Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on the 2nd Sunday of Advent.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! There are twenty-three (23) passages in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and five (5) canons in the Code of Canon Law which can help us to appreciate the Sacrament of Penance. The following is a reflection on CCC 1854.
Holy Mother Church recognizes the differences between sins as found in Sacred Scripture: “He that knows his brother to sin a sin which is not to death, let him ask: and life shall be given to him who sins not to death. There is a sin unto death. For that I say not that any man ask. All iniquity is sin. And there is a sin unto death” (1 John 5:16–17). Another way of speaking about death involves terms like mortal and mortality. This is where we get the expression “mortal sin.” The “Seven Deadly Sins” or “Capital Sins” correspond to the vices of pride, avarice (greed), envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth (cf. CCC 1866). The entire third section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which addresses moral issues in even greater detail.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P. (+1274), priest and Doctor of the Church, is always a safe and expert source to help us further understand the mysteries of faith and redemption. There are over one hundred references to “mortal” and “venial” sin in his master work Summa Theologiae. In part, Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that without penance it is impossible for an actual mortal sin to be pardoned, if we speak of penance as a virtue. Sin is an offense against God who pardons sin in the same way as He pardons an offense committed against Him" that is, personally (cf. ST III, Q. 86, A. 1). Every mortal sin is opposed to grace and excludes grace and requires both true penance and the renunciation of sin. All mortal sins are against God (cf. ST III, Q. 86, A. 3). Our mortal sins exclude us from the good of glory for which God made us and for which Christ suffered and died to redeem us (cf. ST III, Q. 86, A. 3 ad 5). Mortal sin gives rise to the debt of eternal punishment as an appropriate response to our rejection of the greatest, most perfect Good who is God (cf. ST III, Q. 86, A. 4).
Venial sins involve a disorder or defect in our desires and deeds but not to the same degree as mortal sins (cf. ST I-II, Q. 88, A. 1). The disorder and defect introduced by mortal sins are such that the grace of God is required for the repair to be made. Venial sins merit temporal punishment whereas mortal sins merit everlasting punishment (cf. I-II, Q. 88, A. 2).
The Good News of our salvation and redemption in Christ is the possibility of pardon of both mortal and venial sins, thanks to God’s grace readily available in the Sacrament of Penance (cf. ST III, Q. 86, A. 4 ad 1).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr