Actually, I can say from personal experience that guilt catches up to you and you’d rather just face the consequences and move on with life.
of course I didn’t remotely come close to doing what he did!
And I ended up not getting any prison time. But even a year or two in prison would have been better than always worrying about a knock at the door and having a stained soul.
That was long ago and now at 52 the only guilt I have to worry about is my 87-year-old mother finding out that I took the last two donuts she had when I visited her last time :)
I guess she could charge me with petty theft :-)
Being a Catholic I would have to say that his soul is still stained. Unless he receives absolution from priest he still in in danger of eternal damnation.
On the other side of the argument you are correct he does need to receive Earthly justice for his soul to be cleansed. But I half suspect he may have waited a bit too long to receive justice and be made whole.
Since you brought up the matter of his soul I had to throw in my little bit of the Catechism.
Aww your mama would have packed the doughnuts in a bag and sent you home with them and a kiss on the cheek. :)
” the only guilt I have to worry about is my 87-year-old mother finding out that I took the last two donuts she had”
If you took her bran muffins you would get the death penalty, old people are very possessive of their bran muffins......