Catholic Replies
Editor’s Note: Due to the pandemic, we were unable to hold weekly classes for 22 tenth-grade Confirmation students. So instead of using our regular text, Catholicism & Life, which covers the Commandments and Sacraments, we prepared a series of 14 lessons on the material, with a summary of each commandment and sacrament along with some questions to answer, and sent them to the students to complete and return to us. To their credit, they did complete the assignment, and we were able to discuss the material with them at a retreat a few weeks before they were confirmed.
It occurred to us that this material might be of interest to our readers, so we are passing the lessons along for whatever use you can find for them, even if it’s just for your own edification.
We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well, so please send them along and we will interrupt this series to answer them. See the postal mailing address and email at the bottom of this column.
Special Course On Catholicism And Life — II
What is the greatest evil in the world today? You might be thinking of war, terrorism, racism, hatred, abortion, etc., and you would be right that these are all great evils. But there is one word that includes all of these evils, and that word is sin. It is a tiny word, but it includes a universe of evil. What is the definition of sin, according to the Catholic Church?
Sin is any thought, word, action, or omission that is contrary to the love and law of God, that is, contrary to the Ten Commandments. Notice that sin is not just committing some evil deed; it can also be thinking about sinful things, or using hateful or lying words, or failing to do something that we should do, like not going to Mass or not helping a person in need.
The Catholic Church divides sin into two major categories: mortal and venial. Mortal sin breaks our relationship with God, while venial sin only weakens that relationship. Just like cutting down a tree kills the tree, while cutting off one of its branches only weakens the tree, so a mortal sin separates us from God, while venial sin weakens our relationship with Him. For a sin to be mortal, it must involve three conditions: The first condition involves grave matter (abortion, adultery, murder, racism, terrorism, worshiping idols, insulting or profane language about God, deliberately missing Mass on Sunday, disobeying one’s parents, abusing alcohol or drugs, lying to destroy someone’s good name, etc.).
The second condition is that the person must have a clear understanding that the thought, word, deed, or omission is gravely wrong, and the third condition is that the person must commit the sin with full consent of the will, that is, on purpose. The sin is not mortal if the person honestly did not know it was sinful, or was forced to do it, or did it by accident.
If any one of these conditions is missing, or if the matter was slight, then the sin would be venial. For example, punching a person would be wrong, but not as bad as murdering them; stealing five dollars would be wrong, but not as wrong as stealing five hundred dollars; lying about a mark you got on a test would be wrong, but not as wrong as lying about a person and getting him or her expelled from school or fired from a job.
Jesus hates sin, but He loves sinners. He will forgive any sin we commit if we are truly sorry and intend not to commit the sin again. We can obtain God’s merciful forgiveness by going to the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation or Confession. The only persons in Hell are those who refused God’s mercy and forgiveness. Think of how much God loves us that He is willing to forgive us no matter how many times we turn our backs on Him. Think of Jesus dying on the cross to make up for our sins. That’s how evil sin is, that Jesus died a horrible death to make up for it and pave our way to Heaven.
Some people think that they can do anything their conscience tells them, but that’s not true. First of all, what is conscience? It is a practical judgment or decision that we make about whether a certain action is good or evil. The key to understanding conscience is to know that our judgment or decision must be made according to what God and the Catholic Church teach. We can’t base our conscience on what our friends think, or on what we heard on TV, because those sources can be wrong. We have to ask ourselves what would God want us to do in a particular situation, and then form our conscience correctly. We should ask our parents, our priests, or our teachers for advice.
List Of Answers:
CHURCH
CONFESSION
CONSCIENCE
CONSENT
EVIL
GRAVE
HELL
JESUS
MERCY
MORTAL
PENANCE
RECONCILIATION
SIN
UNDERSTANDING
VENIAL
Quiz:
- Sin is the greatest __________ in the world today.
- A ______ is any willful thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to God’s law.
- A sin is mortal if the action is ________ matter and we commit it with full______________________ and deliberate _____________.
- List five sins that break our relationship with God. _______________________
_______________________________________________________.
sin weakens our relationship with God, but does not break it.
- ___________ hates sin but loves sinners.
- Jesus is rich in _____ and forgiveness toward sinners.
- A person who dies without being sorry for having committed mortal sins will be punished for all eternity in ____.
- We can take full advantage of God’s mercy by going to the Sacrament of _____,
or ________________,or ______________________. - ___________________________ is a practical judgment about whether an action is good or evil.
- In forming our consciences, we must always follow the teaching of God and the Catholic
_________________.
