How Often Are Mortal Sins Committed?

[TeresaBenedicta]

I'm starting this thread as on off-shoot from the Poll about Reconciliation in the Debate phorum...

One user stated that they were surprised that anyone could go 2-4 weeks without falling into mortal sins [lest they be a nun]. This statement surprised me and started making second guess whether what I consider to be venial or seriously venial sins are actually mortal sins.

[No one need answer this post with personal information or experiences unless they really feel it would be helpful.]

How often does a practicing Catholic commit mortal sin?

My initial guess would be that much depends on how much one is tempted by sexual sin. But I don't want to make generalizations. What might other "typical" mortal sins would a practicing Catholic be likely to commit?

Thoughts?

[Lil Red]

+JMJ+
breaking any one of the 10 commandments?

i know that i break the first one all the time. i put things ahead of God all the time.

[OraProMe]

I would say lust is the primary mortal sin for most of the young, unmarried members of phatmass.

[tinytherese]

We can analyze whether or not we commited a mortal sin or not until we're blue in the face. "Was it really a grave matter? Did it involve full knowledge or full consent? I don't know!" I say that as a rule of thumb, if you commit a sin that is a grave matter to just go to confession as soon as possible and don't receive Our Lord in communion until you do. Its much simpler that way.

I know some people who struggle with masturbation. That's probably a common one to fall into and to have a difficult time breaking that bad habit.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='TeresaBenedicta' date='14 January 2010 - 01:35 PM' timestamp='1263494128' post='2037050']
How often does a practicing Catholic commit mortal sin?
[/quote]

It depends on the Catholic in question.

[TeresaBenedicta]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='14 January 2010 - 09:43 PM' timestamp='1263519823' post='2037332']
It depends on the Catholic in question.
[/quote]

Obviously.

I am just asking for generalizations. We do it all the time, including the question "How often ought a person go to Confession?" from the other thread.

[AccountDeleted]

Once I thought I had committed a mortal sin because I took something that wasn't mine without considering all the consequences. It was out of necessity (I won't say what it was, but let's just say it was the "stealing a loaf of bread to feed a hungry child" type of thing), and as soon as I realized that what I had done could be construed as "stealing" in a way, I was devastated and felt that I had actually committed a "mortal sin" (since stealing is a grave matter and I did it of my own free will).

I had to phone up another parish to make an appointment to see a priest since Confession wasn't scheduled for another week in our parish and our priest wasn't available. I went to this other priest's Mass, didn't receive Communion since I thought I was in mortal sin, and then met the priest in the sacristy afterwards to confess. I was so upset that I had offended God but the priest almost got angry at me and said that I had NOT committed a mortal sin and told me that people throw this word around too much. Now, I am just repeating what he told me here, but he said that "full knowledge and consent" means that the person must understand not only the gravity of the sin but also that in committing it, they are willingly separating themselves from the grace of God (and then they go ahead and do it anyway). In my case, he said that since it wasn't until after I had done the act that I realized that what I was doing was wrong, or that this act could separate me from God, he would qualify this as a venial sin. Now the priest made this call, but I think it is always better to err on the side of cautiousness, because who wants to separate their soul from the grace of God's salvation?

I haven't had to face a recurring mortal sin such as lust, but pride has resurfaced its ugly head in a million different little forms. Usually it can be contained enough not to cause a mortal sin, but it is still ugly and almost impossible to fight because pride wants to fight pride! One priest told me just to acknowledge it and then pray to God to take care of it for me.

I think it must be very hard for young people today who are fighting against the sin of lust because they are confronted over and over again with images and advertising that encourage offences against purity and chastity. And once something is in the memory, it is very hard to erase. As always, prayers help, and Our Lady is such a model of purity that it helps to think of her and to pray to her.

[HisChildForever]

I can offer an example without embarrassing myself. For those not in the know, I work retail. I always keep a good face on for the customers, but for those who are particularly nasty or annoying I often think badly about them in my mind. I never let that interfere with my work or with the way I interact with them, but I know that such negative thoughts are inappropriate.

I suppose we can dissect that. Is this a grave matter? I do have knowledge that the thoughts are wrong. Not sure if I'm completely consenting to them, because sometimes I can't help the thoughts - but then again I can stop them.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='nunsense' date='14 January 2010 - 09:06 PM' timestamp='1263521182' post='2037349']
I had to phone up another parish to make an appointment to see a priest since Confession wasn't scheduled for another week in our parish and our priest wasn't available. I went to this other priest's Mass, didn't receive Communion since I thought I was in mortal sin, and then met the priest in the sacristy afterwards to confess. I was so upset that I had offended God but the priest almost got angry at me and said that I had NOT committed a mortal sin and told me that people throw this word around too much. Now, I am just repeating what he told me here, but he said that "full knowledge and consent" means that the person must understand not only the gravity of the sin but also that in committing it, they are willingly separating themselves from the grace of God (and then they go ahead and do it anyway).
[/quote]

I would definitely disagree that one has to be willingly separating himself from God in order to commit a mortal sin. I doubt most people commit grave sins (such as fornication) because they want to separate themselves from God. More likely, they do so because they are seeking the gratification of their passions.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='HisChildForever' date='14 January 2010 - 09:09 PM' timestamp='1263521347' post='2037350']
I can offer an example without embarrassing myself. For those not in the know, I work retail. I always keep a good face on for the customers, but for those who are particularly nasty or annoying I often think badly about them in my mind. I never let that interfere with my work or with the way I interact with them, but I know that such negative thoughts are inappropriate.

I suppose we can dissect that. Is this a grave matter? I do have knowledge that the thoughts are wrong. Not sure if I'm completely consenting to them, because sometimes I can't help the thoughts - but then again I can stop them.
[/quote]

What do you mean by "thinking badly"? I think it would be a sin of grave matter if you wanted to kill the customer or desired that he die a horrible death or hoped that he would go to hell, but I doubt those are the kind of thoughts you are experiencing.

Edited January 15, 2010 by Resurrexi

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='14 January 2010 - 09:12 PM' timestamp='1263521520' post='2037352']
What do you mean by "thinking badly"? I think it would be a sin of grave matter if you wanted to kill the customer or desired that he die a horrible death or hoped that he would go to hell, but I doubt those are the kind of thoughts you are experiencing.
[/quote]

No way!!! More like "This person is such a..." or "What is this person's problem??" and insulting their intelligence. To myself, I mean.

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='15 January 2010 - 01:10 PM' timestamp='1263521405' post='2037351']
I would definitely disagree that one has to be willingly separating himself from God in order to commit a mortal sin. I doubt most people commit grave sins (such as fornication) because they want to separate themselves from God. More likely, they do so because they are seeking the gratification of their passions.
[/quote]

I know what you are saying, but I think the word we need to be careful of here is "want" as opposed to "willing". If a person knows that a particular sin will separate them from God's grace, but they are [u]willing [/u]to do the action anyway, then it doesn't really matter whether they "[u]want[/u]" to or not - they are doing it.

This makes lust a very tricky sin because usually a person has time to think about the fact that their sin is going to separate them from God, and they don't really want that to happen, but they go ahead and willingly do it anyway because temptation overcomes them. But every time a person resists this temptation at the moment of realizing that this will separate them, they get a bit stronger and are better able to prevent it the next time.

Edited January 15, 2010 by nunsense

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='HisChildForever' date='15 January 2010 - 01:13 PM' timestamp='1263521628' post='2037354']
No way!!! More like "This person is such a..." or "What is this person's problem??" and insulting their intelligence. To myself, I mean.
[/quote]


I once told a priest that I just couldn't love these certain people - and he told me that compassion is a form of love, and certainly I could have compassion for them, couldn't I? It made me think about love in a different way.

Perhaps after you have the negative thoughts of your customers, which might be perfectly natural if they are being really irritating, you could then say (to yourself) things like "Forgive them for they know not what they do." (if it is about their level of intelligence) or even try to imagine how Jesus would respond to them.

I still think about Zacchaeus, that little tax collector up the tree and laugh every time, because he couldn't have been the easiest person in the world to love, but Jesus saw something more in him, and grace was made manifest by this love!

Or as St John of the Cross would say
"Where there is no love, put love, and there will be love."

[Happy_Catholic]

I don't even know if this is a sin, let a lone a mortal one, but I often joke about putting a raw chicken on the back seat of some nasty person's car in the middle of summer. Its a sin to waste food, right?

Edited January 15, 2010 by Happy_Catholic

[Ziggamafu]

In the early Church, people were expected to go their whole lives without mortal sin after baptism. That's why penances were so severe; it was a scandal when a person fell into mortal sin. Today, our wise Mother instructs us that the minimum we should go to confession is once a year. If our Mother considered mortal sin to be a common experience for her children, one would think that the minimum would be a more respectable once a week. One should keep in mind that mortal sin is to venial sin as deliberation is to carelessness; as rebellion is to weakness. Full knowledge and full consent means deliberate rebellion. It is spiritual suicide; a kind of "weak apostasy" in that, while perhaps not explicitly renouncing your faith, you are fully engaging yourself toward an act of rebellion against your faith. People that focus on the grave matter of a sin, rather than full knowledge and consent, tend to fall into despair.

Example: Bob fornicates. Did Bob know that the choice of fornication was a matter of spiritual life and death (grave matter)? Did Bob consider this gravity before and during his act of fornication? If so, this would indicate full knowledge on Bob's part; deliberation toward the violation of a serious prohibition of his faith.

But did Bob make this choice to fornicate with the full capacity of his reason? Was his reason free of impairment by the influence of drugs / alcohol or lack of sleep? Was Bob mentally well? Was Bob free from any kind of mental duress that pressured him toward his action (e.g. hormones or perhaps a threat)? If so, this would indicate full consent on Bob's part; freely chosen rebellion against God's law.

Carelessness (pertaining to the intellect and thus, to full knowledge) and weakness (pertaining to the will and thus, to free consent) are typical of us all. Deliberation (full knowledge) and rebellion (full consent) should not be so typical. I believe mortal sin is uncommon for the active Catholic. All of this said, venial sin - if left unchecked - can lead us to mortal sin, which is why it is good to take advantage of confession on a regular basis (to say nothing of nightly examinations of conscience).