Posted on 09/29/2016 12:17:14 PM PDT by ebb tide
The following is from an article published in the September 2016 edition of Central California Catholic Life by Fr. Jim Rude, SJ, Co-Editor:
I’m getting to be an old man, brushing the mid eighties, and I find that in these past few years, I have been doing a lot of reminiscing, thinking of people, places, events.
I remember the theology we were taught in the early days, a theology that was rather simple, and in a way, rather sad. For there was not a great deal of explanation. I went to Mass every Sunday with my family, wouldn’t miss it, but it meant nothing to me religiously; it was just something we did. I made my Confirmation when I was in the eighth grade, but all I can remember from it was the Bishop slapping me — and all the others as well.
Being a Catholic was simply fish on Friday, confession on Saturday and Mass on Sunday. And those confessions were rather sad, for there were usually mortal sins mentioned, but looking back on it I believe that there were never any mortal sins.
There were never mortal sins because I was only 15 and had no clue what a mortal sin was. Unfortunately there are still some Catholics among us who also do not understand. A mortal sin is not simply some evil action, an action which is truly evil, but it is one that has to be done with the deepest understanding of God’s relationship to the doer’s situation. The doer has to understand who God is, his ultimate and eternal love, and the doer has to be saying to himself, “I know who God is and what He should mean to me, and I don’t care. Away with God! I’m going to rob or hurt or sex no matter what.”
But also the doer has to act with full freedom. I look at articles in the news these days, like the 12-year old who killed an 82-year old priest while he was saying Mass, and I wondered what the kid was really doing, what he was really thinking. As horrible as his action was, I simply have a hard time believing that the kid committed a mortal sin by Catholic standards. And I look at people who grew up with horrible abuse during their childhood or poverty or continual gang experiences, and I wonder if they are really free to act in such an evil way.
I reflect on those most incredible words that Luke tells us were heard coming from that Man on the cross when He was suffering incredibly intense pain, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Those words give me joy.
Is California leading the way again... ?
I hope the priest hasn’t committed a mortal sin, but I have trouble believing the rest of us haven’t committed a mortal sin.
I agree with this. Too many people equate sin assessment with some sort of criminal conviction or bill coming due. But God is neither a cop, an administrative judge nor an accountant. He will forgive a lifetime of sin in exchange for one single genuine tear of heartfelt repentance.
That’s why Jesus says that even to those who did everything in His name, including casting out demons, will be subject to Him saying “I know you not.” That’s also why when people judge each others souls I just shake my head - it’s like listening to children bicker on a playground.
There is no list to fulfill to get to God. God looks at the heart alone, and words are irrelevant. As they say, fools rush in where angels fear to tred. Love is the path to God - the only path. Words are dust, and the toys of frauds.
In my opinion.
Interesting article. I am not a Catholic, but I sometimes wonder if some of the things I did were “mortal.” When I did them, I knew that they were wrong and the Bible would say so as well, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t sure if I even believed in God, so I errored on the side of stupid. But Now, I am unhappy that I did them and asked for forgiveness.
Do you think that knowingly missing Sunday Mass is not a mortal sin?
“Do you think that knowingly missing Sunday Mass is not a mortal sin?”
“But what if you are on a ship at sea, and the ship crosses the international dateline, and....”
George Carlin (who went to Catholic school)
If you committed just one venial sin in your life, it would look so black and filthy against the burning love of God that you couldn’t stand to face Him without purgation and atonement.
The saints experienced an increasing horror of sin the closer they got to God. If we find our horror diminishing, it is likely we are headed in the other direction.
“Do you think that knowingly missing Sunday Mass is not a mortal sin?”
Yes. It is a manmade event. Church wants donations on Sunday. Besides, Saturday is the Sabbath.
I think the priest who wrote this article spoke a profound truth. Whether missing a mass or anything else, the nature of a mortal sin is so profound that the criteria he discussed must be met to achieve it. Whether those criteria have been met in any particular instance is only known to God and those personally involved in the act.
In other words, I think deliberately missing a mass can be a mortal sin, a venal sin, no sin at all, or even a praiseworthy act, depending on the circumstances. Which is not to say that the requirement to attend mass is subjective, rather that people's lives and relationship to God are not as simple and straightforward as the speeding laws in the vehicle code, or even the murder laws in the criminal code. God is far beyond such efforts to constrain His relationship with us in such a crude manner.
As an example, I've watched with amusement as Catholics, who decry the papal rejection of Protestants, wash their hands of the antics of Pope Frank. They invoke Canon Law this and that, but really it boils down to context and taking personal responsibility for ones own religious beliefs. And it doesn't change the religion one whit.
True. But there’s no substitute for being among a faith based group for an hour or so on Saturday or Sunday.
Agreed. Man’s got to be humble.
Maybe you should wait until you are a saint, before you speak for their experiences. Maybe, just maybe, saints experience a tad more about the influence of God's love than you understand. To start with, in my opinion, I think they would be horrified at your interpretation of their beatitude as license to demand that others maintain horror of sin, rather than increase their love and focus on God. To put it mildly, you're facing the wrong direction. "The beatings will continue until morale improves" is NOT what Christ taught!
what !?!
this is the biggest pile of manure I have ever read.
So ... according to this guy, you could murder millions, but as long as you thought that was ok you didn’t commit a mortal sin!
Many people think that a mortal sin is a sin that is so heinous that even God can’t or won’t forgive it. That’s absurd. And it’s certainly not Catholic teaching.
For a sin to be mortal, it must be grave matter, the sinner has to know it’s grave matter, and do it freely.
Of course, any sin at all, mortal or venial, even the murder of millions of people, can be forgiven.
It’s easy to commit a mortal sin. Unfortunately I know from sad experience. But I also know the joy of living in God’s forgiveness. And the more mortal sins you commit, the easier it is to commit others.
It’s not hard to understand if you look at sin from the viewpoint of love. When we offend our spouse by failing to do something small they’ve asked us to do, it may annoy them, and perhaps even annoy them a lot. But it doesn’t fundamentally rupture the relationship. It may not even require an explicit apology on our part for them to forgive us, although a sincere apology certainly would be a good thing.
On the other hand, if we were to commit adultery, well, that’s another story. The relationship has been severed in a very fundamental way. It’s more than just a really bad little thing. It’s fundamentally broken. And if we persist in that state without a sincere expression of deep sorrow, and a commitment never to do it again, and to work through the damage that we’ve caused to our relationship, then we have basically cut ourselves off from our spouse’s love.
It’s the same with God. If we cut ourselves off from His love, and persist in that state until we die, then we will go to hell. We will experience eternal death. That’s why it’s called “mortal sin.”
This reads like Jim Comey taking a stab at explaining sinning.
What is this drivel, ebb tide?! LOL!
It may be for Jews, Seventh Day Adventists, or Seventh Day Baptists. But Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday.
Ah, but it’s in Scripture that gazing at a woman with lust in your heart equals adultery; therefore your hormone-driven synaptic firings & optic nerve receptors have just banished you to perdition!
Only half kidding...
;^)
It’s Jesuit drivel. Just like Francis’ drivel.
Speaking of Jesuit drivel. Now Francis says we must confess if we don’t recycle.
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