Traditional Catholic Teaching - Lesson 12

Lesson 12 - Sin

Sin

The greatest evil, in fact one might say the only real evil, is sin. It is an evil because it is an offence against God. And it is an evil for us because it cuts us off from God and if we remain cut off, turned away from God, we fail to achieve the purpose for which we were made. All true religion is based on the love of God. The more we love God the more we realise the evil thing that sin is.

Sin is Folly

Sin is stupid. We break a law of God and expect to find happiness in doing so. And that is the height of folly. This is obvious enough with physical laws. A man who jumps off a roof because it's too much trouble to go downstairs is a fool. He doesn't find a more convenient way down. He smashes himself to pieces because he comes up against the law of gravity. A man who tries to avoid sea-sickness by walking on the sea is a fool. He drowns.

Everybody sees this when it is a question of physical laws. But in the case of sin, which is a breach of the moral law, we try to persuade ourselves that the consequences don't follow. But the moral law of God is a law just as much as the others. Break the moral law and disaster follows either here or hereafter.

Are We Free?

How then can we say that a man is free? He is free because God will never physically force us to keep His law. We are free to obey or to disobey. But we are not free to choose the consequences of our action. A man is free to jump off the roof. But he can't change the law. And the consequences will be that he will smash himself to pieces. In the same way we are free to break the moral law of God. We are free to lie, steal, murder, commit adultery and the rest. But we are not free to choose the consequences. The result of sin is certain. Unhappiness in the long run or even in the short run and the missing of our goal.

Sin and God's Justice

Now consider sin from the point of view of the justice of God. God's justice is not like the rough and ready justice of men. God's justice is exact. The penalty is exactly proportioned to the offence (except where His mercy may diminish the punishment which justice claims). The reward is exactly proportioned to the merit. God never exaggerates.

In the light of this principle we can bring home to ourselves the reality of sin by thinking over the two outstanding sins whose consequences are described for us by God in the Scriptures.

1.The Sin of the Angels and its Consequences. Hell

First of all there was the mysterious sin of the angels. The angels were created by God pure spirits, intelligent far beyond anything that we know among men, with no body, no pull of the flesh to evil, no hindrances to their freedom. A number of them rebelled against God. They chose their own will rather than God's. And the consequence is expressed in Our Lord's words:

"I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven." (Luke 10: 18.)

There came into existence Hell. Hell is a reality, not a myth. To deny hell is to deny the words of Christ. Time and time again He warns His hearers against the danger of hell. (In the Sermon on the Mount Christ warned His hearers no less than six times.)

If we will not choose God, if we persist in choosing ourselves and our own way, then we choose frustration. God forgives us if we repent and turn to Him again. But there must come a time when the choice is made once and for all. Otherwise we could make a mockery of God. And if the choice is made against God then we have chosen eternal frustration, eternal emptiness, This is what is called the pain of loss.

Christ spoke of hell in terms of fire:

At the last day, He said, God will say to the wicked: Depart from Me ye cursed into everlasting fire that was prepared for the Devil and his angels. (Matt.25: 41)

There is no need to wonder about the nature of this "fire". We can't tell what the conditions of life in the next world will be. It is enough to know that out of all the words He might have used Christ chose the word fire with all that it implies of anguish and pain.

Hell is not against the justice of God. God is justice itself. If it were ever unjust for anyone to go to Hell then no one would ever go.

Hell is not against God's goodness. God's goodness makes us for Heaven. If we refuse Heaven we refuse the one thing that could make us happy and, consequently, choose misery.

As for the pain which Our Lord calls "fire", that is a merciful warning of God to keep us on the straight road to our goal. On the shores of eternity God has set two beacons — the green light of Love — the red light of Hell. When the green light is obscured by the storm of passion the red light may still pierce the murk.

We shall never miss Heaven except through our own fault, God gives us all the help we need to reach it. The choice is our own. He pays us the compliment of making us responsible beings.

2.The Sin of Adam and Eve and its Consequences

Consider the other great sin described for us in the Scriptures. The disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, the Fall of man and its consequences. The root of the sin as indeed of all sin was pride. They refused to obey God, preferring their own way. As a consequence they lost the grace of God, that supernatural life that God had given them and with it all the other privileges which were theirs. There came into the world death, pain, suffering. It may truly be said that at the moment they committed the sin they began to die. Matter returned to its own law – corruption and death. That is why St. Paul says:

The wages of sin is death. (Rom.6: 23)

Death of the body here; spiritual death, that is, the loss of God, here and in the next world.

No doubt there are many things we do not understand about these two examples. But it is enough to know the facts and to realise the consequences.

By thinking over these we can realise more readily the consequences of our own sins, the disaster sin must bring to ourselves and others, even though we do not immediately see those consequences.

By thinking of the evils which sin brings in its wake we can realise just what an evil thing sin is in itself.

Sin and the Love of God

Finally, consider sin from the point of view of the love of God. In order to conquer sin God became man, suffered and died on the cross. He showed us the consequences of sin in His own person.

Christ's human nature was a real human nature. He really suffered. He really died. And He bore in some way the sins of the whole world. Think of Christ in His agony in the Garden as described in the Gospels:

He began to fear and to be sorrowful. He was dismayed and distressed. (Matt. 26: 37: Mark 14: 33).

And on the cross itself He allowed Himself to feel the uttermost depths of abandonment. He gave up the human consolation which He had received so far from the Father. He was the head of the human family and He felt in Himself the shame of our sins as the innocent father of a family might feel the disgrace of his children.

The greatest saints have told us that they learnt to know and love God best on their knees before the Crucifix. There we see God Himself suffering and dying through the sins of men. God in Heaven cannot suffer. But God took a human nature so that He would he able to suffer. He faced sin on the same level as us.

He has given us everything we have. Body and soul, life, parents, a home, wife and children, everything. And we repay him with ingratitude. We know what is wrong and yet we deliberately choose to do it. We even persuade ourselves sometimes that what we are doing is of no great importance. It is extraordinary how we can persuade ourselves when it is a question of our own comfort or desires.

The small voice of conscience is there all the time. Even when we stifle it we cannot forget it entirely. But sometimes we cultivate such a habit of sin, we hug one particular sin to ourselves to such an extent, that our conscience becomes hardened and we no longer hear or heed the voice of conscience.

That is why we should often remember the agony and sufferings of Our Lord. Here for example is St. Luke's description of the Agony of Our Lord in the Garden of Olives, called Gethsemani:

When He was come to the place He said (to His disciples): Pray lest ye enter into temptation. And He was withdrawn from them a stone's cast. And kneeling down He prayed, saying: Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me: but yet not My will but Thine be done.

And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed the longer. And His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.
And when He rose up from prayer and was come to the disciples He found them sleeping for sorrow. And He said to them: Why sleep you? Arise, pray, lest you enter into temptation.

And as He was yet speaking, behold a multitude; and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him.

And Jesus said to him: Judas, dost thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss? (Luke 22: 39 - 48)

Judas was one of His own personal friends, one of His twelve Apostles.

Every time we sin grievously we are as much traitors as Judas was.

Sorrow For Sin

And so one of the first steps to understanding our relationship with God is to understand the reality of sin. We have to bring home to ourselves the fact that our sins have consequences which we cannot measure. We have to bring home to ourselves the realisation that sin is directly refusing the love of God. We have to ask God to give us a realisation of sin and to give us sorrow for what we have done.

When we are inclined to make excuses for ourselves, to pretend to ourselves that our sins are of no great importance, that God is indulgent to them, then we should remember what sin meant to God when He suffered and died because of it.

Peter denied that he knew Our Lord. He had followed Him after His arrest and when a maidservant in the courtyard of the High Priest's house challenged Peter He began to curse and swear that he did not know Christ. Just at that moment the door of the High Priest's hall opened and Christ was hustled out. He had been beaten and abused all through the interrogation to which He had been subjected. He comes out now just in time to hear His own friend deserting Him.

And the Lord turning looked on Peter . . . And Peter going out wept bitterly. (Luke 22: 61)

It is the look in the eyes of Christ that penetrates our soul. No need for words. When we are honest with ourselves we can see ourselves as Christ sees us. And so sorrow for sin is stirred in our hearts.

Once the sorrow is there God's forgiveness is immediately offered. A humble and contrite heart Thou wilt not despise O God. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be made as white as snow. (Is. 1: 18;) Come to Me all ye that labour and are heavy burdened and I will refresh you. (Matt.11: 28)

All those phrases and thousands more in the Scriptures bear witness to God's readiness to pardon the sinner. In the next lesson (13 — CONFESSION) we shall see how God has given us a ready means to pardon and peace.

Mortal and Venial Sin

Realising all this people are sometimes surprised to hear Catholics distinguish between greater and lesser sins. Surely, they say, sin is just sin. It is always an offence against God. How can you say that some sins are not serious?

It is perfectly true to say that all sin is an offence against God. We can never consider even the smallest sin as trivial. And if we once understand what sin is we should be prepared to die rather than to commit even the smallest sin.

And yet Catholics distinguish between what we call mortal sin and venial sin. (There is obviously a difference between murder and impoliteness.) We say there are certain sins which are so serious that they cut us off from the grace of God, kill the supernatural life in our souls. We do not die physically. But we die spiritually. (Hence the name "mortal sin" just as we say a man receives a "mortal" wound.)

Such a sin would be, for example, blasphemy, a denial of God, murder, real hatred, a great injustice, adultery or other sexual sins.

There are three things which make a sin a mortal sin.

It must be a serious matter.
We must know what we are doing, we must have knowledge of the seriousness of the sin.
We must do it deliberately, there must be full consent.¹

A venial sin, for example, a hasty word, carelessness at prayer, is a sin which does not indeed cut us off from God, yet it displeases God and often leads to mortal sin². It is called a venial sin from the Latin word "Venia" meaning pardon, because it is more easily pardoned than mortal sin.

This is a common-sense distinction which in practice everybody understands and acknowledges. And yet we should never lightly estimate any sin. All sins are disorder, all sins are offences against God, and in a greater or lesser degree a sign of the lack of love of God in our hearts.

¹Suppose a person is under physical compulsion to do some wrong act, e.g. threatened with death or serious injury, can he do the act and claim that he did not give full consent? If the act is wrong in itself, e.g., blasphemy, adultery, denial of his, Faith, he may not do it, He must die rather than do it — as the Martyrs did.
If the act is not wrong itself but simply a positive law, e.g., missing Sunday Mass, he is excused by threat of serious injury. The lawgiver does not intend his law to bind under such circumstances.

² It is impossible for us to avoid some occasion of sin we must take particular precautions against the danger, by saying extra prayers for example. The priest in the confessional can advise us on this.

An Act of Contrition

An Act of Contrition is a prayer which expresses our sorrow for sin. Here it is as said by Catholics:

"O my God, I am sorry and beg pardon for all my sins, and I detest them above all things, because they deserve Thy dreadful punishments, because they have crucified my loving Saviour Jesus Christ, and, most of all, because they offend Thine infinite goodness; and I firmly resolve, by the help of Thy grace, never to offend Thee again, and carefully to avoid the occasions of sin."³

³The occasions of sin are any thoughts, persons, places, or anything that is likely to lead us into sin.

End of Lesson 12

Supplement A

Supplement B: "Fire and Division"

Appendix: "The Last Warning"

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