Mortal sin?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ihq]

I was reading a book about virtue and it listed elements where our world is lacking in self-control. One of the elements was a description of a horrific rape incident. I read this, several times in order to carefully understand it. I didn’t think it was sinful and I think that I was reading it simply to understand the true magnitude of the evil that it was. I had no impure thoughts or actions after this, and I did not want to commit sin, though I thought it might be sinful at the time. Is this mortal?

 

[John_of_Woking]

Scrupulosity will kill you. Seek help fast. I also suffer

 

[revert_jen]

I was reading a book about virtue and it listed elements where our world is lacking in self-control. One of the elements was a description of a horrific rape incident. I read this, several times in order to carefully understand it. I didn’t think it was sinful and I think that I was reading it simply to understand the true magnitude of the evil that it was. I had no impure thoughts or actions after this, and I did not want to commit sin, though I thought it might be sinful at the time. Is this mortal?

It cannot possibly be a mortal sin if you don’t know whether it is a mortal sin. So relax your mind on that. Three things are required for mortal sin:

1. Grave matter (the thing you did has to be really serious)
2. Full knowledge (you have to know that what you are doing is grave matter)
3. Full consent of the will (the possibility of mortal sin is reduced or eliminated if you are coerced, fighting a physical or psychological addiction or habit, etc.)

So what you probably really want to know is:

1. Is this sinful at all?
2. If yes, is it grave matter?

So, is it sinful at all? You know your own soul best, but from what you say, it wasn’t sinful. The only thing that has me wondering at all is that you seem to be confused about whether you thought it was sinful at the time, saying both, “I didn’t think it was sinful” and “I thought it might be sinful.” If you thought it might be sinful and kept at it, that might be a venial sin. In general, however, if you didn’t have impure thoughts, or any pleasurable feeling of power or anything like that, I extremely doubt whether it was sinful at all.

So given that it’s probably not sinful, that means it wouldn’t be grave matter either.

God bless you,

–Jen