“to stand before the Son of Man”
What is sin? “Unfortunately, in society today, many people have lost the understanding of sin. Our Holy Father has stated that ‘it happens not infrequently in history, for more or less lengthy periods of time and under the influence of many different factors, that the moral conscience of many people becomes seriously clouded. . . . Too many signs indicate that such an eclipse exists in our time’[i]. In our day, many people have lost the sense of sin and feel that they can do whatever they wish without considering or fearing the consequences. For such people, the term ‘sin’ has no meaning. Yet we know that sin is a terrible evil which all of us must come to understand and with which all of us must struggle. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sin ‘is an offense against God as well as a fault against reason, truth and right conscience. Sin is a deliberate thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the eternal law of God’. In other words, sin is willfully rejecting good and choosing evil. In judging the degree of sin, it is customary to distinguish between mortal and venial sins. ‘Mortal sin,’ the Catechism teaches, ‘destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law . . . Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it’”[ii]
What is Mortal Sin? “is defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as ‘a grave infraction of the law of God that destroys the divine life in the soul of the sinner (sanctifying grace), constituting a turning away from God. For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be present: grave matter, full knowledge of the evil of the act, and full consent of the will’. The Catechism emphasizes that ‘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 (happiness) is impossible. Unrepented, mortal sins brings eternal death’ This ‘eternal death’ we call Hell, where those who have died unrepentant of mortal sin suffer the eternal separation from God and loss of eternal happiness, i.e., seeing God face-to-face.”[iii]
Mortal sin kills charity, preventing us from following the two commandments of love:
1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
2. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
“But St. John goes even further when he affirms that “God is love”: God’s very being is love…God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.”[iv] Mortal is also called serious or grave sin, for it not only prevents us from following the two commandments of love, but it separates us from God – God is love – and it keeps us from sharing in the “eternal exchange of love” which is eternal life in union with the Blessed Trinity. If we commit a mortal sin, we must immediately say an Act of Contrition and go to Sacramental Confession as soon as we are able.
What is Venial Sin?, “according to the Catechism, ‘does not destroy the divine life in the soul, as does mortal sin, though it diminishes and wounds it’. Venial sin is ‘a failure to observe necessary moderation, in lesser matters of the moral law, or in grave matters acting without full knowledge or complete consent’. We must realize, however, that while venial sins do not have the grave effects of mortal sin, ‘deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin’. It should be the goal of every Christian to strive, through steadfast prayer, acts of penance and works of charity, for a life free of sin.”[v]
Love is still alive when we commit a venial sin, but love is offended and wounded. We cannot take this lightly. We want perfect love, not offended and wounded love. Heaven is the “eternal exchange of love”. This exchange is perfect love, not wounded love, for “nothing unclean will enter it [heaven].”[vi]Our goal should not be to just stay away from mortal sin. In other words who cares if we rack up venial sins, as long as we don’t commit mortal sins? Saint John cares and so does Our Lord. Our goal should be love, for perfect love drives out fear. “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”[vii]
Do we need to go to Confession if we only have venial sins? “We do not need, nor are we required, to go to confession if we only have venial sins on our soul. However, it is still prudent to go to the Sacrament if we feel our venial sins are habitual ones so that we may receive advice, counsel, and strength to stop committing even venial sins. Venial sins add up like drops of water in a bucket, the bucket needs to be emptied and is done so through Confession. Another way to think of the seriousness of venial and moral sins is the example of bugs on a windshield. If we were to go on a long drive over several hours, eventually there would be many bugs that would be splattered on the windshield. Although these bugs are small, eventually the small bugs add up in number and obstruct the vision of the driver. Venial sins are like these small bugs that begin to obstruct the moral vision of the Christian. When need to get out of the car and wash the windshield, we need to go into the confessional and wash the soul. Using the same analogy, if we were driving the car and were to hit a large animal (mortal sin) we would have to stop immediately and fix the damage done to the car, just as when we commit mortal sin, we immediately go to confession.”[viii]
What is Original Sin? “Original Sin is the sin committed by Adam and Eve, the first human beings. This sin was a willful act of disobedience, a rejection of God's command that was so devastating that it ruptured the relationship which our first parents enjoyed with God. As a result of this sin, paradise was lost to them and to their descendants until our Redeemer, Jesus Christ came to conquer sin and death and restore us to our inheritance of the Kingdom of God. Original sin taints all human beings and is washed away through the sacred waters of baptism. However, while original sin is removed, its effects remain. One of these effects is concupiscence, that disordered desire within us which produces an inclination to sin.”[ix]
In His mercy God washes away the guilt and eternal punishment due to humanity because of Original Sin. The effects of original sin however remain and therefore we need grace to help us overcome our inclination toward sin. There is a connection between Original Sin and Actual Sin. Original sin was committed by Adam and Eve. Actual sin is committed by each individual. Original sin has an eternal punishment, which is washed away by Baptism. Actual sin, if it is mortal, also has an eternal punishment, which is washed away by Baptism, if the individual is baptized after the sin is committed, or Sacramental Confession, if the sin is committed after baptism. In both Original Sin and Actual Sin, a sacrament removes or washes away the eternal punishment and guilt; the effects of the sin (the temporal punishment) remain. In the case of Original Sin, one of the effects, as mentioned above is concupiscence, our tendency or inclination to sin. In the case of Actual Sin, although absolution is given, and eternal punishment removed, damages have been done due to sin and thus there is a temporal punishment which is satisfied through a penitential life of prayer, good works, and sacrifice.
There are many physical traits we inherited from our parents; some we probably like and some we do not like. Maybe we inherit a uni-brow or going bald;. We may not want it to happen, but there is nothing we can do about it because we inherit them. In the same way we inherit the effects of Original Sin from our parents Adam and Eve. We are thus in need of a new inheritance, one of Grace and Truth which we are given to us by Jesus Christ, the New Adam and Our Blessed Mother, the New Eve. Why the old inheritance (sin) does not go away, the new inheritance (grace) is more abundant, and the new puts to death the old. Saint Paul speaks of this fact in the fifth chapter of Romans. It is summed up by his teaching, “…where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”[x]
This struggle between sin and grace the Catechism calls a wrestling. “Yet certain temporal consequences of sin remain in the baptized, such as suffering, illness, death, and such frailties inherent in life as weaknesses of character, and so on, as well as an inclination to sin that Tradition calls concupiscence or metaphorically, ‘the tinder for sin’ (fomes peccati); since concupiscence ‘is left for us to wrestle with, it cannot harm those who do not consent but manfully resist it by the grace of Jesus Christ.’ Indeed, ‘an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.’”[xi]
What is tinder? Tinder is the material used to start a fire, concupiscence is the tinder which ignites the fire of sin. We must keep in mind that due to concupiscence we are flammable. When something is flammable, we keep it away from an open flame. In the Act of Contrition we pray that we will “avoid the near occasion of sin”. The near occasion of sin or temptation is an open flame which threatens to ignite the tinder of concupiscence. There are many elements that keep a fire burning. First we must have the flame (near occasion of sin and temptation), then we must have the tinder (concupiscence), then the kindle. The kindle are the smaller sticks that keep the fire going once the fast burning tinder smolder out. Venial sins are like kindle. Finally the logs keep the fire burning for long periods of time. The logs are like moral sin. Although this fire is very real in our lives, Jesus gives us every means to quench the fire of sin.
Where does man’s inclination to do evil come from? “It is the sad consequence of original sin, that is, of that sin which our first parents, by their disobedience, committed in paradise, and which we as their descendants have inherited. This inclination to evil remains even in those who have been baptized, although original sin, with its guilt and eternal punishment, is taken away in baptism, but it is no sin so long as man does not voluntarily yield (Cat. Rom. Part.ii.2, 43)”[xii]
Why, does the inclination to sin remain in us, even after the sin has been removed? “To humble us that we may know our frailty and misery, and have recourse to God, our best and most powerful Father, as did St. Paul, when he was much annoyed by the devil of the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7-8); that the glory of God and the power of Christ should be manifested in us, which except for our weakness could not be; that we might have occasion to fight and to conquer. A soldier cannot battle without opposition, nor win victory and the crown without a contest. Nor can we win the heavenly crown, if no occasion is given us, by temptation, for fight and for victory. ‘That which tries the combatant,’ says St. Bernard, ‘crowns the conqueror.’ Finally, the inclination remains, that we may learn to endure, in all meekness, the faults and infirmities of others and to watch ourselves, lest we fall into the same temptations.”[xiii]
What is the difference between original sin and actual sin? There is both original sin and actual sin. Actual sin is personal sin that an individual person commits. When we go to Sacramental Confession we are absolved of our actual sin. Actual sin has both an eternal effect or punishment and a temporal effect or punishment. Absolution removes the eternal effect or punishment, which is hell. Penance removes the temporal effect or punishment from actual sin. This temporal punishment can only be satisfied in a temporal place, in which there are two: earth and purgatory. Penance is living a life of good works, sacrifice, and prayer. These actions, through the merits Christ gained on the Cross, remove the temporal punishment due to sin.
Jesus is both God and man, divine and human. He is the only man that can remove the eternal punishment due to sin, because He is the only human that is eternal.
If Jesus removes the eternal punishment due to sin, why does He not also remove the temporal punishment? God, in His wisdom, desires that humanity make satisfaction for their own sin through a participation in the saving mission of Christ. We are temporal people and thus, through the grace of God, able to satisfy or do penance for sins committed. If children mess up a toy room, their mother is fully capable of cleaning the toy room for them, but she desires that the children clean their own play room, so that they can satisfy for the mess that they made. The mother may give them assistance and even help, but they are responsible for cleaning up their mess. They also may not be able to have any privileges until the room is clean.
If a person believes that Jesus takes care of both temporal and eternal punishment, there would be no need to believe in penance (satisfaction for temporal punishment), indulgences (the partial or full removal of temporal punishment, granted by the Church), or purgatory (the place were satisfaction for temporal punishment takes place if it is not satisfied on earth).
[i] John Paul II; Reconciliation and Penance, 18
[ii] 2002 Pennsylvania Catholic Conference
[iii] ibid
[iv] Catechism of the Catholic Church - 221
[v] ibid
[vi] Revelation 21:27
[vii] 1 John 4:16-21
[viii] Link to Liturgy Lesson - Reconciliation
[ix] 2002 Pennsylvania Catholic Conference
[x] Romans 5:20-21
[xi] Catechism of the Catholic Church - 1264
[xii] Fr. Leonard Goffine; The Church’s Year Part I; page 99
[xiii] ibid