sins: mortal or venial

Re: Sins, Classification: Gravity, Mortal or Venial
Fr: Catechism of the Catholic Church {CCC} (1994). # 1855-1863 and Pope John Paul II (1984 Dec 2). Reconciliatio et Paenitentia {RP} [Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on Reconciliation and Penitence in the Mission of the Church Today]. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_02121984_reconciliatio-et-paenitentia_en.html

"If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one -- to those whose sin is NOT MORTAL. There is sin that is MORTAL; I do not say that you should pray about that. [17] All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal."
-- I John 5:16-17 (CCC # 1854)

“The Synod {1983, 6th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops} … reaffirmed the teaching of the Council of Trent {1545 – 1563, Trent is an Italian City} concerning the existence and nature of mortal and venial sins….” (RP # 17 § 12)

“The church has a teaching on this matter [gravity of sin] which she reaffirms in its essentials, while recognizing that it is not always easy in concrete situations to define clear and exact limits.” (RP # 17 § 1)

I. Mortal Sin

Definition:
= “is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent”. (RP # 17 § 12 as quoted in CCC # 1857)

= is a “radical rupture with God, the supreme good, of deviation from the path that leads to God or interruption in the journey towards him (which are all ways of defining mortal sin)….” (RP # 17 § 11)

= “the act by which man freely and consciously rejects God, his law, the covenant of love that God offers, preferring to turn in on himself or to some created and finite reality, something contrary to the divine will (conversion ad creaturam).” (RP # 17 § 15)

= “… when through sin, the soul commits a disorder that reaches the point of turning away from its ultimate end Got to which it is bound by charity, then the sin is mortal….” – St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 72, a. 5 (RP # 17 § 9)

Examples:
(1) direct and formal: idolatry, apostasy, and atheism
(2) indirect and informal: disobedience to God’s commandments (RP # 17 § 15)

“Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother” (Mt 10:19). (CCC # 1858)

Effect:
“Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.” (CCC # 1855)

Mortal sin, “if unforgiven, leads to eternal punishment….” (RP # 17 § 10)

NB:
“Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man.” (CCC # 1860)

“The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders.” (CCC # 1860)

“… although we can judge that an act is itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.” (CCC # 1861)

“Considering the omnipotence and mercy of God, no one should despair of the salvation of anyone in this life….” – St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 14, a. 3, ad primum. (RP # 17 § 6)

“The Christian possesses the power that preserves him from falling into sin, and ‘the evil one does not touch him’ (1 John 5:18)….” (RP # 17 § 4)

II. Venial Sin

Definition:
“One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.” (CCC # 1862)

“Man knows well by experience that along the road of faith and justice which leads to the knowledge and love of God in this life and toward perfect union with him in eternity, he can cease to go forward or can go astray without abandoning the way of God; and in this case there occurs venial sin.” (RP # 17 § 13)

“… whenever the disorder does not reach the point of a turning away from God, the sin is venial.” – St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 72, a. 5. (RP 3 17 § 9)

Examples:
“When a sinner’s will is set upon something that of its nature involves a disorder, but is not opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial.” – St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, 88, 2, corp. art. (CCC # 1856)

Effect:
“Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.” (CCC # 1855)

“… venial sin is the sin that merits temporal punishment (that is, a partial punishment which can be expiated on earth or in purgatory).” (RP # 17 § 10)

NB:
“Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin.” (CCC # 1863)

“While he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at least some light sins. But do not despise these sins which we call ‘light’; if you take them for light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of light objects makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, confession….” – St. Augustine, In ep. Jo. 1, 6: PL 35, 1982. (CCC # 1863)