When a Catholic commits mortal sin do they cease being a child of God?

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When someone loses sanctifying Grace through mortal sin do they cease to be a child of God?

(I know it’s possible that everyone could be called a child of God because God created them but there’s maybe a difference with a person who received baptism confirmation and the Eucharist.)
 
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I believe only if you die in Mortal sin? But then again Jesus said all sins will be forgiven but Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit so unless its that, then all sin can be forgiven by Confession.
Can I just add a good rule of thumb of forgiveness is to ask yourself what would you not forgive your own child if it meant death to s/he?
I can’t think of a thing I would not forgive my kids unless justice demanded I do so.
Thank God for Purgatory ehh!
 
no, they go to confession and seek the love and mercy and forgiveness of God
 
Are you sure? I thought the soul dies when one commits mortal sin. And Christ, via a priest, resurrects it after Confession.
 
Guest1 said:
When someone loses sanctifying Grace through mortal sin do they cease to be a child of God?
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No. Please re-read the parable of the Prodigal Son. He doesn’t cease being a ‘son’ because he has sinned against his father.

Our souls are eternal. They cannot ‘die.’ However, the relationship between our souls and God can die … but it can be brought back to life through contrition and divine forgiveness!
 
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Only if he dies without going to confession and/or making a perfect act of contrition…
 
Gorgias said:
Our souls are eternal. They cannot ‘die.’
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This is my understanding, as well. Hence the need to make careful and deliberate choices in our lives so as to avoid spending life as a SOUL in Hell and hopefully spend life as a SOUL in Heaven. It is our body that dies, not our soul.
Gorgias said:
the relationship between our souls and God can die
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This statement is correct. However, it must also be understood within the context of God’s overwhelming desire to be in relationship with us…it is, indeed, the REASON for creating us, our raison d’etre, if you will. In this way, it is US who keeps the relationship closed/dead (as did the Prodigal Son while he was away from his father).
 
When you say 'essentially dead to God" how can that be when the prayers of someone in mortal sin are still heard,and they long for confession,to gain God’s grace again?
 
You can’t make this call. Many people, myself included, can testify to God answering prayers and showering blessings, even though completely undeserved, while in a state of sin. We can’t merit while in a state of mortal sin, but God can, in his infinite mercy, still give us any actual grace he so desires. Furthermore, I believe the saints can still intercede on our behalf. While we cannot merit, who’s to say that Our Lady can’t take the prayer of a sinner to God, uniting her own merits to it?
 
I think of it this way- if your child has written on the wall of your living room in crayon, are they still your child?
 
If I’m in a state of mortal sin and I go to the parish office and arrange for a Mass intention for the repose of a soul, is my intention not heard? Of course it is…because the merits of the Mass itself…and because (hopefully) the priest’s merits. Yet I still made it happen. Likewise, if I go to my priest and ask him to pray for someone, is his prayer, prompted by me, worthless?
So if I can ask those on earth to pray for me while in a state of mortal sin, and, prompted by my request, God still hears their prayers, why can’t I ask the saints in heaven to pray for me while in a state of mortal sin? I don’t limit Our Lady…I believe she brings my prayers before God even when I am completely undeserving. It has nothing to do with my merits. I’ve discussed this with a priest and he agreed that this makes sense…of course I am only speculating, but I don’t see how it contradicts the teaching you’re citing.
 
  1. If you have been baptized, you are part of God’s covenant. A covenant is not a contract; it is a way of creating family relationships, such as adoption or marriage. Once you have entered into a covenant, you cannot leave it. You can abandon your new family or treat them badly, but you are still a member of that family.
  2. Covenants do come with promises, and with consequences, good and bad. The good ones are “covenant blessings,” and the bad ones are “covenant curses.” If you keep the promises, you trigger the blessings; and if you don’t, you trigger the curses.
  3. Basically, the whole story of salvation history is about how Adam and Eve triggered the curses, and how God took those consequences onto Himself. We also learn about how Israel triggered both blessings and curses, and how we oscillate back and forth as well.
  4. So with individual people, it’s similar. We are baptized children of God, living in a covenant with Him because of what Christ did for us. We can break the promises, trigger the curses, and die the death of the soul; but we are still in the covenant, and we are still children of God. (We’re just soul-dead children of God. Spiritual zombies, if you will.)
  5. We can be rescued and brought back to life, if we even have the smallest wish to repent; but it’s a dangerous situation. If you mortally sin enough, eventually you don’t want to repent. You fight against being de-zombified.
Talking about the nitty-gritty of how grace “works” is probably a little too technical for this forum. There are different theological technical terms in both East and West, and there are different orthodox spiritual traditions of how to describe it.

If you find yourself in mortal sin, the important thing is to stop it, to repent and fix what you can, and then to call on God, use the resources of the Church, and go to Confession as quickly as possible. (In any order, really.) Treating your deadly illness is more important than worrying about how your doctors order their medicines, or how you stayed conscious long enough to call 911.
 
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