Questions on Mortal Sins

[Bixido28]

Hello I’m brand new here, and just getting reacquainted with my Catholic faith. I’ve only been a true follower of Christ for a little over a year, so I’m still trying to figure things out.

I’ve heard of mortal sin, but only briefly in my life, and just last week, I ‘discovered’ it in a sense, and I haven’t been able to sleep well since. I’ve got so many sins to take care of, and although I set up an appointment for confession later this week, I still feel like it won’t take my pain away.

I almost hate myself for letting myself fall into all of these different sins, and it’s almost led me to think that I have no reason to even be here because all I’m ever going to do is sin. I haven’t ever felt this way, and although I’m certainly not suicidal (just very sad), it truly worries me that I’ve been so depressed since hearing of mortal sin. I usually delight in praising the Lord with writing and music and things like that, but for the last four days, I can’t think of Him without being ashamed.

I’m concerned that I’ll never be able to go to Heaven because I’ll always sin, which is something I’ve never really worried about before because Christ’s blood has covered my sins and I know right from wrong.

I just want this agony that I’m feeling to end so I can move on and be stronger, but I almost feel like I can’t do ANYTHING now without sinning. I feel incredibly trapped, and I feel like everything I’ve ever enjoyed doing (things like horseback riding and drawing and writing) is sinful in nature. I feel like I have no right to be happy anymore since I’ve sinned so much lately without true true repentance, and even though I’m extremely repentant now (I’ve caught myself crying in my sleep on several occasions and have been feeling low ever since I ‘discovered’ mortal sin), I just feel incredibly lost.

I’m sorry to just leave this on here and be like, “Help me.” but I don’t think I can wait to ask my priest these things. Anything you guys have to say is welcome. Just please, if I may ask of you, try to be gentle with what you tell me. I know this is all very backwards, but honestly, I’m a little backwards at the moment too, and I just don’t know what to do anymore.

Is this just a passing phase, or something to be truly concerned about (regarding my sadness, anyway, not mortal sin) Any suggestions or comments would be much appreciated Thank you so much for listening

 

[VonDerTann]

Bixido28:

Being a Christian is about having a relationship with God. It is NOT about being so sin-obsessed that we can’t function.

God loves each and every one of us, unconditionally.

What could possibly be sinful about horseback riding? There is nothing sinful about receiving joy from life. To the contrary, Jesus came so that we could have life and have it to the fullest. Moreover, Jesus himself enjoyed many aspects of life. The Bible tells us that he clearly enjoyed the company of others, sharing a meal with his friends, etc., and so too should be with us.

-VdT

 

[Bixido28]

Thank you very much I do apologize though, because I know it seems silly to read it. Thank you so much for your words God bless

 

[underacloud]

We should feel sad (remorseful) for our sins, but equally we should accept the forgiveness that God, through the church, offers us and let go of our sadness for past sins.

Many catholics worry excessively about which sins are venial and which are mortal. But like VonDerTann said, being a Christian is about having a relationship with God. Do you have a good understanding of mortal sin? It can seem quite a scary concept at times, but it essentially means one thing - that you deliberately turn your back on God; that you choose to reject God. Most sins we commit are because of weakness, even most very serious sins. In these sins we fail to live up to our faith, but this is not the same thing, not even close, to deliberately rejecting God. To commit mortal sin, the sin must be very serious (grave), you must know that it is serious and what the consequences of the sin are, and you must freely and deliberately choose it. If any of these requirements is not fully met, then the sin is not mortal. If you are not sure whether a sin was mortal or not, many theologians would state that it certainly wasn’t.

 

[Bookcat]

Compendium of the Catechism…issued by Pope Benedict XVI

1. When does one commit a mortal sin?

1855-1861
1874

One commits a mortal sin when there are simultaneously present: grave matter, full knowledge, and deliberate consent. This sin destroys charity in us, deprives us of sanctifying grace, and, if unrepented, leads us to the eternal death of hell. It can be forgiven in the ordinary way by means of the sacraments of Baptism and of Penance or Reconciliation.

1. When does one commit a venial sin?

1862-1864
1875

One commits a venial sin, which is essentially different from a mortal sin, when the matter involved is less serious or, even if it is grave, when full knowledge or complete consent are absent. Venial sin does not break the covenant with God but it weakens charity and manifests a disordered affection for created goods. It impedes the progress of a soul in the exercise of the virtues and in the practice of moral good. It merits temporal punishment which purifies.

…

Turn to Jesus…he is the good shepherd who loves you…

Yes mortal sin is very bad…

But once you get to confession (and perhaps even before if you have contrition out of love of God) …you will be “living in Christ!”…knowing true life

Have great trust in his mercy…

 

[Bixido28]

Thank you both very much

I’m afraid I still have a hard time distinguishing which of my sins would be considered mortal and which would be considered venial, which, according to what you said, means that they most likely aren’t mortal.

I also seem to have a hard time understanding what you mean by the word ‘grave’. I guess to me, all sin in grave in a way, and there are some sins that I’ve heard are considered mortal that I would not (in my own mind anyway) consider to be grave.

I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound difficult. I’m just still a little confused, unfortunately.

Thank you very much for your replies, though

 

[Laura15]

Have trust in God.
He loves you so much.
I know many people who love their Catholic faith, absolutely love it!
And they have beautiful relationships with God and they love to talk about their struggles with their faith and the many times they have prayed and the marvelous things that have happened. It is just wonderful to see someone with a great love and trust in God.
Let go and follow the Lord and He will guide you every step.
Have trust in His mercy.

God Bless you~

 

[AnneTeresa]

Dear Bixido,

I am relatively new coming back to the church too, and I understand what you are saying because I’ve had similar feelings. I have woken up in the middle of the night absolutely convicted of sin in my past and feeling heartbroken. The more you learn what sin is, the more you realize how entrenched it is in your life.

I had/have the same mortal/venial sin questions. There is so much to learn about the catholic faith and it feels important to know what is really serious, even if just to know what you must stop doing.

I’ve had people tell me just not to focus on sin, which I agree with to a point. It is important to focus on Jesus and his forgiveness. But in another way, I think this may just be part of what we deal with when we are so new in our catholic faith and trying to clean up our lives so we can draw closer to God.

I hope some more people answer here who have practical helps because I’m sure we are not the only 2 who are dealing with this sadness over sin.

 

[Bookcat]

Thank you both very much

I’m afraid I still have a hard time distinguishing which of my sins would be considered mortal and which would be considered venial, which, according to what you said, means that they most likely aren’t mortal.

I also seem to have a hard time understanding what you mean by the word ‘grave’. I guess to me, all sin in grave in a way, and there are some sins that I’ve heard are considered mortal that I would not (in my own mind anyway) consider to be grave.

I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound difficult. I’m just still a little confused, unfortunately.

Thank you very much for your replies, though

Yes all sins are …bad.

But some separate one from God…by which one rather separates himself from God. These are grave (mortal, grave, serious…all the same).

If one has then a grave matter (like murder, adultery, lust etc) and one does it with full knowledge and deliberate consent…it separates one from God…

One commits a mortal sin.

The Church of course determines many things that are grave …though there is no exhaustive list…for we can make up new ones

 

[Bixido28]

Thank you all so much It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in feeling this way.

And unfortunately, I’ve found lists that are never-ending with mortal sins. That’s why I’m so worried over this, because I don’t want to hurt God, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to keep track of all of them.

 

[Bixido28]

Okay, I have another question. I lied to my mom tonight when she asked me if I had reorganized my backpack like she had asked me to do. It was a spur of the moment thing, and halfway through it, I realized exactly what I was saying. I did the job halfway, but just didn’t feel like organizing everything completely. I had a doctor’s appointment today for something that has been causing me pain and stress for a few days, and I just didn’t feel like it was that important to organize my folders and my papers and things like that.

I didn’t mean to hurt her, just pacify her so I can have some peace. I’m extremely stressed and this injury has put me in a sour mood for the last four days. I’ve been very irritable because no one will leave me be (even though they mean well and are trying to help) , and I just didn’t feel like organizing everything.

Would this be considered a mortal sin? I’ve heard that all lying is considered mortal sin, but I don’t feel like this is a serious matter because it’s simply because I didn’t mean any harm by it, just to make her leave me alone because I’m in such an awful mood and in pain.

Sorry. I just feel badly about it, and I don’t want to have to miss the Eucharist this Sunday…

 

[EmeraldWings]

(Post 1 of 2)

The first thing you have to change is this saying “I can’t do it”, instead you should be saying, “I can’t do it alone”.
we are all weak without God, it is God who gives us the grace and strength to accomplish anything good in ourselves, and so if you can realize your complete and utter dependence on God for your spiritual growth, then you will have alot to hope for,
there is no reason to despair or become depressed when you know that it is God who helps you grow, God who loves you so much despite your sins,
just think, if Jesus went so far as to suffer and die for love of you for your sins, do you not think that He would also help you to overcome those sins as well? to suffer and die is a much harder thing to do, and i imagine that helping you to overcome your sins is a breeze in comparison(atleast on Jesus’ part)
of course you must make the effort, but as long as you trust and pray and have patience and persevere, then everything will be ok.

i have something though that i think will help you in distinguishing your mortal sins from your venial ones, but when you read it, don’t let it scare you, because there are helps and counsels in each chapter, and although you may have committed some of these sins in your past, they are not mortal sins for you unless you commit them again after you have found out…so don’t worry, you are safe, - gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=18604915
also, check out this site for some very good sermons from the FSSP -
audiosancto.org/
trust me, you won’t regret it :]

and about your question on lying, no not all lies are mortal sins, the kinds of lies that fall under mortal are the ones that would harm someone seriously, otherwise it is a venial sin,
of course you still should never lie, and if you don’t mind the advice, i would say that next time such a situation happens with your mother, just tell her the truth and explain why, she will understand…although if not, God will still bless you for telling the truth.

 

[EmeraldWings]

(Post 2 of 2)

i want to address your first post where you said this -

I almost hate myself for letting myself fall into all of these different sins, and it’s almost led me to think that I have no reason to even be here because all I’m ever going to do is sin. I haven’t ever felt this way, and although I’m certainly not suicidal (just very sad), it truly worries me that I’ve been so depressed since hearing of mortal sin. I usually delight in praising the Lord with writing and music and things like that, but for the last four days, I can’t think of Him without being ashamed.

I’m concerned that I’ll never be able to go to Heaven because I’ll always sin, which is something I’ve never really worried about before because Christ’s blood has covered my sins and I know right from wrong.

I just want this agony that I’m feeling to end so I can move on and be stronger, but I almost feel like I can’t do ANYTHING now without sinning. I feel incredibly trapped, and I feel like everything I’ve ever enjoyed doing (things like horseback riding and drawing and writing) is sinful in nature. I feel like I have no right to be happy anymore since I’ve sinned so much lately without true true repentance, and even though I’m extremely repentant now (I’ve caught myself crying in my sleep on several occasions and have been feeling low ever since I ‘discovered’ mortal sin), I just feel incredibly lost.

this is something you need to change, although you may not overcome it all at once, but you need to change that mindset as soon as you can, it is not the right way to think of it, and can actually be a hidden pride,
the truth is, those things you listed off; horseback riding, drawing, writing, they are good things to do and there is no sin in doing them, they are called recreations, and even priests and religious have them, the only thing to worry about regarding it is moderation, not having to much or to little,

you need to slow down and just take a deep breath and realize that God brought you to this point because He loves you and wants you to be good, and you can be sure that if He brought you this far, He is going to see you the rest of the way through as well,
you are not going to overcome all your sins at once, instead you are going to take it a step at a time and change at a gradual pace, that is the way God wants it, because otherwise, if you went to fast, it would just overwhelm you, which i’m sure you can well understand by the way you are getting overwhelmed just thinking about it,

one thing that you need to do is, put all your trust in God, when you say “I can’t do it” you are putting your trust in yourself,
but instead of thinking that way, you need to think instead “I can do all these things in him who strengtheneth me.” - Philippians 4:13
do not despair when you fall, because that again is a type of hidden pride, it is a disappointment in your own ability to do things, rather than an acknowledgment of neglecting Gods grace,
so instead when you fall, you may calmly, but sincerely, say you are sorry to God(and go to confession if it’s mortal) and say “It is because i did not implore your grace that i fell” or “It is because i did not use the graces you grave me that i fell”, or say “Lord, see how weak i am without you? please help me to do better next time”
you see? we tend to blame ourselves as if we have any power of ourselves, but the truth is, we can do nothing good without God, and so when we fall, it is because we did not use the graces He sent us, or did not ask for His help at all,
and it’s no reason to beat yourself up, God does not want that, He wants you to be at peace and He does want you to be happy,
you have to understand, that none of us “deserve” heaven, although we may earn it by our good works and by loving God, but in truth we only obtain heaven by Gods love and mercy, and it is for that reason that you should rejoice and be glad! you have such a loving and merciful saviour, He loves you despite your sins, and only wishes to help you overcome them so that He can be with you for all eternity.
and keep in mind, that God is not nearly as displeased when we fall from weakness, as He is when we fall on purpose without caring…
to God you are like a little baby who is learning to walk, and as we know babies fall and stumble many times in the process, but God is patient and understands that you need to learn to walk in your own time. overcoming sin once immersed in it, is a learning process, although it’s not so much learning how to stop sinning, but instead how to be virtuous, it is by growing in virtue that we overcome sin, and so that is what you need to learn about even more,

well, i think that is enough, but if you have any other questions please feel free to ask, and please check out those sites i gave you, i’m sure they will help much more than anything i have said.

ok, hope this helps, take care.