Was this a mortal sin?

[JJjamin71472583]

I don’t know if it is good for me to get answers to issues like this from an internet forum, but will someone that has a properly informed conscience and is knowlegable about Church teachings give me an answer. A while ago I was on the internet and was looking at people’s away messages on AIM which stated they were doing that evening. I was staying home that evening, and I began to feel somewhat envious of other people’s lives. I was envious because they had friends and were going to have fun while I stayed home. I thought to myself that I shouldn’t envy, and offered up my feelings to God. However, I was curious and looked at one or more peoples away messages.
Weeks later I went to confession with a list of sins. I stayed in the confessional for about twenty minutes telling my sins, and there was someone still waiting to go. It was about seven minutes before mass was scheduled to start when I left the confessional, and I had to be at work in seven minutes. I folded up my paper, and I suppose the priest presumed I was finished, so he gave me my penance. He then asked me to say an Act of Contrition. I hadn’t talked about my envy experience yet, but I figured it was only venial. I didn’t say it and went ahead and was absolved. Later, it started to bug me. I thought, " What if the sin wasn’t venial?" What should I do now? Am I absolved even if it was a mortal sin because I figured it was venial? Am I being scrupulous? Thanks so much for your help.

 

[jburgherr]

If you look up the word scrupulous in the Merriam-Webster dictionary you will find…your picture!

 

[Tom]

No one can tell you if a given sin was “mortal” or “venial” since only God can determine your culpability and knowledge. Basically to be a mortal sin has three elements:
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
Since only God can truly ascertain the knowledge and deliberate consent, only God can determine if your sin was “mortal” however I doubt VERY highly this is a grave matter, I doubt you deliberately meant this to be an affront to Gods love, and I doubt you did this with full knowledge that committing a mortal sin turns you away and seperates you from God.
You need to review sin and its affects in the Catechism. Here’s a link to the specific section:
scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c1a8.htm

 

[JimG]

First, if you have to ask, then it was not mortal.

Second, spending twenty minutes telling your sins says “scrupulosity” to me. There may have been someone behind you in line who really did have mortal sins to confess.

 

[Roman_Army]

I don’t know if it is good for me to get answers to issues like this from an internet forum, but will someone that has a properly informed conscience and is knowlegable about Church teachings give me an answer. A while ago I was on the internet and was looking at people’s away messages on AIM which stated they were doing that evening. I was staying home that evening, and I began to feel somewhat envious of other people’s lives. I was envious because they had friends and were going to have fun while I stayed home. I thought to myself that I shouldn’t envy, and offered up my feelings to God. However, I was curious and looked at one or more peoples away messages.
Weeks later I went to confession with a list of sins. I stayed in the confessional for about twenty minutes telling my sins, and there was someone still waiting to go. It was about seven minutes before mass was scheduled to start when I left the confessional, and I had to be at work in seven minutes. I folded up my paper, and I suppose the priest presumed I was finished, so he gave me my penance. He then asked me to say an Act of Contrition. I hadn’t talked about my envy experience yet, but I figured it was only venial. I didn’t say it and went ahead and was absolved. Later, it started to bug me. I thought, " What if the sin wasn’t venial?" What should I do now? Am I absolved even if it was a mortal sin because I figured it was venial? Am I being scrupulous? Thanks so much for your help.

Hello JJamin

**You did the right thing in going to confession, don’t be discouraged. You need to learn more about what mortal sin is, you should use the Catechism and the Ten Commandments to guide you. You should try to go to confession early when the parish schedules it on the bulletin (usually Saturdays) or by appointment, that way there’s no rush or hurry. You should get to know your priest and talk to him about your scrupulosity outside of confession. **

Now as for your case of envy, here’s what the Catechism says about envy:

2538 The tenth commandment requires that envy be banished from the human heart. When the prophet Nathan wanted to spur King David to repentance, he told him the story about the poor man who had only one ewe lamb that he treated like his own daughter and the rich man who, despite the great number of his flocks, envied the poor man and ended by stealing his lamb.323 Envy can lead to the worst crimes.324 “Through the devil’s envy death entered the world”:325

We fight one another, and envy arms us against one another. . . . If everyone strives to unsettle the Body of Christ, where shall we end up? We are engaged in making Christ’s Body a corpse. . . . We declare ourselves members of one and the same organism, yet we devour one another like beasts.326

2539 Envy is a capital sin. It refers to the sadness at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a mortal sin:

St. Augustine saw envy as "*the *diabolical sin."327 "From envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by his prosperity."328

2540 Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person should train himself to live in humility:

Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother’s progress and you will immediately give glory to God. Because his servant could conquer envy by rejoicing in the merits of others, God will be praised.329

If you simply were tempted to or felt envy without fully intending to it is not a mortal sin. But, if you entertain that temptation and with full knowledge, fully intend to envy, it is a mortal sin.

I hope this helps.

God
** **

 

[Animadversor]

Am I being scrupulous?

I would like to refer you to some pages produced by the Redemptorists; these men have centuries of experience helping the scrupulous.

mission.liguori.org/newsletters/scrupulosity.htm

and

mission.liguori.org/newsletters/scrupanon.htm

 

[VociMike]

First, if you have to ask, then it was not mortal.

Yes, for someone with a properly-formed conscience, this is a good rule to keep in mind. The rule only fails, I think. in the case of someone who is already so deep in habitual mortal sin that the last one (the one in question) doesn’t make any difference to the person’s sin “situation”.