Day 207 - Is there such a thing as structures of sin? // Can a Christian be a radical individualist?
Is there such a thing as structures of sin?
Structures of sin exist only in a manner of speaking. A sin is always connected with an individual person, who knowingly and willingly agrees to something evil.
Nevertheless, there are societal situations and institutions that are so contradictory to God's commandments that we speak about "structures of sin"yet these, too, are the consequence of personal sins.
Can a Christian be a radical individualist?
No, a Christian can never be a radical individualist, because man is by nature designed for fellowship.
Every person has a mother and a father; he receives help from others and is obliged to help others and to develop his talents for the benefit of all. Since man is God's "image", in a certain way he reflects God, who in his depths is not alone but triune (and thus life, love, dialogue, and exchange). Finally, love is the central commandment for all Christians; through it we profoundly belong together and are fundamentally dependent on one another. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt 22:39). (YOUCAT questions 320-321)
Dig Deeper: CCC section (1869-1890) and other references here.
Part 3: Life in Christ (1691 - 2557)
Section 1: Man's Vocation — Life in the Spirit (1699 - 2051)
Chapter 1: The Dignity of the Human Person (1700 - 1876)
Article 8: Sin (1846 - 1876)
V. THE PROLIFERATION OF SIN ⇡
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
144.
John Paul II, RP 16.
IN BRIEF ⇡
"God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all" (Rom 11:32).
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 a disobedience contrary to the obedience of Christ.
Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and injures human solidarity.
The root of all sins lies in man's heart. The kinds and the gravity of sins are determined principally by their objects.
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.
Venial sin constitutes a moral disorder that is reparable by charity, which it allows to subsist in us.
The repetition of sins — even venial ones — engenders vices, among which are the capital sins.
Chapter 2: The Human Community (1877 - 1948)
The vocation of humanity is to show forth the image of God and to be transformed into the image of the Father's only Son. This vocation takes a personal form since each of us is called to enter into the divine beatitude; it also concerns the human community as a whole.
Article 1: The Person and Society (1878 - 1896)
I. THE COMMUNAL CHARACTER OF THE HUMAN VOCATION ⇡
All men are called to the same end: God himself. There is a certain resemblance between the unity of the divine persons and the fraternity that men are to establish among themselves in truth and love.1 Love of neighbor is inseparable from love for God.
1.
Cf. GS 24 § 3.
The human person needs to live in society. Society is not for him an extraneous addition but a requirement of his nature. Through the exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue with his brethren, man develops his potential; he thus responds to his vocation.2
2.
Cf. GS 25 § 1.
A society is a group of persons bound together organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond each one of them. As an assembly that is at once visible and spiritual, a society endures through time: it gathers up the past and prepares for the future. By means of society, each man is established as an "heir" and receives certain "talents" that enrich his identity and whose fruits he must develop.3 He rightly owes loyalty to the communities of which he is part and respect to those in authority who have charge of the common good.
3.
Cf. Lk 19:13,15.