Questions concerning Mortal sin

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Hello everyone,

I have a few, perhaps somewhat odd questions concerning mortal sin.

For a while, I was under the impression that if someone commited a mortal sin, but did not know it was mortal, was still guilty of the mortal sin, because they had the will to commit the sin not knowing its gravity. But recently, I found this thread where Fr. Serpa was answering a similar question, and he says that you have to know it is mortal for it to be a mortal sin.
The thread is here for those who are curious → forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=4264
Anyway, this is my situation. Im 16 first of all. I was never taught the differences between sins in religous education classes, which I find odd, since it is a big deal. I went through life not knowing that certain sins are deadly (mortal sins) And like most teenagers, I commited certain sins which are objectively mortal sins. Of course, at the time, I assumed that certain really really bad sins , or a life of such sins could send someone to Hell if they did not repent (such as murder, adultery, serious theft etc) So basically this is what I am asking…For a period of about two years, I was really steeped in a sinful lifestyle, (spring of my 13th year to spring of my 15th year) I had no knowledge of mortal sin, I would not have even recognized the term at the time. I did alot of impure things, and If I had known the seriousness of what I was doing, I would have stopped. So basically this past lenten season, I guess a little less than a year ago, I learned what mortal sin was, and I went to confession the Saturday before Easter, and confessed all of these things whether or not I was actually culpable. Its just that now Im remembering things that I did during those two years, which I forgot to confess. eventhough though I know I am forgiven, I mention these things, As I believe we are supposed to if we forget. I have been to confession twice since that one, and I plan on going again this saturday, but I find that Im more anxious about confessing things which I have forgotten during the time when I was unaware of mortal sin, which I know I am forgiven for rather than things which I am going to confession for in the firstplace. So I ask…What am I supposed to do regarding sins committed in the somewhat distant past, where at the time, I was basically a different person, who did not have the same knowledge concerning sin that I have now. Should I keep mentioning these things as I remember them? I just want to let go, stop living in the past, and move on but I feel that past sins which I have been forgiven for are still coming up, and I feel that I must confess all these things. Am I right in thinking this way? Also, I know that If we commit a mortal sin, and forget to confess it, we are still forgiven, but we must mention it as an act of sorrow next time, but would my situation be the same thing? considering I did not know what mortal sin was?
 
You should ask this question of your priest in your next confession. He will guide you.
 
When one goes to confession, all his sins are forgiven including ones he has forgotten from the past. (providing of course that it is a true act of contrition) The exception would be if he is knowingly withholding a sin from the priest. So if you went to confession, and confessed all your mortal sins to the best of your ability, you are forgiven. However, if you begin to remember things that you are ashamed of, there is nothing wrong with going to confession again.
 
You could not have committed a Mortal Sin if you had no idea what you did was objectively grave and you could not give consent because of this lack of knowledge.

I would mention some of the most grave matter that you committed in future confessions just to ease your worry but you are completely forgiven and should not stress over this.

Defintely talk with a priest mainly to ease your fears. God loves you and His mercy is infinite. He knows you better than you know yourself. You are doing great for your age. Keep up the good work as you are a great example to others your age…God Bless you…teachccd 🙂
 
AaronsStaff,

First of all, it is wonderful to see a young person taking their faith seriously and working so hard to better themselves. As CaplV said, your sins were completely forgiven, every single one of them. If you remember things in the future then you can certainly bring them up as an act of sorrow, as you said. But they were already forgiven.

Confession is such a wonderful sacrament. It’s one of the things I loved the most when I really began living my Catholic faith seriously. I had a spiritual director tell me some things that were very good for me to hear. I thought I’d share them with you.

It’s important to remember that Confession is there for us to receive the grace of God’s limitless mercy. You are a new person when you walk out of a Confessional. It’s also important for us to trust in that mercy. I had a situation similar to yours in which I was way overanalyzing Confession. Did I say it right? Did I forget something? Should I bring up this again? and so on. The thing that stuck with me is when my spiritual director asked me this question: “Are you going to Confession to receive God’s grace and mercy, or are you going to Confession in an effort to forgive yourself?” It’s a wonderful question. As humans we may not always forgive ourselves as quickly as God does. And sometimes we may be tempted to take that sin to God again when that isn’t necessary at all. Does that make sense?

Trust in God’s mercy and remember that He does not see you the way you see yourself. You may have bits of guilt about the past but remember, God has forgiven you. With His grace we can begin to heal our own guilt and wounds. God bless you!

Peace!
 
When an objectively mortal sin was done without full knowledge of the gravity of the sin, it is not an actual mortal sin, but would be (generally) an actual venial sin. Venial sins are forgiven even without confession. Since you have made a good effort to confess these sins, they are all forgiven. You don’t need to continue to confess them or to worry about them. Just continue to confess any sins since your last confession.
 
Something to think about.

If you are in the state of mortal sin and you die you go to hell.

That is serious. It means God will not forgive you for your sin(s). Yet the Bible is filled with stories of God’s mercy, why would He choose not to be merciful to you when you died? The Church teaches that we can commit grave sins, sins that if we do not repent and seek forgiveness we may turn away from God and enter a state of mortal sin. If you read up on mortal sin in the catechism you’ll find that God must condemn you to hell for your sin to be mortal.

To put it another way, no man, or Church, can say you committed a mortal sin. Only God.

That doesn’t mean you cannot commit them. But to be in the state of mortal sin some folks would state that you have severed all relations with God. If you commit a grave sin and are truly sorry and still yearn for God you obviously have not severed all relations with Him.

So, when you say you have committed a mortal sin, or someone else has, you are judging them and condemning them to hell. It is not your place. Even for you to judge you.
 
larry85704 said:
To put it another way, no man, or Church, can say you committed a mortal sin. Only God.

So, when you say you have committed a mortal sin, or someone else has, you are judging them and condemning them to hell. It is not your place. Even for you to judge you.
Click to expand...
Very good point! Thank you.
 
larry85704 said:
So, when you say you have committed a mortal sin, or someone else has, you are judging them and condemning them to hell. It is not your place. Even for you to judge you.
Click to expand...
You are absolutely correct in understanding that only God has the final say. But, I would have to backup a tad when you say that you cannot judge you. After God, you are the only person who knows your relationship with God and with what intentions certain sins were committed. We cannot fall into the presumption that God’s infinite mercy will override our intention to separate ourselves form Him. Actually, I am only making a clarification because you are correct in terms of the final judgment. But I think that my point here is that we must judge our own actions and monitor them in accordance with the will of God. Only we can do that. Then, as you say, God is the final judge whose mercy and judgment are infinite…teachccd 🙂
 
So, let me see.

Being that I am married to a thief and a liar I go out and kill her. I know it is wrong, I am really mad at her and I am not sorry I did it. She deserved it. Now that is a pretty serious sin. If I did it would I say I committed a mortal sin?

Well suppose I talked to God and He convinced me that I was wrong. I am truly sorry but what is done is done. By talking to God, since it is my idea to talk to Him, I have not severed my relationship with Him. So, I probably didn’t commit a mortal sin. Now, in my very human sense of right and wrong I would say that a person that kills his wife, no matter how sorry he is, should go to hell. I’d even go so far as to say that the sacrament of confession should not save their soul because they cannot make an act of contrition. But my human sense of right and wrong runs afoul of parables such as the Prodigal Son. You know, I am not happy about spending eternity with a person that kills his wife. I think I can stand spending an eternity with somebody that used artificial birth control. I wonder about spending eternity with someone going around telling all the ABC users they are going to hell for using ABC.

Scary thought, kinda funny too.

But, I just assume we are all going to be running around heaven together. Imagine that, meeting all the people you maybe were not very nice to in your life. I wonder if we will remember how we were not very nice to people, knowing, since we are in heaven, how much God loves them. Scary thought.
 
hey there
don’t beat yourself up! if you feel the need to confess sins from your youth, do it but just once. do not reconfess sins b/c you don’t have to! it’s not good for you b/c it is stealing your peace. i went through a very similar situation which haunted me for quite awhile. i wound up confessing sins from my youth even though they were technically forgiven already and not mortal. i felt better. but then i had to just let it go and trust in God’s mercy. my priests helped me with this. it sounds like you could be struggling more with scrupulosity. God bless you
c
 
AaronsStaff said:
Hello everyone,

I have a few, perhaps somewhat odd questions concerning mortal sin.

For a while, I was under the impression that if someone commited a mortal sin, but did not know it was mortal, was still guilty of the mortal sin, because they had the will to commit the sin not knowing its gravity. But recently, I found this thread where Fr. Serpa was answering a similar question, and he says that you have to know it is mortal for it to be a mortal sin.
The thread is here for those who are curious → forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=4264
Anyway, this is my situation. Im 16 first of all. I was never taught the differences between sins in religous education classes, which I find odd, since it is a big deal. I went through life not knowing that certain sins are deadly (mortal sins) And like most teenagers, I commited certain sins which are objectively mortal sins. Of course, at the time, I assumed that certain really really bad sins , or a life of such sins could send someone to Hell if they did not repent (such as murder, adultery, serious theft etc) So basically this is what I am asking…For a period of about two years, I was really steeped in a sinful lifestyle, (spring of my 13th year to spring of my 15th year) I had no knowledge of mortal sin, I would not have even recognized the term at the time. I did alot of impure things, and If I had known the seriousness of what I was doing, I would have stopped. So basically this past lenten season, I guess a little less than a year ago, I learned what mortal sin was, and I went to confession the Saturday before Easter, and confessed all of these things whether or not I was actually culpable. Its just that now Im remembering things that I did during those two years, which I forgot to confess. eventhough though I know I am forgiven, I mention these things, As I believe we are supposed to if we forget. I have been to confession twice since that one, and I plan on going again this saturday, but I find that Im more anxious about confessing things which I have forgotten during the time when I was unaware of mortal sin, which I know I am forgiven for rather than things which I am going to confession for in the firstplace. So I ask…What am I supposed to do regarding sins committed in the somewhat distant past, where at the time, I was basically a different person, who did not have the same knowledge concerning sin that I have now. Should I keep mentioning these things as I remember them? I just want to let go, stop living in the past, and move on but I feel that past sins which I have been forgiven for are still coming up, and I feel that I must confess all these things. Am I right in thinking this way? Also, I know that If we commit a mortal sin, and forget to confess it, we are still forgiven, but we must mention it as an act of sorrow next time, but would my situation be the same thing? considering I did not know what mortal sin was?
Click to expand...
 
If you remember now some sins that were mortal, just tell the priest in confession at the time you did not think they were mortal and mention them to him. Once you mention your sins, they are forgiven and forgotten. You should NEVER repeat these sins again because they have been forgiven and forgotten. You will come out of confession with a clean slate.
 
i have another question regarding to this…

how if i have this sin that i do ‘occasionally’ (i.e watching pirated movie, etc.)
i know it is a mortal sin and i’ll be condemned to hell if i do it but i just can’t seem to avoid it. like somebody in the forum said before, it’s just like a habit.
i do repent my sin AFTER i did it, but now i’m confused to whether i should go for another confession with the same sins again. i’ve tried to avoid it and suceed for a while but i don’t know how and when, i caught myself in these sins again.
sometimes i’m not even sure on whether i feel guilty about it or just scared.
i do feel ashamed of myself. to God especially, but i don’t want to always go to confession and repeteadly confessing the same thing, as if i don’t respect Our Father. (which in this case, i think i’m not) 😦
how if God just get tired of me saying it to him in confession (i know he won’t but i just can’t help thinking about it), that it feels like not a repentace anymore
i just get baptized 2 years ago and sometimes i feel it’s like a burden that i can’t seem to be a good disciple of His.
please pray for me 😦

thanks in advance for any reply.
 
After reading this thread, I’d like a little bit of clarification. From what I understand from some of your posts, are you saying that if you commit a sin that would normally be mortal but do not completely indulge in it (i.e., it was your decision, not someone else’s, but you still didn’t completely consent to it) and afterwards you still yearn for God and want to be with Him and be “in His good graces”, it is not mortal? Would it then be venial, thus allowing you to go to Communion?
 
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