Receiving Commuion with possible mortal sin

[phil8888]

I have a double-question.

1. If one is unsure whether a sin committed is mortal, should he receive communion anyway, or should he avoid it? The sin I am specifically speaking of is a sin of addiction that I am fighting.
2. This part is a little more complicated, but ties into the first. As people here probably know, since Vatican II (according to what I hear, since I wasn’t born pre-VI), confessionals had higher attendance, and not everyone received communion, because obviously you should not receive communion if you are aware of a mortal sin. My question is this. I sometimes I feel I may be aware of a mortal sin I committed (although not always sure). I go to Mass with my whole family (parents and brothers), and everyone invariably goes to confession. I know I should not receive communion while in a state of mortal sin, but it seems like every single person goes up, and I think it would look awfully strange if I did not go up and my family would be quite suspect of what would be going on. I would not feel comfortable telling them I may be guilty of a mortal sin, and I think it could cause a lot of embarrassment, and they would be confused to say the least. What complicates this more is that I’m not sure if my sin qualifies as mortal, since, as I mentioned above, it involves an addiction.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[thistle]

I have a double-question.

1. If one is unsure whether a sin committed is mortal, should he receive communion anyway, or should he avoid it? The sin I am specifically speaking of is a sin of addiction that I am fighting.
2. This part is a little more complicated, but ties into the first. As people here probably know, since Vatican II (according to what I hear, since I wasn’t born pre-VI), confessionals had higher attendance, and not everyone received communion, because obviously you should not receive communion if you are aware of a mortal sin. My question is this. I sometimes I feel I may be aware of a mortal sin I committed (although not always sure). I go to Mass with my whole family (parents and brothers), and everyone invariably goes to confession. I know I should not receive communion while in a state of mortal sin, but it seems like every single person goes up, and I think it would look awfully strange if I did not go up and my family would be quite suspect of what would be going on. I would not feel comfortable telling them I may be guilty of a mortal sin, and I think it could cause a lot of embarrassment, and they would be confused to say the least. What complicates this more is that I’m not sure if my sin qualifies as mortal, since, as I mentioned above, it involves an addiction.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you are not sure then play safe and do not receive. Remember its not mandatory to receive even when you are in a state of grace (apart from Easter).
Just go to Confession and ask the priest.

 

[porthos11]

Let’s put it this way.

There is no such thing as a “possible mortal sin.” It’s either mortal sin or it isn’t.

Moreover, there is no such thing as “unsure of mortal sin.” If you’re not sure (and that means, HONESTLY not sure and not just deceiving yourself or you just tried to avoid finding out) then it cannot be a mortal sin. If you’re in mortal sin, you will know it.

People tend to forget that there are three necessary conditions for mortal sin.

If you’re fighting an addiction, that may diminish the third requirement, but nevertheless, in a case like this, Confession is a must, and is essential to the overcoming of the addiction.

Always trust your priest.

 

[baltobetsy]

And if you are not in the condition to receive along with your family, why not simply mess up your one-hour fast prior to Communion. “Oops, I had coffee!”

Seriously, though, you should discuss this with your priest in Confession to lay out ground rules for when you may receive and when you may not.

This article, about a third of the way through, discusses dealing with certain addictions. I don’t know if this is your addiction, but it does shed light on defining an addiction in general.

Betsy

 

[MarcoPolo]

I’d recommend finding a weeknight confession at a local parish. Later in the week might help you if your addictive sin is frequent. Then you can get yourself in order prior to Sunday, not to mention, the efficacy of confession is quite powerful in destroying addictions. Perseverence in this will help you overcome.

Also, read about Sacramentals in the Catechism paragraphs 1667-1679. Many of them are efficacious in overcoming sins.

God be with you!

 

[mschrank]

You know, Padre Pio said that unless you were sure you were in a state of mortal sin you should recieve communion.

Just passing it on. I usually go by that rule.

Then on the other hand, I have managed to root out the mortal sins I used to regularly engage in (I am a convert) so I would definately know if I had.

 

[ToMo]

Do not concern yourself with what others are thinking!!! There have been many a time when my wife and I have gotten up out of our seats, permitted the other people in the row to enter the procession up the center aisle, and then got back into our row, onto our knees and prayed for mercy and made a spiritual communion.

Several times when my mother-in-law was living with us, she would ask why we weren’t going up, or even what we had done! I would just answer that I need to go to Confession first, and if she persisted in asking what I had done, I politely said that it was between God and me.

Have strength!

 

[ToMo]

People tend to forget that there are three necessary conditions for mortal sin.

This is true…but one of the three conditions is much harder than the other two to deal with: grave matter…

I think it is far easier to know if you have had full knowledge and acted deliberately…I can know that I meet these 2 conditions, but whether or not the sin is of grave matter could be open to debate…that is what I have sometimes struggled with…and that is why if I have any doubts at all, I do not receive communion.

 

[mercygate]

I have a double-question.

1. If one is unsure whether a sin committed is mortal, should he receive communion anyway, or should he avoid it? The sin I am specifically speaking of is a sin of addiction that I am fighting.
2. This part is a little more complicated, but ties into the first. As people here probably know, since Vatican II (according to what I hear, since I wasn’t born pre-VI), confessionals had higher attendance, and not everyone received communion, because obviously you should not receive communion if you are aware of a mortal sin. My question is this. I sometimes I feel I may be aware of a mortal sin I committed (although not always sure). I go to Mass with my whole family (parents and brothers), and everyone invariably goes to confession. I know I should not receive communion while in a state of mortal sin, but it seems like every single person goes up, and I think it would look awfully strange if I did not go up and my family would be quite suspect of what would be going on. I would not feel comfortable telling them I may be guilty of a mortal sin, and I think it could cause a lot of embarrassment, and they would be confused to say the least. What complicates this more is that I’m not sure if my sin qualifies as mortal, since, as I mentioned above, it involves an addiction.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Others will disagaree with me on this but here goes.

If you are unsure whether a sin is mortal based on whether you are subjectively culpable, that tends to beg the question. If I were aware that something I have actually done with full awareness is, objectively taken, a mortal sin then I would refrain from receiving Communion until I had repented, confessed, and firmly proposed to amend my life. Addiction or no.

The distinction between objective sin and subjective culpability is what you are asking about with. Technically subjective culpability is mitigated by certain conditions, addiction being one of them.

In my judgment (personal, not in any way authoritative), treating an objective sin as if it were subjectively mortal (even if you COULD squeak by on that technicality) for the purpose of assisting me to amend my life would be a good move.

The business about being embarrassed because your family is around is bush-wah. If I had a kid who was refraining from Communion but who otherwise was on board with the faith, I would assume that he had something going on that was none of my business. If he asked me to take him to confession, I would do it: no questions asked. If he never went to Communion and never went to Confession, I might try to have a conversation about where he’s going in his faith journey.

It’s one thing to skip Communion from time to time. It would be another thing altogether to stand down for months on end.

 

[porthos11]

This is true…but one of the three conditions is much harder than the other two to deal with: grave matter…

I think it is far easier to know if you have had full knowledge and acted deliberately…I can know that I meet these 2 conditions, but whether or not the sin is of grave matter could be open to debate…that is what I have sometimes struggled with…and that is why if I have any doubts at all, I do not receive communion.

That’s just what I’m saying. If you have true, sincere doubts as to the gravity of the sin, then the second condition, namely that of full knowledge, is missing. Therefore, such a sin cannot be considered mortal.

 

[mercygate]

That’s just what I’m saying. If you have true, sincere doubts as to the gravity of the sin, then the second condition, namely that of full knowledge, is missing. Therefore, such a sin cannot be considered mortal.

Porthos1, I think you need to consider the point of objective matter. If the Church views a thing as objectively sinful (and mortally so) taken in itself, apart from full knowledge full will, then it IS a mortal sin, and one’s personal doubts about that do not mitigate that. In fact, to commit that sin and to self-justify it on the grounds of one’s own doubts is to doubt the Church.

We’re starting to make a snowball here.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

That’s just what I’m saying. If you have true, sincere doubts as to the gravity of the sin, then the second condition, namely that of full knowledge, is missing. Therefore, such a sin cannot be considered mortal.

Mortal sin is mortal is mortal because one prefers self to God, even if this means damning onself. Fighting an addiction to sin is not a way of preferring self to God - it proves that one wants to put God first. So fighting an addiction to a sin, is incompatible with mortal sin.​

Mortal sin is deliberately malicious - it is so radical a turning-away from God, that it cannot possibly be committed by mistake, or without knowledge: as has already been said by others, one knows when one has committed one.

Besides, where a sin is an addiction, one is not completely a free agent: one’s freedom is lessened: another reason that the mortally sinful character of the OP’s action can be doubted. It may even be free of culpability. Solution - see a priest.

 

[mschrank]

Porthos1, I think you need to consider the point of objective matter. If the Church views a thing as objectively sinful (and mortally so) taken in itself, apart from full knowledge full will, then it IS a mortal sin, and one’s personal doubts about that do not mitigate that. In fact, to commit that sin and to self-justify it on the grounds of one’s own doubts is to doubt the Church.

We’re starting to make a snowball here.

Yeah, what he said. You do not have the authority to decide for yourself what is and what is not a mortal sin. It’s not about what you think or feel.

 

[phil8888]

That makes a lot of sense guys.

 

[mercygate]

That makes a lot of sense guys.

If you’re a teenager and you can actually grasp the difference between objective evil and subjective culpability, you are a gazillion miles ahead of a LOT of people in the Church. In my experience, even a lot of priests don’t really get this and they tell people that something is not a mortal sin because, subjectively speaking, some sitiuation has mitigated the culpability. Nevertheless, when you look at the action objectively, not in the circumstances of a person’s condition (addiction, full knowledge, full consent), the thing in itself is a sin. Confessors would do better to boost people’s will to struggle against such a besetting sin than confuse them by telling them “it’s not a sin.”

Any person in the heat of such a battle should stay close to confession and take his confessor’s advice on receiving Communion. As I mentioned, I might personally use fasting from Communion as a means of reinforcing my drive to overcome the problem. Again: the spiritual advisor’s counsel would be invaluable and a much better guide.

 

[blessedstar]

Categorically, if you are unsure whether you have committed a mortal sin then you can go to Holy Communion. To commit a mortal sin there are three conditions:

1 Grave matter
2 Knowledge that the sin is of grave matter
3 A deliberate committing of the sin with full and free consent to it (in other words a full rejection of God with full knowledge of the sin committed)

Most habitual sins are classed as venial because of the addictive nature of the sin concerned which lessens the persons free choice of will to willingly sin against God, thus rendering the sin not mortal.

If you are enduring an addiction to a given sin of grave matter then go and talk to your Priest about it outside of set confession times. Make an appointment with your Priest and discuss it with him, he will have alot of good advice for you and will be able to help you to stop committing this sin. You have no need to be embarrassed, Priests are people who see people from all walks of life with different problems and backgrounds; you won’t shock the Priest you know . The Priest will be most kind to you and will be very pleased to help you. Go to the Priest you always talk to and have good chats with, he is the one to help you.

Make a good confession and try and keep away from situations and things that tempt you to fall into this sin.

Keep praying to Jesus and ask Him to help you with this, Jesus always loves to help His Children.

Don’t worry, you are very sincere and the Priest and Jesus will help you, I’m certain about that. Always listen to your conscience and if anyone ever says anything to you about going to communion or not going to communion, tell them in a very kind way - ‘You don’t have anything to worry about mother/father etc, this is private and between me and God’, - no-one not even your mother has any right to know about what goes between you and God. Your soul belongs to God, not to your mother even if she asks out of concern.

As for others receiving the Eucharist, we cannot judge, only they can judge whether their soul is fit for Jesus to come to it in Holy Communion.

In the Living Prayer of my life.

 

[porthos11]

Porthos1, I think you need to consider the point of objective matter. If the Church views a thing as objectively sinful (and mortally so) taken in itself, apart from full knowledge full will, then it IS a mortal sin, and one’s personal doubts about that do not mitigate that. In fact, to commit that sin and to self-justify it on the grounds of one’s own doubts is to doubt the Church.

We’re starting to make a snowball here.

No. A grave sin is not mortal apart from full knowledge. Objectively grave is only the first requirement. Lest anyone forget, the Catechism states

**1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met:    "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter** and which is also    committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent."[131]

1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother.”[132] The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.

1859 **Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart[133] do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin. **

So I’m sorry, but I must strongly disagree with your assessment. Objective grave matter in and of itself does not a mortal sin make. Simultaneous full knowledge and complete consent must be present AT THE TIME OF COMMISSION.

That’s why I clearly qualified my first post here, that the doubts must be sincere and not feigned, or intentionally maintained (the so-called plausible deniability) for that only increases the culpability. This means that if there is doubt, the sinner is OBLIGATED to research on the sin or ask his confessor, but any genuine doubt AT THE TIME mitigates this requirement and renders the sin venial.

 

[tvdxer]

I have a double-question.

1. If one is unsure whether a sin committed is mortal, should he receive communion anyway, or should he avoid it? The sin I am specifically speaking of is a sin of addiction that I am fighting.

As far as I know, it’s acceptable to receive communion if one honestly doubts whether or not they have a committed a mortal sin.

I base this on: 1) a pre - V2 catechism called “My Catholic Faith”, 2) the answer of a priest at the old Ask Father site, 3) another similar answer I think I saw somewhere. At the EWTN site, a questioner asked a priest this, and he responded in the negative. This is the only exception to the other three I am aware of.

1. This part is a little more complicated, but ties into the first. As people here probably know, since Vatican II (according to what I hear, since I wasn’t born pre-VI), confessionals had higher attendance, and not everyone received communion, because obviously you should not receive communion if you are aware of a mortal sin. My question is this. I sometimes I feel I may be aware of a mortal sin I committed (although not always sure). I go to Mass with my whole family (parents and brothers), and everyone invariably goes to confession. I know I should not receive communion while in a state of mortal sin, but it seems like every single person goes up, and I think it would look awfully strange if I did not go up and my family would be quite suspect of what would be going on. I would not feel comfortable telling them I may be guilty of a mortal sin, and I think it could cause a lot of embarrassment, and they would be confused to say the least. What complicates this more is that I’m not sure if my sin qualifies as mortal, since, as I mentioned above, it involves an addiction.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I don’t know if you live at home and go with your parents - otherwise you can simply go to a different mass, can’t you? If you do live with your parents, try being the last of your family in the line for communion and just receive a blessing.

 

[mercygate]

No. A grave sin is not mortal apart from full knowledge. Objectively grave is only the first requirement. Lest anyone forget, the Catechism states

So I’m sorry, but I must strongly disagree with your assessment. Objective grave matter in and of itself does not a mortal sin make. Simultaneous full knowledge and complete consent must be present AT THE TIME OF COMMISSION.

That’s why I clearly qualified my first post here, that the doubts must be sincere and not feigned, or intentionally maintained (the so-called plausible deniability) for that only increases the culpability. This means that if there is doubt, the sinner is OBLIGATED to research on the sin or ask his confessor, but any genuine doubt AT THE TIME mitigates this requirement and renders the sin venial.

I do not challenge the catechism. The point I make is that today we tend to ignore the FACT that certain matter is OBJECTIVELY grave. We tend to dismiss the objectivity of sin and emhasize the SUBJECTIVITY of the culpability.

This is a ticket to relativism. It is pastorally useful to assure a penitent that his particular situation may render a sin non-mortal because of some personal mitigation. It is not useful for priests to say in confession that something is “not a sin” based on the mitigations as has frequently been done in recent years.

 

[johnstown_johnn]

The body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit; taking drugs is a defilement of same.

Receiving Christ in the Eucharist must always have a preparation of sinless heart and soul. To do otherwise is a sacrilege.

Receive “Spiritual Communion” when in doubt and seek counsel.