Paragraph 1735 wasa big surprise to me. i have sought an authoritative explanation from a recent bishop in my diocese, from a populare priest on TV, another priest on TV who did a series on the CCC, and I sent a letter to the USCCB – no definitive explanation of 1735.
I discovered that subject is discussed elsewhere in the CCC, but I haven’t gone back over it systematically. On these forums, so often, people express opinions that are black-and-white, when they are in fact somewhat gray, at times.
The CCC is supposed to represent the deposit of faith, so people should accept 1735 as much as any other part of the CCC.
1735 says that habit might diminish or nullify one’s culpability for grave matter, but rather than accepting that, one of the priests deflected the subject and pointed to 1) the culpability for developing a habit in the first place and 2) the culpability for not trying to break the habit. Good points to ponder.
Another aspect of 1735 is how to apply it. Before any bishop came out and told people to skip Mass for a couple weeks because of the pandemic, I already skipped the Sunday Mass and went to Mass on a Monday. In my mind, it was a matter of “duress” to avoid the Sunday crowds (I am 70+ with underlying health issues). i invented social distancing before it became popular. And, almost every place I go, I see people coughing and hacking with no sense of hygiene or precaution for others. So, I pushed the “duress” button to excuse myself, ahead of time.
But, then, there’s the after-the fact situation, do I have to confess such-and-such for this-or-that reason. So, if you’re taking a run at the CCC, you mightwant to study such an issue.
Elsewhere, I have not absorbed Part 4 of the CCC on prayer. I didn’t know there was so much to say about it.
I started reading it on a basis of about 10 pages per day, which was quite easy to do. The other thing is to get the Compendium to the CCC, actiually larger than the CCC, which contains some expanded footnotes.
