I.
Mercy and Sin
1846
The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners.113 ( Cf. ⇒ Lk 15.) The
angel announced to Joseph: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will
save his people from their sins."114 (Mt 1:21. ) The same is true of the Eucharist,
the sacrament of redemption: "This is my blood of the covenant, which is
poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."115 ( Mt 26:28. )
1847
"God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without
us."116 ( St. Augustine, Sermo 169, 11, 13: PL 38, 923.) To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults. "If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness."117 (1 Jn 8-9.)
1848
As St. Paul affirms, "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the
more."118 (Rom 5:20.) But to do its work grace must uncover sin so as to convert our
hearts and bestow on us "righteousness to eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord."119 (Rom 5:21.) Like a physician who probes the wound before treating
it, God, by his Word and by his Spirit, casts a living light on sin:
Conversion
requires convincing of sin; it includes the interior judgment of conscience,
and this, being a proof of the action of the Spirit of truth in man's inmost
being, becomes at the same time the start of a new grant of grace and love:
"Receive the Holy Spirit." Thus in this "convincing concerning
sin," we discover a double gift: the gift of the truth of conscience and
the gift of the certainty of redemption. the Spirit of truth is the
Consoler.120
II.
The Definition of Sin
1849
Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is a 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."121
1850
Sin is an offense against God: "Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and
done that which is evil in your sight."122 ( Ps 51:4.) 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,"123 (Gen 3:5.) knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus "love of
oneself even to the contempt of God."124 (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14, 28: PL 41, 436. ) In this proud self-exaltation, sin is
diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our
salvation.125 ( Cf. ⇒ Phil 2:6-9.)
1851
It is precisely in the Passion when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish
it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief,
murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate's
cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas' betrayal - so bitter to
Jesus, Peter's denial and the disciples' flight. However, at the very hour of
darkness, the hour of the prince of this world,126 (Cf. ⇒ Jn 14:30. ) The sacrifice of Christ
secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour
forth inexhaustibly.
III. Different Kinds of Sins
1852
There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them.
the Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of
the Spirit: "Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity,
licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger,
selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not
inherit the Kingdom of God."127
1853
Sins can be distinguished according to their objects, as can every human act;
or according to the virtues, they oppose, by excess or defect; or according to
the commandments they violate. They can also be classed according to whether
they concern God, neighbor, or oneself; they can be divided into spiritual and
carnal sins, or again as sins in thought, word, deed, or omission. the root of
sin is in the heart of man, in his free will, according to the teaching of the
Lord: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery,
fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a
man."128 ( Mt 15:19-20.) But in the heart also resides charity, the source of the good and
pure works, which sin wounds.
IV.
The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin
1854
Sins are rightly evaluated according to their gravity. the distinction between
mortal and venial sin, already evident in Scripture,129 (Cf. 1 ⇒ Jn 16-17. ) became part of the
tradition of the Church. It is corroborated by human experience.
1855
Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of a 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 the charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.
1856
Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us - that is, charity -
necessitates a new initiative of God's mercy and a conversion of heart which is
normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation:
When
the will set itself upon something that is of its nature incompatible with the
charity that orients man toward his ultimate end, then the sin is mortal by its
very object . . . whether it contradicts the love of God, such as blasphemy or
perjury, or the love of neighbors, such as homicide or adultery... But when the
sinner's will is set upon something that of its nature involves a disorder but
is not opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or
immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial.130
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."131
1858
Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer
of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do
not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and
your mother."132 ( Mk 10:19.) The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver
than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against
parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.
1859
Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes
knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God's law.
It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice.
Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart133 (Cf. ⇒ Mk 3:5-6; ⇒ Lk 16:19-31.) do not diminish, but rather
increase, the voluntary character of a sin.
1860
Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave
offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral
law, which are written in the conscience of every man. the promptings of
feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the
offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed
through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.
1861
Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It
results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is,
of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's
forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of
hell, for our freedom, has the power to make choices forever, with no turning
back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense,
we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.
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.
1863
Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created
goods; it impedes the soul's progress in the exercise of the virtues and the
practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and
unrepented venial sin disposes of us little by little to commit a mortal sin.
However venial sin does not set us in direct opposition to the will and
friendship of God; it does not break the covenant with God. With God's grace, it
is humanly reparable. "Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of
sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal
happiness."134
While
he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at least some light sins. But do
not despise these sins which we call "light": if you take them for
light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of light
objects make a great mass; a number of drops fill a river; a number of grains
make a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, a confession.135
1864
"Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is
guilty of an eternal sin."136 ( Mk 3:29; cf. ⇒ Mt 12:32; ⇒ Lk 12:10.) There are no limits to the mercy of God, but
anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting rejects the
forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.137 ( Cf. John Paul II, DeV 46.) Such the hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.
V.
The Proliferation of Sin
1865
Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same
acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt
the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and
reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root.
1866
Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose or also be linked
to the capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St.
John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called "capital"
because they engender other sins, other vices.138 ( Cf. St. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, 31, 45: PL 76, 621A.) They are pride, avarice,
envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia.
1867
The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are "sins that cry to
heaven": the blood of Abel,139 (Cf. ⇒ Gen 4:10. ) The sin of the Sodomites,140 (Cf. ⇒ Gen 18:20; ⇒ 19:13. ) The cry of the
people oppressed in Egypt,141 (Cf. ⇒ Ex 3:7-10. ) The cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the
orphan,142 (Cf. ⇒ Ex 20:20-22. ) injustice to the wage earner.143
1868 A sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins
committed by others when we cooperate in them:
-
by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
-
by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
-
by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
-
by protecting evil-doers.
1869
Thus sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence,
violence, and injustice to reign among them. Sins give rise to social
situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness.
"Structures of sin" are the expression and effect of personal sins.
They lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they
constitute a "social sin."144
IN
BRIEF
1870
"God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon
all" (⇒
Rom 11:32).
1871
Sin is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law (St.
Augustine, Faust 22: PL 42, 418). It is an offense against God. It rises up
against God in disobedience contrary to the obedience of Christ.
1872
Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and injures human
solidarity.
1873
The root of all sins lies in man's heart. the kinds and the gravity of sins are
determined principally by their objects.
1874
To choose deliberately - that is, both knowing it and willing it - something
gravely contrary to the divine law and to the ultimate end of man is to commit
a mortal sin. This destroys in us the charity without which eternal beatitude
is impossible. Unrepented, it brings eternal death.
1875
Venial sin constitutes a moral disorder that is reparable by charity, which it
allows to subsist in us.
1876
The repetition of sins - even venial ones - engenders vices, among which are
the capital sins.
GO TO:
SECTION ONE MAN'S VOCATION IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
PART THREE LIFE IN CHRIST
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholos (Acts 9:31)
SECTION ONE MAN'S VOCATION IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
PART THREE LIFE IN CHRIST
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholos (Acts 9:31)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.
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