Mortal and Venial Sin
Ah, now that we have covered the 10 commandments, hopefully thoroughly, its time to look over the two differences in severity of sin.
First, lets look over the lesser of the severity’s, venial. Venial sin are those sins that go against God, but, do not completely cut off our relationship with Him. An example of a venial sin would be to forget to say my prayers during the day. Its kind of like telling your mom you would call her, and then not doing so. You still have a good relationship with her, but your mom is a little mad that you neglected her. God is Our Father after all.
Mortal sin, on the other hand, is something that completely cuts off our relationship with God. The only way that we can get back into the state of grace, that is, no longer in the state of mortal sin, is going to confession, confessing our sins and receiving absolution. In order for a sin to be a mortal sin, 3 things must occur:
1. The sin must be of serious matter.
2. You must know that the sin is serious matter.
3. You have to have full consent of the will when committing the sin.
1. The sin needs to be a mortal sin (this generally is always the case, a mortal sin is a mortal sin). 2. You need to know its a mortal sin when you commit it. If you didn’t know it was a mortal sin, then you didn’t know that it was bad. This doesn’t always happen, but, once you are told that it is a mortal sin, then you know.
3. You can never be forced to commit the sin. You have to choose to commit the sin.
Once these 3 conditions are met, you have committed mortal sin, and MUST, I repeat MUST go to confession.
Sin is sin, no matter how we look at it, a sin is and always will be, a sin. There is no going around it or sugar coating it to make you feel better. Sometimes a mortal sin can be lessened so it is not as severe as a full out mortal sin, as discussed looking at the 3 conditions, but, the way I like to look at it is this: if I commit a sin that happens to be a mortal sin, I should probably get to confession as soon as I possibly can.
For those of you who are in the state of mortal sin, I really do urge you to get to confession. I know it is scary and heck sometimes intimidating, but you have to. Its for the sake of your eternal soul, and you will feel much better. If you haven’t gone to confession in a while, tell Father, he will walk you through it.
This post is one of many in a series on Mortal Sins. Click here for more posts explaining and defining mortal sins.
Even if objectively a sin is venial, if the person erroneously believes it's a mortal sin, then it is.
Pingback: Mortal Sin Against the Third Commandment | Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts
Pingback: Mortal Sin Against the Fourth Commandment | Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts
Pingback: Happy All Saint’s Day | Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts
Pingback: Mortal Sin Against the First Commandment Part 1 | Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts