What is sin?

[dorothy_smith]

What is a mortal sin? What is a venial sin? Please explain the two definitions plainly and concisely (so that someone like me who is a bit slow on the uptake can understand). - Yours most gratefully

 

[YinYangMom]

From the first source: The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Part Three, Article 8, II: The Definition of Sin
1849 Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.”

1850 Sin is an offense against God: “Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight.” Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become ‘like gods,’ knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus, ‘love of oneself even to contempt of God.’ In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.

Section VI The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial sin
1855 Mortal sindestroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.
Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it…

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.”

1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments…

1862 One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.

 

[YinYangMom]

So in simple terms…
sin is what we think and do in this life which separates us from God

Mortal sin is a thought or action
of grave matter (against one or more of the 10 commandments),
that we know is grave matter (we know a) that it’s against one of the commandments, b) why it is considered an offense against God, c) that if we choose to go forward with the thought/action knowing what we know the consequences are mortal to our soul)
and we choose to go ahead with the thought or action, having considered all the ramifications

Venial sin is a thought or action
which isn’t blatantly one of the 10 commandments (though it could be an offshoot of one) and/or
against one of the 10 but we don’t really know the why of the offense or the consequences thereof and/or
we don’t give complete consent to the thought or action (peer pressure, duress, confusion)

At least that’s my understanding. Hope it helps.

 

[Sixtus]

What is sin?

Amazing, truely amazing. All the cruelty in the world, vulnerable people dying from hunger and denial of their rightful share of the worlds resources, folk in Oriental, Indian and African sweatshops working 18-hours a day for a $1 a day. In some South American countries, computer manufacturers do not pay staff while they are training. They get no sick pay medical care or holiday pay. They work for a poultry sum. The owners are multi-billionares, etc etc and all we worry about is ‘the sin of masturbation’!!!

I think our sense of morality has gone seriously off track.

 

[YinYangMom]

What is sin?

Amazing, truely amazing. … The owners are multi-billionares, etc etc and all we worry about is ‘the sin of masturbation’!!!

I think our sense of morality has gone seriously off track.

Who said anything about masturbation in this thread??? You. You’re the only one. Why is that?

You named off a series of societal wrongs and yet you did not bother to take the time to break each one down to the sin each commits.

Yes there are some things which appear to be blatantly sinful, but until you can narrow it down to THE sin you can’t begin to solve the problem. So knowing what SIN is, is a critical first step to the process of correcting the wrongs of the world.

And lest you forget, this is a Catholic forum to address Catholic issues. Understanding sin is a fundamental step of that process.

Perhaps you’ve confused this forum with a political one?
I would imagine there is a thread here on the boards specifically designed to address social justice. Perhaps you will find more comfort there.

 

[Reepicheep]

What is sin?

Amazing, truely amazing. All the cruelty in the world, vulnerable people dying from hunger and denial of their rightful share of the worlds resources, folk in Oriental, Indian and African sweatshops working 18-hours a day for a $1 a day. In some South American countries, computer manufacturers do not pay staff while they are training. They get no sick pay medical care or holiday pay. They work for a poultry sum. The owners are multi-billionares, etc etc and all we worry about is ‘the sin of masturbation’!!!

I think our sense of morality has gone seriously off track.

Who said that “all” we worry about is masturbation? For all you know, the people you’re talking to may be active and tireless crusaders against the evils you list.
What has one to do with the other? Must I condone masturbation in order to prove my opposition to these evils?
Not being in a position to make computer manufacturers in South America pay fair wages, I am still in a position to refrain from the sin of masturbation, and (if a parent) to teach my children to refrain from it.

By the way: A “poultry” sum? You mean chicken feed?

 

[jmcrae]

Dorothy;

A “mortal sin” is something really awful, done on purpose, with the free consent of the will - that is, nobody would have cared if you hadn’t - you would not have lost your job; nobody had a gun to your head; nobody was badgering you or talking you into it, or making any kind of threats to you if you didn’t do it, and there was nothing (lack of sleep, alcohol, drugs, addiction, etc.) interfering with your ability to think clearly.

When you see the official definition, it says, “grave matter” - this is the really awful action.

Really awful actions include anything that goes against the Ten Commandments, including anything that would lead to those situations occurring, and also anything that goes against the spirit of the Beatitudes.

“Venial sins” are smaller sins. They’re still sinful, but they don’t hurt people, OR they are big sins not done on purpose, and/or not done with the free consent of the will.

For example, if someone gets really drunk and then hits someone, the hitting someone part would be a venial sin, because he wasn’t in complete control of himself. However, getting too drunk to be able to control himself would be a mortal sin, since at the time that he decided to get drunk, he was in full control of himself, and he did do that on purpose, and with the full consent of the will - and it’s something that can lead to really awful things happening (like hitting people).

Does that help?

 

[dorothy_smith]

Dear Ying Yang Mom and jmcrae

Thank you for your help in defining Mortal Sin and Venial Sin:

Mortal sin is a thought or action
of grave matter (against one or more of the 10 commandments),
that we know is grave matter (we know a) that it’s against one of the commandments, b) why it is considered an offense against God, c) that if we choose to go forward with the thought/action knowing what we know the consequences are mortal to our soul)
and we choose to go ahead with the thought or action, having considered all the ramifications

A “mortal sin” is something really awful, done on purpose, with the free consent of the will - that is, nobody would have cared if you hadn’t - you would not have lost your job; nobody had a gun to your head; nobody was badgering you or talking you into it, or making any kind of threats to you if you didn’t do it, and there was nothing (lack of sleep, alcohol, drugs, addiction, etc.) interfering with your ability to think clearly.

So, Mortal Sin is premeditated sin. Something done that you know in your heart to be hurtful to others planned beforehand. (That sounds very depressing and I hope that I have not been guilty of doing. But, when I rack my mind, over the years I can think of a few instances that I am guilty of this type of sin. I have reported my adversaries for misdemeanours so that they would get into trouble. I did this only when I was provoked to the extreme and I retaliated in revenge. Afterwards I felt depressed and very guilty. Normally, I would rather do someone a good turn than a bad one.

Please can you advise me how to make amends with God for my mortal sins? I would like to do something Christian in a secular sense in restitution of my sins (I will go to confession – but that doesn’t really seem enough).

Venial sin is a thought or action
which isn’t blatantly one of the 10 commandments (though it could be an offshoot of one) and/or
against one of the 10 but we don’t really know the why of the offense or the consequences thereof and/or
we don’t give complete consent to the thought or action (peer pressure, duress, confusion)

“Venial sins” are smaller sins. They’re still sinful, but they don’t hurt people, OR they are big sins not done on purpose, and/or not done with the free consent of the will.

If we sin inadvertently while in confusion or sin non-purposely, then, it is difficult to understand why we would be guilty of sinning?! Please can you explain Venial sin again (for dimwits like me LOL).

 

[jmcrae]

If we sin inadvertently while in confusion or sin non-purposely, then, it is difficult to understand why we would be guilty of sinning?! Please can you explain Venial sin again (for dimwits like me LOL).

They’re still sins because they still hurt us and others - but because they were not done on purpose, or because they were very small sins, the damage they cause is not “mortal” or deadly to the soul - they do harm it, however. In your imagination, you could equate them with the sort of bruises and scrapes we get when we fall down, but don’t really hurt ourselves very much. We can still function normally, and later on we might even forget how we got that little bruise, or this little scrape.

An example of venial sin would be, to walk off with someone’s pen. Annoying to the other person, but they probably won’t think about it very much. Still, a theft has been committed - an injustice. A truly sinless person would return the pen as soon as they realized they had taken it. It would be a venial sin to keep it - the sin being the sin of theft.

 

[Sixtus]

A couple of examples of venial sins would be, to walk off with someone’s pen. Annoying to the other person, but they probably won’t think about it very much. Still, a theft has been committed - an injustice. A truly sinless person would return the pen as soon as they realized they had taken it. It would be a venial sin to keep it - the sin being the sin of theft.

Culpability and compicity in sin is relative to the sinners life experiences, perception of wrong-doing and understanding of a moral code

Different societies have markedly different moral codes so that what is murder in one, may be an act of compassion in another. Circumstances also change within a culture which makes killing the best option whereas at other times, it is a heinious crime crying out to heaven for vengeance.

So that it is pointless discussing what a truely sinless person would do as we do not know of such a person beyond Christ.

To some, theft is so prevelent that to steal a pen would be an act of honesty in the triviality of the crime

 

[Sixtus]

A couple of examples of venial sins would be, to walk off with someone’s pen. Annoying to the other person, but they probably won’t think about it very much. Still, a theft has been committed - an injustice. A truly sinless person would return the pen as soon as they realized they had taken it. It would be a venial sin to keep it - the sin being the sin of theft.

Culpability and complicity in sin is relative to the sinners life experiences, perception of wrong-doing and understanding of a moral code

Different societies have markedly different moral codes so that what is murder in one, may be an act of compassion in another. Circumstances also change within a culture which makes killing the best option whereas at other times, it is a heinious crime crying out to heaven for vengeance.

So that it is pointless discussing what a truely sinless person would do as we do not know of such a person beyond Christ.

To some, theft is so prevelent that to steal a pen would be an act of honesty in the triviality of the crime

 

[Sixtus]

A couple of examples of venial sins would be, to walk off with someone’s pen. Annoying to the other person, but they probably won’t think about it very much. Still, a theft has been committed - an injustice. A truly sinless person would return the pen as soon as they realized they had taken it. It would be a venial sin to keep it - the sin being the sin of theft.

Culpability and complicity in sin is relative to the sinners life experiences, perception of wrong-doing and understanding of a moral code

Different societies have markedly different moral codes so that what is murder in one, may be an act of compassion in another. Circumstances also change within a culture so taht for example: killing can be seen as the best option whereas at other times, it is a heinious crime crying out to heaven for vengeance. Sometimes murder is but a venial sin and at others, grave and mortal.

So that it is pointless discussing what a truely sinless person would do as we do not know of such a person beyond Christ.

To some, theft is so prevelent that to steal a pen would be an act of honesty in the triviality of the crime

 

[mommyof4]

Dorothy - this article may help you determine if actions are mortal or not. This comes from the Scrupulous anonymous archives, and, although you are probably not scrupulous, it does give a good explaination of mortal sins.

mission.liguori.org/newsletters/pdf_archive/november2005sa_web.pdf

 

[YinYangMom]

Please can you advise me how to make amends with God for my mortal sins? I would like to do something Christian in a secular sense in restitution of my sins (I will go to confession – but that doesn’t really seem enough).

I hope someone here can provide links to papers or articles which address the sacrament of confession. That you say confession doesn’t really seem enough shows that you do not have a full understanding and therefore appreciation of the awesome gift Jesus gave to us Catholics. I’m sure you’ll enjoy learning more about it.

To make amends for mortal sin we confess our sins to the priest with a resolution to do our absolute best not to repeat that sin again, understanding, of course that as humans and with Satan the way he is, we will be prone to slipping from time to time - by which we would return to the confessional to clean our soul and receive more grace in order to further combat our temptations.

The priest will give you a task to make reparation for the offense, especially if you ask him for one for a particular offense which troubles you most. Of course we’re always called to fulfill Corporal and Spiritual works of mercy which do wonders in freeing one’s conscience after confession if, for some reason, you are moved to do more than what the priest prescribed. Being moved like that, particularly after confession, most probably is the Holy Spirit speaking to you to offer you the peace of mind He knows you seek.

Please can you explain Venial sin again (for dimwits like me LOL).

Well, sin is sin. An action or thought on our part, or the absence of action (say, we see someone being bullied and we don’t step in to defend the person or to get the other person to stop or we don’t report the incident to a higher up) which goes against the teachings of God/Jesus is what it is: an offense against God.

So when we do the things we know or sense we shouldn’t or fail to do the things we know or sense we should, we are falling short of God’s will for us. A sin is committed. We are sorry for failing to meet his expectations, of course, even though we certainly didn’t intentionally do so, so it’s nice to be able to receive absolution for those sins from God and the grace we need to do better next time.

Always remember that participating in the sacraments dispenses actual grace into our hearts/minds/souls. Grace empowers us. It heals us. It brings us closer to God and instills a desire to remain in His love. Praying the rosary brings grace into our lives, as other devotionals.

Venial sins do not have to be confessed to a priest, though you are certainly welcome to do so. Venial sins are absolved through the participation in mass.

In the beginning part of mass the priest asks us to pause to call to mind our sins…that’s our cue to start thinking about all the venial sins we committed since the last mass we attended. I always end my reflection with a prayer to my guardian angel to offer up on my behalf anything I forgot to call to mind on the spot (there’s so little time, it seems!)

After a brief pause we pray: “I confess to almighty God, and you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do. And I ask blessed Mary ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord, our God. - Amen”

Or we say the “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy”

After which, if you listen to the priest’s words carefully, we are absolved of those venial sins - as effectively as if we had confessed them personally to a priest in the confessional. And so we are ready to receive the Eucharist and therefore can fully participate in the rest of the mass.

 

[dorothy_smith]

Dear YinYangMom

Thank you for explaining very clearly. I have a much better understanding now. I will especially listen with more attention at Sunday Mass (and in future) to the part about sinning: "I confess to almighty God, and you my brothers and sisters…”

I always end my reflection with a prayer to my guardian angel to offer up on my behalf anything I forgot to call to mind on the spot (there’s so little time, it seems!)

That is a good idea. I am going to start doing that. But I don’t know who my guardian angel is?
I have heard about them before but have never really understood what people mean by them. Do you pray to your guardian angel in the same way as praying to Our Lady and to the saints?

I haven’t met anyone person to person who has talked about having a guardian angel. I would love to think that I had an angel guarding me. I would try and make contact with ‘it’ when I need help and comfort and hope.

 

[jmcrae]

I would love to think that I had an angel guarding me. I would try and make contact with ‘it’ when I need help and comfort and hope.

You can say,

**Angel of God, my guardian dear
To whom God’s love commits me here.
Ever this day be at my side
To light and guard,
To rule and guide.

Amen**

 

[YinYangMom]

Dear YinYangMom

Thank you for explaining very clearly. I have a much better understanding now. I will especially listen with more attention at Sunday Mass (and in future) to the part about sinning: "I confess to almighty God, and you my brothers and sisters…”

That is a good idea. I am going to start doing that. But I don’t know who my guardian angel is?

I have heard about them before but have never really understood what people mean by them. Do you pray to your guardian angel in the same way as praying to Our Lady and to the saints?

I haven’t met anyone person to person who has talked about having a guardian angel. I would love to think that I had an angel guarding me. I would try and make contact with ‘it’ when I need help and comfort and hope.

That you don’t know who yours is doesn’t mean that he/she doesn’t know you, so be at peace about that.

You can read a bit about them here.

I pray to mine every morning and every evening (and of course I acknowledge his/her presence at mass with me).

“Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits thee here. Ever this day(night) be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide, amen.”

I actually replace ‘my’ with ‘our’ so that I include my childrens’ guardian angels while I pray to mine. When I think about the number of hours of every day I can not be with them physically to look out for them (especially now that they’re teens and dating and driving), I really come to appreciate and rely on their guardian angels.

Your guardian angel is the one who saves you from those near misses on the road…the ones where one second the road is clear and the next there’s a car you could have hit except that for some unknown reason you hesitated to step on the gas.

Also the one who puts you behind that really slow Sunday driver when you’re most in a hurry, only to find out later that afternoon or evening that there was a 4 car collision with deaths involved just two blocks ahead of you at about that same time you were stuck behind the slowpoke.

There are many other ways to recognize your angel’s guiding/protecting arm if you stop to think about it. We tend to brush these incidents off as coincidence or luck, but if you think about it further you can see the angel’s role in the matter.

 

[dorothy_smith]

Dorothy - this article may help you determine if actions are mortal or not. This comes from the Scrupulous anonymous archives, and, although you are probably not scrupulous, it does give a good explaination of mortal sins.

mission.liguori.org/newsletters/pdf_archive/november2005sa_web.pdf

I suffer with severe OCD. Scrupulosity is one (of many) of the obsessions + compulsions that affect me. My obsessive thoughts make me try to right sins by doing irrational acts (rituals – compulsions). Although, luckily for the meantime, my scrupulosity isn’t as prevalent as it used to be (i’m on clomipramine and olanzapine). Every time when i am ‘attacked’ by the unwanted and invasive thoughts (up to a hundred times a day) I say in my mind ’ Jesus help me’.

It affects me thus: Sometimes I have to repeat the same prayer, e.g. the Our Father or the Hail Mary over and over again word by word to the exact syllable but I can never get it exactly right, even after hours and hours of trying. At night I dread the thought of saying my prayers because of the turmoil that they put me through – repeating certain words in the prayer over and over until I am exhausted. It really drives me insane. I told my psychiatrist that it is definitely the work of the devil that keeps telling me lies that I will go to hell if I don’t perform the prayers exactly right. She says that I’m probably right.

Sometimes when I am too exhausted I say ‘in the name of Jesus Christ leave me alone’ which help sometimes. When I at church I have problems genuflecting, kneeling and standing (most noticeable to other parishioners is my making the sign of the cross because of the amount of times I do it to try and get it exactly right.

Anyways - getting back to you kindly posting mission.liguori.org/newslette…2005sa_web.pdf
I found the following part comforting:

“Their evaluation of their culpability is often exaggerated. Even though
reassurance brings no long-term relief, it is still good to stop and review the basics sometimes.The first “basic” to remember is that Godloves you. God does not intend to stop loving you. God does care about your choices because he loves you. Some choices are right and others are wrong. When we choose to do wrong, God is willing to forgive us when we repent.”

 

[mommyof4]

Dorothy, I really feel for you because I suffer from scupulosity myself. The things that have really helped me are:

1. Developing a devotion to the Divine Mercy;
2. Reading the Scrupulous Anonymous Newsletters in the link I provided above - they have been like a lifeline to me at times;
3. The book by Fr. Thomas Santa “Understanding Scrupulosity” found here amazon.com/Understanding-Scrupulosity-Helpful-Experience-Questions/dp/0764803735/sr=8-1/qid=1171118781/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2190924-2810233?ie=UTF8&s=books

Again, this book has helped me understand myself a lot. He also has another book about scrupulosity coming out in March of this year.

If you go to the Amazon.com search engine and type in “scrupulosity,” there are a number of books written by Catholic priests/authors who give guidance to us scrupulos people. Although I have not read all of them, I plan on working my way through most of them, as time and money will allow.

Please, if it is any comfort to you at all, know that you are not the only persone who suffers (and yes, I mean SUFFER) from this condition. I am also convinced that we can get our scruples under control with some spiritual direction, prayer, and knowlege.

Please know that you are in my prayers, and if you ever need to “talk,” please pm me, and I’ll do my best to help. You may need to “talk me down” once in a while, too!