The moment before sin

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Lance917

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Hi,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

For a while I’ve been thinking a lot about the very moment before we give internal consent to sin. The moment we rationalize to ourselves that it’s okay to give in. In my case, it’s some vague combination of “it’ll give me much-needed (though short-term) pleasure,” and “there really won’t be any long-term (physical / mental / spiritual) consequences.”

My specific question is: what do you do to overcome this weakness at the moment of consent? The obvious answer is to pray, but when facing temptation and having to do battle with your own rationalizations, many times prayer never even makes it up to conscious thought. Is there anything you can think, say, or do specifically that helps? Or is the answer to develop such a constant, consistent prayer life, a 1 Thessalonians 5:17 kind of thing, where you never get to that moment of consent?

Please no snarkiness, I ask in all sincerity. I suffer from a few habitual sins that, while not “major” in the view of the modern world, are legitimate sins according to the church. I’d like to make better progress overcoming them instead of reiterating the same catalogue of sins every time I go to confession.

Any thoughts / advice greatly appreciated!
 
One could say many things…and can find various books to assist in this…

a few thoughts this morning:

A life of prayer…friendship with Jesus Christ our Lord…the Holy Spirit, frequent Holy Communion, Confession, particular examine, lectio divina, mortification, penance, recourse to Our Lady, practice of the presence of God/recollection, renewal of ones baptismal promises in some manner daily as a disciple of Christ…and recalling thus that one has renounced the devil and all his pomps, remembering “the two ways”, mortification, prayer, frequent spiritual reading, spiritual direction/regular confessor, understand and live the reality of baptism --of being a Christian, remembering that one is “in Christ”…are are ‘saints’…meditating on particular passages of the New Testament regarding our new life in him…our break with sin …how we are to live…virtue etc etc.

Remember that in regards to venial sins… while we should avoid deliberate venial sins…as well as others…we will due to our weakness and the state of things…still struggle with venial sins (apart from a special grace of God!) …and we should let them humble us when they happen…and turn to the mercy of Jesus right away in prayer and an act of love…and bring good out of them…and not loose heart…but turn to the Lord …for this reason we pray daily “forgive us our trespasses…”

Remember if we are in a state of grace…we are living in Christ…we are saints!

"At the beginning of Christianity, the members of the Church were also called “saints”. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul addresses “those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor 1: 2). Indeed, Christians are already saints because Baptism unites them to Jesus and to his Paschal Mystery, but at the same time they must become so by conforming themselves every more closely to him. Sometimes, people think that holiness is a privileged condition reserved for the few elect. Actually, becoming holy is every Christian’s task, indeed, we could say, every person’s! The Apostle writes that God has always blessed us and has chosen us in Christ “that we should be holy and blameless before him… in love” (Eph 1: 3-5). All human beings are therefore called to holiness, which ultimately consists in living as children of God, in that “likeness” with him in accordance with which they were created. All human beings are children of God and all must become what they are by means of the demanding process of freedom. God invites everyone to belong to his holy people. The “Way” is Christ, the Son, the Holy One of God: “no one comes to the Father but by me [Jesus]” (cf. Jn 14: 6). "

~Pope Benedict XVI

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20071101_all-saints_en.html
 
Let us follow Jesus of Nazareth …in him is true life

and in our struggle with daily sins…let us quickly turn with love to him…and then continue following …

and should we fall…let us quickly turn our hearts by his grace again to he who is the Good Shepherd…who laid down his life for his sheep…let us cry out to him and receive his mercy and life again…in contrition and absolution…and again follow him in joy.
 
Lance - this is a good question and one that is quite personal.

Something that helped me as I battled a grave and very personal sin, was to pray, “Father take me to the foot of the cross”. Then to ponder on that vision. It became very powerful and the more I meditated on it, the more real it became.
The Hard, black wood of the cross, sunk into the ard earth made muddy by the blood, and sweat, tears and water fromthe lance wound, all dripping from the nailed feet. (I rarely could look up any higher than maybe the ancle or calf of the leg.
Sometimes the image becams so real I could sense the heat of the day, and the smells of dirt, and wood, and blood. Funny - but I never “heard” sounds…It was always visual and sometimes a vague sense of the environment. Never the sounds though…

Anyway - meditating on this, and that my sin, in part, caused it was sufficient to drive the tempation from my mind. It also caused me to begin praying the rosary more.

Hope this helps.

Peace
James
 
What helped me in overcoming compulsive habitual sin was the daily receiving of Eucharist with immediate Reconciliation of sin (don’t allow the acts to stack up).

Start weighing actions in your mind - sinful act OR receiving the grace of God through the Eucharist. Sinful action, then Reconciliation OR receiving the grace of God in Eucharist.

It took me about 2 weeks to make a mental habit of placing this balance scale in my head.
 
Lance917 said:
Hi, I suffer from a few habitual sins that, while not “major” in the view of the modern world, are legitimate sins according to the church. I’d like to make better progress overcoming them instead of reiterating the same catalogue of sins every time I go to confession.
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You and me both.

Habitual sins are difficult because you are used to doing them. Your mind is “programmed” to doing them.

The best way to overcome them, is to “reprogram” your mind. Anytime you commit the sin out of habit, say a Hail Mary and make the sign of the cross. For instance: if you are struggling with pornography, anytime you get the slightest urge, make the sign of the cross and then say a Hail Mary. Or if you are struggling with profanity, anytime a bad word so much as enters your mind do the same thing. It’ll be tough at first, plus you’ll look like an idiot crossing yourself so much in public, but that’s the point. It forces you to notice more when you do it rather than just casually dismissing it. Slowly over time, you’ll notice it more when you do it, and start doing it less and less. It takes time, but you will begin to improve.

Best of luck!
 
I struggle with the temptation to buy things I don’t need; God has given me the grace to see what that has done to me in a practical sense (clutter, debt) and a spiritual sense (disordered priorities). The economic crash really brought it home. But once in awhile the devil tries to stir the ashes back into a fire of temptation to start buying things.

What I have found that works is - listen to your own rationalizations. In my case, things like “I’ll make up for it by not eating out.” Or, “I saved X amount of dollars with those coupons, so it’ll be okay,” or even “I just need something to cheer me up a little because I’m so depressed; I promise it won’t become a habit.” :rolleyes:

A red flag is when I can almost feel myself “hiding” in my heart from God, fearing alienation from Him, remembering its past consequences, yet still feeling so powerfully drawn toward the thing I really should not do. My spirit becomes restless because it’s not resting in Him, as St. Augustine said. Or like St. Paul, I’m doing the thing I hate. Or at least wanting to very badly.

Secondly, once we succeed even a little bit in distancing our will from the temptation, it’s a good idea to put something positive in the place of it. So that Satan will not attempt to refill that vacuum. This could be good deeds, a gratitude reflection, time spent enjoying life’s true blessings, whatever works for you. Otherwise, you might experience something like the following:

From Luke, Chapter 11:

24
“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’
25
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
26
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first.”
27
 
All of the suggestions given are very helpful. But if that temptation is so strong and the decision will be instantaneous, let a quick glimpse of Jesus, either on the cross or as Divine Mercy, and Satan, the grinning, hideous creature come to mind. To sin you must choose. Is it really so hard? When a picture of the grinning, ugly devil comes to mind, nothing could make me please him. My forever torture in hell is his happiness, whereas with Jesus, my forever happiness in heaven is His happiness. No contest.
 
I think everyone has given really good advice! 🙂

The only thing I would add is to imagine God by your side throughout the day. Talk to Him, pray to Him, abide with Him. The more you do that, the less pull habitual temptations have over you because you have that sense that God is with you and watching over you always. A really good book that can help you to do this is The Practice of Living in the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.
 
wild_thing said:
I think everyone has given really good advice! 🙂

The only thing I would add is to imagine God by your side throughout the day. The Practice of Living in the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.
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Great advice. Don’t commit sinful acts which close you off from the indwelling Holy Spirit.
 
Lance917 said:
My specific question is: what do you do to overcome this weakness at the moment of consent? The obvious answer is to pray, but when facing temptation and having to do battle with your own rationalizations, many times prayer never even makes it up to conscious thought. Is there anything you can think, say, or do specifically that helps? Or is the answer to develop such a constant, consistent prayer life, a 1 Thessalonians 5:17 kind of thing, where you never get to that moment of consent?
Click to expand...
In my experience, if you develop a strong prayer life, and ask for help with temptation (you can ask for that help at any time, not just when in temptation), you will start to notice that you receive a special grace during moments of temptation. Learn to watch for this special grace, and to take a hold of God’s hand as it is extended to you at this critical times, and let Him lift you out of that situation.

If you haven’t noticed this grace, then I suggest praying for it. Perhaps you could ask St. Michael to defend you when you are faced with attacks that cause temptation.
 
all good suggestions, I myself do many of what is mentioned. also, I try to flash an image of me sitting in confession (I meet with my priest face-to-face, nothing in between) and confessing the sin. That has helped me tremendously on those “just this once, no one needs to know, it’s okay” situations. I also try to stay constant in my marshalling of my thoughts. if something untoward or impure or even slightly off pops into my head, i don’t allow myself to dwell and even say “get thee behind me, Satan”.
 
Thank you all for such great, thoughtful advice! Truly appreciated.
Something that helped me as I battled a grave and very personal sin, was to pray, “Father take me to the foot of the cross”. Then to ponder on that vision. It became very powerful and the more I meditated on it, the more real it became.
The Hard, black wood of the cross, sunk into the ard earth made muddy by the blood, and sweat, tears and water fromthe lance wound, all dripping from the nailed feet. (I rarely could look up any higher than maybe the ancle or calf of the leg.
Sometimes the image becams so real I could sense the heat of the day, and the smells of dirt, and wood, and blood. Funny - but I never “heard” sounds…It was always visual and sometimes a vague sense of the environment. Never the sounds though…
Click to expand...
James (JRKH) – that’s some very, very powerful advice, something I’ve never really done before. I will begin to implement this practice.

Barbkw – there was a time where I was able to receive the Eucharist on a daily basis and these sins were not as prevalent and numerous. But currently I am unable to do so now. 😦

Brother Lawrence’s book has helped me some, too, over the years.

And there is a very tough old priest at the parish I go to reconciliation who has kept me from sinning more than once just by the thought of me having to confess to him … 🙂
 
Just to add. It might help to where a blessed sacramental. It is something you can constantly feel and see. They are effective reminder’s.👍
 
wild_thing said:
I think everyone has given really good advice! 🙂

The only thing I would add is to imagine God by your side throughout the day. Talk to Him, pray to Him, abide with Him. The more you do that, the less pull habitual temptations have over you because you have that sense that God is with you and watching over you always. A really good book that can help you to do this is The Practice of Living in the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.
Click to expand...
👍 That counters that tendency to start “distancing” from God, which is as old as Adam hiding in the garden! It doesn’t work anyway. :nope: And so much more positive to have Jesus beside us and being glad and thankful for His being there.

Reminds me of “St. Patrick’s Breastplate” also: see

prayerfoundation.org/st_patricks_breastplate_prayer.htm
 
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