Copyright © 2006 By Doug Lawrence. All Rights Reserved.
Catechism Of The Catholic Church Reprinted With Permission.
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God’s Truth From The Catechism Of The Catholic Church – cont.
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 heart
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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 for
ever, 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 us
little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin 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."
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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.
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1864 "Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the
blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven."
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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.
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Such hardness of
heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.
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