Mortal sin question

[roseb]

Hello everyone,
I am a bit confused by how to discern if something is mortal sin. I know if it’s something very bad like murder that’s obvious and I understand the three conditions have to be present. It just seems sometimes there can be an argument for those three conditions not being present and that makes it seem like it’s easy to “reason a way out”. For example, for it to be a mortal sin, one has to at the time of committing it: know it’s grave, and with free will choose to do it anyways. What if someone does something but doesn’t think at the time that they are deliberately and purposely doing something sinful (they know it’s bad but it’s done without intent to hurt someone but it does). Thank you for any help.

 

[puzzleannie]

short answer
an action that is objectively grave is always a mortal sin.
your question is actually about the subjective guilt or culpability for mortal sin by certain individuals acting under certain circumstances. and yes it is possible that an individual who performs and action that is objetively gravely sinful may not in fact be guilty of mortal sin for any of a number of reasons. And yes grave matter, full knowledge, and full free will consent are all necessary for mortal sin. T

he trap we must avoid is when it comes to intent. A good intention does not mitigate a mortal sin. We cannot for instance murder our elderly grandmother on the mistaken notion that an intention to spare her suffering is a motive that makes the action moral. The point you raise has to do with full knowledge. Sadly many Catholics are so badly taught nowadays that some of the most grievous and common–and damaging–mortal sins are never even raised in their education. It is one thing to be ignorant, it is another to be wilfully ignorant, however. One cannot say, “well yes I did hear the priest say that contraception is gravely wrong and a mortal sin, but I don’t believe it, so it is not a sin for me to follow my conscience.” We are responsible also to take charge of our own moral formation and to fill the gaps in our religious education, and to find out from reliable authority the true Church teaching on moral issues we face.

 

[roseb]

Thank you for your answer. If anyone has anything to add to that please post.

 

[jmcrae]

Hello everyone,
I am a bit confused by how to discern if something is mortal sin.

If something is bothering you, go to Confession anyway. If it’s a mortal sin, then it has to be confessed in the Confessional, and if not, well, there is no law that says you can’t confess sins that aren’t mortal in the Confessional. So, if in doubt, go anyway.

As you’ve already discerned, it’s easy to get yourself all tied up in knots, trying to figure out what your actual intentions were, at the time that you committed the sin.

Most people don’t commit sin with the conscious intention of hurting someone - usually, it’s done as a shortcut to something they see as a good thing. Even murderers (if they are sane) believe themselves to be contributing to the good of society - just in a very unorthodox way, that unfortunately results in someone’s death. But they console themselves by saying that the bad person who had to be got rid of did not suffer very much.

 

[roseb]

I have one more question: What if someone realizes that something they did in the past was grave matter but at the time they were young and did not even know that it would be bad and once they found this out they never did that again. Should it be confessed?

 

[McatholicN]

I have one more question: What if someone realizes that something they did in the past was grave matter but at the time they were young and did not even know that it would be bad and once they found this out they never did that again. Should it be confessed?

The sin would not be mortal seeing as one did not have full knowledge. Unless they knew that what they were doing was very wrong.

I would confess it, but it isn’t completely necessary.