Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

I have written and spoken recently on the seriousness of sin and the need to seek reconciliation with God. It is perhaps good to engage in some further teaching on the difference between mortal sin and venial sin. Mortal sin is described as "a sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent" (CCC 1857). I encourage you to review that relevant section of your Catechism of the Catholic Church for more details. In short, grave matter corresponds to the Ten Commandments, full knowledge is being aware of the sinful character of the act, and the consent must be sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. However, we should be aware that we are capable of deceiving ourselves in any of those areas. We can try to convince ourselves that the matter is not that big of a deal, when it is objectively grave and a serious offense against God or others. We can feign ignorance, or view our own hardness of heart as meaning we did not freely choose. When we deceive ourselves in these ways, it does not diminish the sin, but rather compounds it and makes it more serious. This is one of those ways we sin against the Holy Spirit - a sin that cannot be forgiven (Cf. Mt 12:31-32) - when we convince ourselves we do not need forgiveness we do not seek forgiveness and cannot be forgiven.

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Venial sins are those sins that are of less serious nature, or those of serious nature that are legitimately diminished by lack of full knowledge or having compromised consent. Venial sins offend God and wound charity in us, but do not destroy it. They do not separate us from the grace of God. Yet we must still be wary of venial sins. It is an incredibly harmful attitude to think that since venial sins are minor they do not matter or that we can keep on committing those sins without changing. Venial sins still carry many consequences, such as offending God, send us to Purgatory, and dispose us to greater, mortal sins. It is obligatory that we do what we can to avoid venial sins along with mortal sins. In fact, because venial sins can dispose us to mortal sin, deliberately choosing to not avoid venial sins puts one in near proximity to mortal sin, and that deliberate choice can be itself a mortal sin. Lent is a good time to really work on avoiding and overcoming venial sins and grow in our desire for true holiness.

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Peace in Christ,

Father Timothy