Day 247: The Weight of Sin (1854-1864)

• It’s Day 247!!

• THE GRAVITY OF SIN: MORTAL AND VENIAL SIN

• There is venial sin that WOUNDS

• There is mortal sin that KILLS

• What are the three requirements for a sin to be mortal?

• GRAVE MATTER

• FULL KNOWLEDGE THAT IT IS A GRAVE MATTER

• FULL CONSENT OF THE WILL

• There are some things that can mitigate culpability

• Unintentional ignorance

• If one is not completely free to choose that sin, that can mitigate culpability

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, thank you. Thank you so much for bringing us here to this place. Thank you for bringing us to this day, Day 247 of just letting you teach us. Lord, as we hear about sin today, we ask that you please help us. Help us to be the kind of people who can be convicted by your truth, who can be convicted by our own guilt, who can be convicted by your love. Lord, help us all to be convicted by your mercy, so that as deeply as we are convicted of our need for you, we are also convicted of your love for us, your mercy that you pour out on our behalf. You won for us in the death and Resurrection of your Son, Jesus. Lord God, we ask please, please, may none of us ever ever give in to despair or discouragement when it comes to sin. Lord God, we struggle. So many of us struggle. Never, never let us give up. But always please help us to get up. Help us to call out to you. Lord, when we cannot on our own stand up, raise us up. We trust in you. We love you. Please meet our brothers and sisters in their deepest moment of discouragement. Meet every one of our brothers and sisters in their deepest moment of despair with your mercy, so that every sinner will know that sin does not define them. They are defined by you and your love. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• There is a lot in there

• The first thing the Church makes the claim right off the bat that there are different kinds of sin

• Paragraph 1854 says, “Sins are rightly evaluated according to their gravity. The distinction between mortal and venial sin, already evident in Scripture, became part of the tradition of the Church. It is corroborated by human experience.”

• There are some Christians who believe that every sin is of the same weight and that there is no distinction between mortal and venial sin

• IN FACT…

• There are some Christians who believe that stealing $5 and murdering someone is the same

• We Catholic Christians disagree with that

• We get the distinction between mortal and venial sin from the Bible itself

• IN FACT…

• 1 John Ch 5 talks about sins that are lead to death and sins that do not lead to death

• So right there is the distinction between mortal and venial sin

• Even when it comes to each other there are certain things that we can do to violate our relationships that have different weights

• Yes, we should not lie to each other

• BUT…

• When a person lies in a particular way or about a particular thing, that can have greater significance

• Paragraph 1855 says, “Mortal sin destroys 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.”

• Mortal sin destroys the love in our hearts and takes us out of that right relationship with God

• We are no longer in a state of grace

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike’s “gruesome” example of bullfighting…

• Small sins are apparently called “peccadilloes”

• They do not kill us but they wound us to such a degree that it’s far easier for the Evil One to deliver that killing blow

• It’s not like venial sins are no big deal

• IN FACT…

• St. Augustine says in Paragraph 1863, “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 makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, confession…”

• A bunch of venial sins can weigh us down to such a place where mortal sin is the next clear step

• Paragraph 1857 says, “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.’”

• So what is a GRAVE MATTER?

• The Church has never published a comprehensive list of mortal sins and grave matters

• Paragraph 1858 says, “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.’ 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.”

• We want to land somewhere between being way too general and vague when it comes to confessing this sin 

• Don’t come into confession and say, “Bless me Father, I stole a rope” and neglect to mention that there was a cow attached to the rope

• You actually stole a cow

• We have to include all of the relevant details that could affect the severity of the sin

• The details affect the gravity of the sin

• There are factors like relationships, who is wronged

• There are factors like the amount

• Why doesn’t the Church list all of the mortal sins and all of the grave matter?

• Because of all the factors that go into it

• There are sins that are of a more grave nature when they directly violate God and when they violate the dignity of the human person

• Sins that violate God directly are always of a grave nature

• Taking the Lord’s name in vain or violating the Sabbath by not attending Mass

• Getting involved with witchcraft

• (Also, rooting for the Dallas Cowboys would be a grave matter….I KID I KID!!!! 🤣)

• These all violate God so they have a graver nature to themselves

• Sins that violate the dignity of the human person have a more severe nature to them as well

• Violence against a human being

• Using another person sexually

• They have a graver nature to those sins because they violate the dignity of the human person

• So mortal sin also requires FULL KNOWLEDGE and COMPLETE CONSENT

• I need to KNOW that this is a mortal sin

• I need to FREELY CHOOSE to commit this mortal sin

• Paragraph 1859 says, “Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.”

• Hardness of heart is knowing that this is a sin and yet not caring that it is a sin

• That does not mitigate our responsibility or culpability

• IN FACT…

• It INCREASES our responsibility and culpability because we are now PRETENDING to not know or CHOOSING not to care

• THAT IS PRETTY DEADLY!!

• Think about trying to do that in a relationship with another human being

• How many times can a husband or wife get away with pretend ignorance or hardness of heart?

• How long would that relationship last if you said, “Yeah, I know that’s what you wanted but I don’t care.”

• That would not last at all

• Paragraph 1864 says, “‘Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.’ 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. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.”

• God wants to forgive us of our sins

• The ONLY SIN that God won’t forgive is the sin that we don’t ALLOW Him to forgive

• Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is REFUSING to allow God to forgive us

• God wants to give us His mercy

• God wants to heal us, forgive us, reconcile us to Himself

• Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is REJECTING the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit

• In order to have the GOOD NEWS we need to know the BAD NEWS

• The GREAT NEWS is God wants to forgive all of our sins

• BUT…

• He will only do this if we ALLOW Him to do it

• God wants us to come to Him with all of our mortal sins, even the ones we are embarrassed by and even the ones we may still like

• God wants us to LET IT GO

• God wants us to GIVE THEM TO HIM

• God wants to forgive YOU of all of your sins

• So do not have that sin against the Holy Spirit

• We all must trust in God and trust in His mercy and say, “Ok, God. These are my mortal sins that I knew about and freely chose and I am laying them down at your feet. I am laying them down at the foot of the Cross. And I am trusting in you to forgive me now.”

• Those of us who are going through Catechism in a Year, who are hearing this today and are convicted by God’s mercy, by God’s love, convicted in the depths of our conscience will seek out Confession AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

• IF IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME, THIS IS YOUR SIGN!!

• Our brothers and sisters who have been away from Confession and are holding on to whatever these sins are, turn to the Lord RIGHT NOW!!

• TRUST IN HIS MERCY BY GOING TO CONFESSION!!

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I’ll see you when I see you!!