholding a sin then that is another sin in itself. Think of it, people come back into the Church after 60 years --do you think that they will remember EVERY sin that they commit? NO. Oh and it sounds to me like you are a very devout Catholic. I think this because you are stressed out about not confessing a sin you remembered and that sounds like you are sorry for it–that is good, but that sin, if you forgot it, was absoved already. God Bless
 
when you get to the confessional please ask your priest exactly in the manner that you have asked this forum, i’m sure you will be a happier camper with his answer, advice, and absolution… 👍
 
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