threej_lc:
The sin of lust (sexual lust) is willingly desiring/thinking about/fantasizing about sexual situations. That can be achieved through daydreaming, desiring an attractive person for reasons of their appearance, etc. Most sins of lust are venial and in no means require you to abstain from communion, unless you allow yourself to act on your lust and engage in other sinful acts.
Josh
This is highlighted part is actually incorrect. Let’s look at it objectively…
Mortal Sin Conditions:
- It must be a serious or grave matter.
- The one acting must clearly know it is a sin.
- The one acting must freely choose to commit the sin.
We know that lust itself is grave matter. It is the self-indulgent desire for something (or someone) that does not belong to you. Recall that Jesus said that if you look upon a woman with lust, you have already committed adultery/fornication.
Think of lust as an impure thought of another person (same or opposite sex) and it can even include an impure thought with yourself.
One has to know it is a sin to think impurely. It is not sinful for an impure thought to pop into your head. But, when looking back to self-analyze, you have to ask yourself if you knew the thought, word or act was sinful. In this case, we are talking about a thought. So the first one is related to the matter itself, the second point is related to your knowledge of the matter.
Lust, a capital sin, is grave matter and knowledge of it being grave matter are the first two components of mortal sin. The final point of reflection pertains to the will.
Once you are aware that you are in the midst of an impure thought you have two choices: “Change the subject” or continue to dwell. At this point it is very simple. If you choose to dwell in the impure thought, you are now committing a mortal sin. At this point, you are no longer free to receive Holy Communion. Please don’t confuse persistence in temptation with dwelling. If the impure thoughts keep popping in your head all day long and you work hard at “changing the subject” by getting into some other activity or going and talking to others to get your mind off of it, then it is not sinful. What is sinful is to wilfully engage in the thought for the sake of pleasure and an unwillingness to “change the subject”.
Also, if you dwell, you are now placing yourself in the “near occasion of sin” - something that is wise to confess regardless. You bring yourself to the brink of some other sin, such as masturbation (aka self-abuse). If you fall into this trap, know that it is also considered grave matter. If you then consent to this act, you have committed a secondary mortal sin. There are some circumstances that lessen the degree of severity of this mortal sin, such as maturity and habit, but these things never negate the need to work on stopping this habit.
Note the critical issue that it is easy to fall into a spin-off sin. That means in order to correct the secondary sin, you must first work on eliminating the primary one - or lustful thoughts. The same would apply to pornography as it too often leads to secondary sins.
When in doubt, discuss it with a confessor. However, do an honest self-assessment and ask yourself if you knew that you were in the midst of an impure thought. If you deliberately chose to continue dwelling, then you need to mention this to a confessor. Simply tell him that you continued to take pleasure in the impure thoughts AFTER you realized it was there and that it was sinful.
For more reading on issues of purity, read the FAQ’s from the Pure Love club:
pureloveclub.com/chastity/index.php?id=7
