What about the good deeds done before one has committed a mortal sin?

[roseproject]

So, I made a thread asking the question about what becomes of the unforgiven sins of those in Hell.

So, this made me also wonder: What happens to the merits of our past good deeds if someone commits a mortal sin? Do our merits die along with our sanctifying grace and then, are our souls sent, so to speak, back to square one? Would our past deeds, seen good in the eyes of God, become like nothing in the end in terms of how it would affect our merits in Heaven (provided the person repents of their sin)?

Thanks in advance

 

[SJacob7]

So, I made a thread asking the question about what becomes of the unforgiven sins of those in Hell.

So, this made me also wonder: What happens to the merits of our past good deeds if someone commits a mortal sin? Do our merits die along with our sanctifying grace and then, are our souls sent, so to speak, back to square one? Would our past deeds, seen good in the eyes of God, become like nothing in the end in terms of how it would affect our merits in Heaven (provided the person repents of their sin)?

Thanks in advance

If you are trying to gain ‘merit’ by doing good deeds, you may want to re-think your motives.

Isaiah 64:6 (RSVCE)

We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

 

[pianistclare]

It’s like having a new car. Once it’s wrecked, and not repaired…it’s still a wrecked vehicle.
The unrepentant are just that. Unrepentant. That is at the heart of this. People are in hell because they choose it by lack of repentance.

 

[twf]

It’s like having a new car. Once it’s wrecked, and not repaired…it’s still a wrecked vehicle.
The unrepentant are just that. Unrepentant. That is at the heart of this. People are in hell because they choose it by lack of repentance.

I don’t think that’s what he’s asking. As Catholics we believe that in Christ, and by His grace, we are able to merit by producing “fruit” that is pleasing to the Father (as in Christ’s parable of the vine in John 15). Does the fruit, the “merits”, we produced by Christ’s grace at various points in our life simple disappear the moment we fall into mortal sin? After we are absolved in confession, are we back to “square one” in our spiritual journey? I don’t think so - but perhaps someone else can answer with more authority. While in a state of mortal sin we are unable to merit for we are no longer filled with the divine life of the Trinity. It is only in Christ that we are able to merit, or please the Father. That being said, the moment we are restored to a state of grace, the merits of our past grace-filled life are still there…I believe.

 

[twf]

If you are trying to gain ‘merit’ by doing good deeds, you may want to re-think your motives.

Isaiah 64:6 (RSVCE)

We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Of course we can do nothing pleasing to God without Christ. That is the point of the above verse. It is only in Christ, whom we “put on” in baptism (Gal 3:27) that we are given the grace, the power, to please the Father. Jesus, living within us, gives us the “power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12) and it is then that we, in Christ, produce “good fruit” pleasing to God. It is these fruits that Catholics call “merits”. Of course, ultimately Christ alone must be given credit for our fruits, our merits, for they are rooted in His grace and the life He won for us on the cross. This is basic Catholic teaching. In the parable of the vine in John 15, Our Lord Jesus is clear that those who do not produce good fruit, that is, those who refuse to cooperate with the grace He has given us (by saying “yes” to Him each day), will be cut off from the vine. This is what Catholics refer to as “mortal sin”.

 

[Techno2000]

So, I made a thread asking the question about what becomes of the unforgiven sins of those in Hell.

So, this made me also wonder: What happens to the merits of our past good deeds if someone commits a mortal sin? Do our merits die along with our sanctifying grace and then, are our souls sent, so to speak, back to square one? Would our past deeds, seen good in the eyes of God, become like nothing in the end in terms of how it would affect our merits in Heaven (provided the person repents of their sin)?

Thanks in advance

An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory

I can tell you about the different degrees of Purgatory because I have passed through them. In the great Purgatory there are several stages. In the lowest and most painful, like a temporary hell, are the sinners who have committed terrible crimes during life and whose death surprised them in that state. It was almost a miracle that they were saved, and often by the prayers of holy parents or other pious persons. Sometimes they did not even have time to confess their sins and the world thought them lost, but God, whose mercy is infinite, gave them at the moment of death the contrition necessary for their salvation on account of one or more good actions which they performed during life. For such souls, Purgatory is terrible. It is a real hell with this difference, that in hell they curse God, whereas we bless Him and thank Him for having saved us.

catholicculture.org/cultu…fm?recnum=6253

 

[pianistclare]

I don’t think that’s what he’s asking. As Catholics we believe that in Christ, and by His grace, we are able to merit by producing “fruit” that is pleasing to the Father (as in Christ’s parable of the vine in John 15). Does the fruit, the “merits”, we produced by Christ’s grace at various points in our life simple disappear the moment we fall into mortal sin? After we are absolved in confession, are we back to “square one” in our spiritual journey? I don’t think so - but perhaps someone else can answer with more authority. While in a state of mortal sin we are unable to merit for we are no longer filled with the divine life of the Trinity. It is only in Christ that we are able to merit, or please the Father. That being said, the moment we are restored to a state of grace, the merits of our past grace-filled life are still there…I believe.

Oh, well I agree with your post, but I didn’t take the OP’s post like that. I thought she was asking if the good deed lessen severity of the mortal sin. I stand corrected. Thanks.

 

[porthos11]

The answer to the OP’s question is that supernatural merits obtained when one was in the state of grace, but lost through mortal sin, are revived when the penitent is reconciled in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The general theological opinion is that all previously earned merits revive.

Of course, as already stated, good works done while in the state of mortal sin merit nothing.

 

[kingsan]

I will quote Father Paul A. Duffner, O.P. in the Rosary Light and Life Newsletter Vol. 43 No. 4 July - August 1990 issue.
“Mortal sin causes one to lose not only sanctifying grace, but all the supernatural merits stored up for all the good works done in his previous lifetime. The question may be asked: After receiving sacramental absolution for grave sin, does one regain the merits for the good works previously performed? Does he return to an equal degree of grace to what he had before the fall? St. Thomas Aquinas answers that after sacramental absolution one can end up with a lesser degree of grace and merits, or the same degree, or a greater degree than before the fall, depending on the sincerity of his sorrow, and the intensity of the fervor of love with which he turns back to God.”
You can read and download the entire newsletter here: www.rosary-center.org/ll43n4.htm