Questions about the conditions of sins

[ImperialPhoenix]

I have been looking through wikipedia about the two sins, venial and mortal (Wiki is my only source at the moment). In reading, I came up with a few questions.

1. What does “grave matter” mean?
2. Does a venial sin turn into mortal sin after gaining knowlage that the act is sinfull? I understand that in order for sin to be mortal, that it needs to meet all of the three conditions.

I became curious and conserned since I know that I may have comited sins in the past with full consent but had no knowlage that it was sinfull.

 

[mercygate]

ImperialPhoenix:

I have been looking through wikipedia about the two sins, venial and mortal (Wiki is my only source at the moment). In reading, I came up with a few questions.

1. What does “grave matter” mean?

It means that something is inherently evil; it is something that we can know is evil even if nobody tells us. Sins against the Commandments are “grave matter.” Murder, theft, adultery: sins against the cardinal virtues: disobedience to the discipline of the Church (because the Church is the Body of Christ) . . .

1. Does a venial sin turn into mortal sin after gaining knowlage that the act is sinfull? I understand that in order for sin to be mortal, that it needs to meet all of the three conditions.

Not retroactively. But think of it this way: The thing IN ITSELF is evil. It is a mortal sin by definition. Whether God will hold you fully culpable for it depends on the mitigating circumstances, on whether you knew it was a mortal sin, and whether you consented to it fully.

I became curious and conserned since I know that I may have comited sins in the past with full consent but had no knowlage that it was sinfull.

If that is the case, with your newly converted conscience, you might at some point wish to make a general confession – a confession of the sins of your whole life. I would not do this on a whim or without deep preparation, but I can tell you that as a convert coming into the Church, the opportunity to go back over EVERYTHING in my life, to clear out the cellar so to speak, was the most beautiful thing I ever did in my entire life.

 

[martino]

a mortal sin can never be anything but a mortal sin; however for a person to be charge with a mortal sin they must have had full knowledge that the particular action was a mortal sin before they committed it.

Lack of knowledge or consent cannot lessen the gravity of an act; it can only lessen the culpability of the person who commits the act.

Not everyone who commits serious sin because of lack of knowledge will be spared total accountability; lack of knowlege only protects those that “through no fault of their own” did not have the knowledge about the sinfullness of an act. The Church’s teachings are readily available to anyone willing to seek them out. Negligence to study our faith does not amount to “invincible ignorance” but instead “willfull ignorance” which is a sin it itself.