WHAT MAKES A SIN MORTAL?
Mortal sin is the most serious sin and its effect is to be understood by its very name: mortal. Mortal means deadly and, therefore, mortal sin completely kills the grace of God in our heart. It leaves us spiritually dead and lacking in charity and hope. In fact it is deadly than a killer virus because it affects the Soul that was created Immortal.
Interestingly, mortal sin does not necessarily destroy faith in our lives. It certainly attacks our faith and confuses it, but faith is still possible while in mortal sin. In fact, it is that enduring ability to have faith that can have the effect of enabling one to repent of mortal sin and return to God.
However, even though faith is not necessarily completely destroyed by mortal sin, hope and charity are. The soul in unrepentant mortal sin is not able to hope in God in any way and is not capable of offering the charity which results from sanctifying grace. To be restored one needs the sacrament of reconciliation
Understanding mortal sin can seem a bit technical and hard to understand on a practical level. Nonetheless, it’s important to understand the nature of mortal sin (as explained above) as well as the conditions of committing a mortal sin. The conditions are as follows:
GRAVE MATTER
For a sin to be mortal, the first condition is that the action done is grave. This can be hard to distinguish at times for some sins, but other sins are clear. Any grave violation of the Ten Commandments should be considered grave matter. Here are some obvious examples: Murder, violence, arson, theft, adultery, fornication, abortion, blasphemy, apostasy, etc. These are some of the most grievous acts one can commit. It’s true that all of these actions can be done to a lesser degree, but for them to be grave we should think of these actions being done to the most serious degree.
FULL KNOWLEDGE
A second necessary condition of mortal sin is that one performs the grave act with full knowledge that it is gravely wrong. Note that the word “full” is used here to qualify one’s knowledge. It’s not just a matter of suspecting it’s wrong or even being pretty certain; rather, there must be a complete understanding of the seriousness and gravity of the action. “Full” means 100%. God knows if we know the gravity of the sin and He knows if we are ignorant. Hopefully, if we are honest with ourselves, we will also be able to admit to the depth of our knowledge and admit when we do in fact have full knowledge.
COMPLETE CONSENT
Again, note here the use of the word “complete” to qualify the type of consent given. It’s not enough to simply do the action; it must also be done in a completely free way by one’s own free will. Complete, once again, means done freely with 100% of your free will. Anything less than 100% does not meet the requirement of mortal sin.
CONCLUSION
With a basic understanding of these three conditions of mortal sin, we can also see that any lacking in one of these three conditions immediately lessens the personal responsibility one may have and, thus, the sin only becomes venial. It doesn’t mean that the sin is any less wrong, it just means we may not be as personally responsible for what we have done and, thus, we may not have completely, 100%, cut off our relationship with God.
Mortal sin is the most serious sin and its effect is to be understood by its very name: mortal. Mortal means deadly and, therefore, mortal sin completely kills the grace of God in our heart. It leaves us spiritually dead and lacking in charity and hope. In fact it is deadly than a killer virus because it affects the Soul that was created Immortal.
Interestingly, mortal sin does not necessarily destroy faith in our lives. It certainly attacks our faith and confuses it, but faith is still possible while in mortal sin. In fact, it is that enduring ability to have faith that can have the effect of enabling one to repent of mortal sin and return to God.
However, even though faith is not necessarily completely destroyed by mortal sin, hope and charity are. The soul in unrepentant mortal sin is not able to hope in God in any way and is not capable of offering the charity which results from sanctifying grace. To be restored one needs the sacrament of reconciliation
Understanding mortal sin can seem a bit technical and hard to understand on a practical level. Nonetheless, it’s important to understand the nature of mortal sin (as explained above) as well as the conditions of committing a mortal sin. The conditions are as follows:
GRAVE MATTER
For a sin to be mortal, the first condition is that the action done is grave. This can be hard to distinguish at times for some sins, but other sins are clear. Any grave violation of the Ten Commandments should be considered grave matter. Here are some obvious examples: Murder, violence, arson, theft, adultery, fornication, abortion, blasphemy, apostasy, etc. These are some of the most grievous acts one can commit. It’s true that all of these actions can be done to a lesser degree, but for them to be grave we should think of these actions being done to the most serious degree.
FULL KNOWLEDGE
A second necessary condition of mortal sin is that one performs the grave act with full knowledge that it is gravely wrong. Note that the word “full” is used here to qualify one’s knowledge. It’s not just a matter of suspecting it’s wrong or even being pretty certain; rather, there must be a complete understanding of the seriousness and gravity of the action. “Full” means 100%. God knows if we know the gravity of the sin and He knows if we are ignorant. Hopefully, if we are honest with ourselves, we will also be able to admit to the depth of our knowledge and admit when we do in fact have full knowledge.
COMPLETE CONSENT
Again, note here the use of the word “complete” to qualify the type of consent given. It’s not enough to simply do the action; it must also be done in a completely free way by one’s own free will. Complete, once again, means done freely with 100% of your free will. Anything less than 100% does not meet the requirement of mortal sin.
CONCLUSION
With a basic understanding of these three conditions of mortal sin, we can also see that any lacking in one of these three conditions immediately lessens the personal responsibility one may have and, thus, the sin only becomes venial. It doesn’t mean that the sin is any less wrong, it just means we may not be as personally responsible for what we have done and, thus, we may not have completely, 100%, cut off our relationship with God.
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