Posted on 05/08/2010 1:40:13 PM PDT by NYer
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
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."
What if a sin has been committed that has grave matter but lacks the knowledge and consent needed to make it mortal? How might one refer to such a sin?
Since it has grave matter, one might refer to it--logically--as a grave sin. That would seem pretty straightforward: Sin with grave matter is grave sin. Add the needed knowledge and consent and it becomes mortal. Right?
Well, you'd think that. Only you wouldn't be right.
For some years it's been clear (to me, anyway) that ecclesiastical documents like the Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church regularly use the phrase "grave sin" to mean "mortal sin."
But until recently I haven't had an explicit statement documenting this fact. Now I do (CHT to the reader who provided it!)
The statement is found in a post-synodal apostolic exhortation by John Paul II from 1984. The synod of bishops had been held the previous year on the theme of reconciliation and penance, and in the resulting exhortation,
During the synod, some apparently proposed a spectrum of sins consisting of venial, grave, and mortal sins--apparently using the middle category not the way proposed above but as a sin that is worse than venial but less than mortal. This is perhaps related to the mistranslation of "grave" as "serious" in English that was common for a long time.
In any event, that kind of division would be wrong, and so John Paul II wrote:
During the synod assembly some fathers proposed a threefold distinction of sins, classifying them as venial, grave and mortal. This threefold distinction might illustrate the fact that there is a scale of seriousness among grave sins. But it still remains true that the essential and decisive distinction is between sin which destroys charity and sin which does not kill the supernatural life: There is no middle way between life and death.
And so (here comes the money quote) . . .
Considering sin from the point of view of its matter, the ideas of death, of radical rupture with God, the supreme good, of deviation from the path that leads to God or interruption of the journey toward him (which are all ways of defining mortal sin) are linked with the idea of the gravity of sin's objective content. Hence, in the church's doctrine and pastoral action, grave sin is in practice identified with mortal sin.
So. Glad we've got that cleared up.
kiss over 10 seconds was a mortal sin....1961....so....you learned to breathe on 10.....
I’m puzzled as to what is supposed to be the benefit of this excursion. The quick reader might get the impression that the author is trying to say that all sin involving “grave matter” is a mortal sin, but he did not and it is not.
No, some nun made the prudential judgment that a kiss over ten seconds must have an erotic purpose, and therefore be mortal sin. The notion that breathing every tenth second somehow made a distinction between mortal sin and spiritually healthy is, was, and always has been absurd.
He must have tried it out. He left the priesthood (Father Finks) and married one of the nuns.
He addresses it in describing the outcome of of VCII where they attempted to redefine sin.
a threefold distinction of sins, classifying them as venial, grave and mortal.
He then quotes JPII who 'clarified' the fact that grave sin = mortal sin.
Being hearing-impaired is a big detriment to confession, as many churches do not have face-to-face as an option. Also Opus Dei priests, for example, do not allow face-to-face confession anyway. So after I lost too much hearing to be "in the booth" with my Opus Dei confessor, my confessions dropped off. Of course, I could arrange a special time with our priest at the rectory, but since my top two sins are sloth and gluttony, well ... One of my Catholic neighbors suffered brain damage which presents a problem expressing herself. She comprehends everything but is challenged in finding the words to verbalize what it is she wants to say. Unable to find a RC priest to hear her confession, I brought her to my Maronite pastor. He was very amenable to working with her. (We lost our confessional when the shrine/church was renovated last year; we now have confession face to face in the sacristy.) I brought my neighbor to our Lenten Penance Service, she went in alone and emerged with a big smile on her face. It had been years since she went to confession and she was so pleased to have unburdened herself through this remarkable priest.
Sadly, our pastor has been transferred to Williamsville NY and will be leaving at the end of this month. His replacement is a young and spiritual priest. I have great faith that our Lord has sent him here now to draw lapsed Catholics back to the Church.
I’ve never heard of a “grave sin”. I have heard of mortal sin and cardinal sin. So, what is cardinal sin? Is every sin a grave, mortal or cardinal sin, or is the lowest level just sin.
Sometimes, I think we are all going to hell, if there be a hell. Staying abreast of every sin in the bible and living in such a way as not to commit them, is impossible.
Voting for a pro-abortion politician should be a mortal sin.
The Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of the most objectionable vices that has been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning (immoral) fallen humanity's tendency to sin.
Deadly Sin * ** |
Opposing Virtue |
Brief description |
|---|---|---|
| Pride (1) (18%) |
Humility | Seeing ourselves as we are and not comparing ourselves to others is humility. Pride and vanity are competitive. If someone else's pride really bothers you, you have a lot of pride. |
| Avarice/Greed (5) (5%) |
Generosity | This is about more than money. Generosity means letting others get the credit or praise. It is giving without having expectations of the other person. Greed wants to get its "fair share" or a bit more. |
| Envy (2) (5%) |
Love | "Love is patient, love is kind…" Love actively seeks the good of others for their sake. Envy resents the good others receive or even might receive. Envy is almost indistinguishable from pride at times. |
| Wrath/Anger (3) (20%) |
Kindness | Kindness means taking the tender approach, with patience and compassion. Anger is often our first reaction to the problems of others. Impatience with the faults of others is related to this. |
| Lust (7) (31%) |
Self control | Self control and self mastery prevent pleasure from killing the soul by suffocation. Legitimate pleasures are controlled in the same way an athlete's muscles are: for maximum efficiency without damage. Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control. |
| Gluttony (6) (8%) |
Faith and Temperance | Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance. This does not pertain only to food, but to entertainment and other legitimate goods, and even the company of others. |
| Sloth (4) (13%) |
Zeal | Zeal is the energetic response of the heart to God's commands. The other sins work together to deaden the spiritual senses so we first become slow to respond to God and then drift completely into the sleep of complacency. |
Voting for a pro-abortion politician always has been a mortal sin as long as the necessary knowledge and consent is given in the commission of this sin. The current crop of politically correct, progressive bishops have just refused to enforce or teach that fact for decades.
My father-in-law’s wife (that would be my husband’s stepmother, a dear Sicilian lady) came back to the Church a couple of years ago. She said she went to the priest at the nearest church and said, “Father, I haven’t been to Confession in a long, long time,” and the priest said, “Okay, but you’re here now!” She was so happy!
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Guinness has historical cachet and is very nutritious. If you drink Guinness, you don’t have to eat Vegemite with eggs on toast.
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