What constitutes a Lie?

[Alexander]

The question I have is challenging for me to p(name removed by moderator)oint whether what I said was a lie. I feel I have too much emotion in it to think clearly so another perspective would greatly help. During my last confession with my priest I struck up a conversation with him after I confessed my sins. He was asking about my personal life and whether I had a job. When he asked for a split second I felt ashamed to admit I’m not working. Although I had a job lined up for my fathers company, I felt like because I hadn’t started working I lied when I said I had a job. I explained to him I just got this job, but I didn’t explain the full situation.

I feel remorse and confusion to whether what I did was wrong. MOST importantly to whether all the sins I confessed were really forgiven. I’m confused what to do and I can’t make confession this week so its really bothering me.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

I don’t see why such a technicality would matter. Unless you confessed to stealing food to fed yourself, and the question of employment was somehow related to a sin that you confessed.

 

[Alexander]

It wasn’t anything like that. I’m just an overthinker and its something I’m working on. I get really illogical over simple things. Thats why another perspective really helps me out.

 

[RandomAlias]

It sounds like you have a job commitment, and in broad terms (“I just got this job”) that is what you told him. Overthinking? Maybe. But it’s good to think about things you have done (whether it was wrong or only uncomfortable) and figure out how to do better in the future. In any case, the confession is valid and your sins were forgiven. Go in peace!

 

[Alexander]

Thank you, what you said makes a lot of sense. Lying is something I struggle with and I’m trying to get to the root of it. I appreciate you and everyones (name removed by moderator)ut. Have a good day.

 

[Gerhard2]

Well, first I would like to mention the sources of morality to know if what you said was morally right or wrong:

The three sources of morality are:
The object chosen
The person’s purpose
The circumstances of the act

The object was: saying that you had a job, the purpose seems to be: to cover your shame and the circumstances where: the speed of the confession and other factors we don’t know about, like why you didn’t explain your situation to the priest? Was it because you wanted the priest to understand something that wasn’t true or was there no time to explain?

If it was because you wanted him to beleive something that isn’t entirely true, it was a fault, a venial sin that you need to learn from and try better next time being more sincere (you can also confess it next time or make an act of contrition). If it was because the priest didn’t let you finish, then the fault would be not to try to finish your explanation and/or not overcoming your shame and saying something that you couldn’t say back then.

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”. In this case i see it hard for it to be a grave matter, unless there were a really important reason for you to work as soon as possible and you wouldn’t do anything about it, and I think I see a real lack of full knowledge on the subject even if there is consent. So, if one of these conditions fails, it’s not a mortal sin, and I think one or two of these already failed. I don’t know how grave the matter could be since I don’t know your situation, but probably you are just overthinking it. Don’t let your conscience become scrupulous. However, if you aim for perfection, learn the attitudes behind your actions and keep looking to apply virtues that get you to heaven.

Also, take on account your intentions to understand if something is a lie. For example, a joke never intends to be a lie. A truth said halfway so that is understood differently would be a lie. Words that are misunderstood when you didn’t want that are not lies even if you make mistakes (not sins).

God bless

 

[Brendan_64]

I would say that it was a lie, but that mitigating factors such as your personal embarrasment and your blurting it out without really thinking makes it a venial sin. I would think your Confession was valid.

Confess the lie at your next Confession, but it sounds venial to me. I had something similar happen to me and like you I got bothered by it. I would think this does not affect the validity of your Confession and it sounds like a venial sin to me.

 

[Brendan_64]

Lying is something I struggle with and I’m trying to get to the root of it.

I think the best way to get to the root of certain habitual sins is to take those sins seriously, venial or not, and make a real effort to keep confessing them at regular Confession.