Mortal sin is saying "NO!" to God in serious matter. It kills love in the
soul and makes the soul an enemy of God. Unforgiven mortal sin is what keeps us out of
Heaven and sends us to hell. (Please refer to my article last week.)
But there are less serious sins we humans commit called VENIAL SINS which,
though they do not destroy charity in the soul, they do diminish fervor and love and hinder their
development.
On occasion I hear the comment: "Oh, it’s only a little sin" or "It’s just
a white lie!" I would like to shout from the housetops: NO SIN IS LITTLE NOR SHOULD
ANYONE THINK OF ANY SIN AS NOTHING TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT!!!
Sin is an OFFENSE against God. God is the Supreme Being, infinitely perfect,
Who made all things and keeps them in existence (Baltimore Catechism). God is the
SUPREME BEING!!! Any offense against Him is not a LITTLE matter.
Though a million venial sins, of themselves, will not send a person to hell,
habitual deliberate venial sin does decrease the soul’s inclination to God. It moves the
soul to look for more self-satisfaction; it causes the
loss of a sense of sin and creates tepidity. Habitual and deliberate venial
sins can eventually weaken the soul to commit mortal sin. Therefore, one should never
think of venial sin as something insignificant or "little."
That we should not have a careless attitude regarding the committing of
deliberate venial sins, St. Teresa of Avila once wrote: "Always be fearful if you do not feel sorry for
the faults you commit, for even venial sin ought to fill you with sorrow to the very depths of your soul... For the
love of God , take care not to commit any deliberate venial sin, even the smallest... And can anything be small if
it offends God?" (Way of Perfection, 41).
But note that I said "deliberate venial sins," for there are sins we weak
human beings commit through frailty and inadvertence. Even great saints fell into these indeliberate
sins. That is, they tried hard to avoid sin, but often through sheer human weakness found themselves fall when an "attack" was unexpected. Remember Jesus once said: "Even the just man falls seven times a day."
God permits us to fail like that so that we come to mistrust ourselves and
rely more on Him. God wishes to anchor souls in humility, the foundation of the spiritual life. Actually,
we can grow in love for God from these "falls," if we quickly repent and ask God’s pardon.
These failures makes us realize more and more that "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
We can be sure that indeliberate venial sins are not real offensive to God
because bad will or an intent to sin is absent.
Hope you are preparing to make a good confession before Easter. I have a
great examination of conscience booklet that can help you, just e-mail me at Srmarylucy@aol.com. I’d be happy to send you
one. Next week I’ll write on "imperfections!"
God bless you!