How Often Are Mortal Sins Committed?

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Ziggamafu' date='16 January 2010 - 08:29 AM' timestamp='1263648561' post='2038426']
There is a huge difference. If I choose to only receive communion once a year, there is no immediate or certain threat of eternal damnation (although my proclivity toward mortal sin may increase from a weakened spiritual state). [/quote]

If one, after committing a mortal sin, makes an act of perfect contrition with the intention of confession as soon as possible, he is no longer in any immediate or certain threat of damnation, even if he fails to carry out his resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

[quote name='Ziggamafu' date='16 January 2010 - 08:29 AM' timestamp='1263648561' post='2038426']
So let's say that those in frequent despair (itself a grave sin) are correct, and mortal sin is a frequent occurrence[/quote]

It isn't the grave sin of despair to think that mortal sin is a frequent occurrence. Much like the theological virtue of "charity," the grave sin of "despair" has a very technical definition.

[quote name='Ziggamafu' date='16 January 2010 - 08:29 AM' timestamp='1263648561' post='2038426']
; since the Eucharist is not a remedy for mortal sin, care for her children would not strictly necessitate Mother Church to require more frequent reception. She might (and does) [i]encourage [/i]frequent reception as a preventative for mortal sin, but since not receiving is not an immediate matter of life and death it need not be a grave requirement on a weekly basis. [/quote]

The reason for the annual requirement of confessing is so that those in mortal sin will be able to make their Easter duty.

[quote name='Ziggamafu' date='16 January 2010 - 08:29 AM' timestamp='1263648561' post='2038426']
Full knowledge and full consent are as common as deliberate rebellion. Deliberate rebellion is not the same as carelessness or weakness. That is all that I am saying. More often than not, sins in grave areas are occasions of carelessness or weakness. You cannot sin mortally by accident. You cannot be uncertain about being in a state of mortal sin. Full consent means full engagement of both reason and will, and such engagement cannot occur except by means of conscious, deliberate rebellion. Indeed, mortal sin engages all three powers of the spirit; memory, intellect, and will. This is why it fundamentally destroys all charity within the soul.

I understand and commend your desire to highlight the gravity of sin. Keep in mind that venial sin is not understood to be trivial or unimportant.
[/quote]

Full knowledge and deliberate consent can certainly be present where weakness is present. If a person, knowing that fornication is seriously wrong, freely chooses to commit that sin, he commits a mortal sin, even if he committed that sin out of weakness. In fact, all humans experience weakened free will as an effect of original sin, but that doesn't make us incapable of committing a mortal sin.

[Ziggamafu]

[quote name='Resurrexi' date='16 January 2010 - 02:49 PM' timestamp='1263671340' post='2038641']
If one, after committing a mortal sin, makes an act of perfect contrition with the intention of confession as soon as possible, he is no longer in any immediate or certain threat of damnation, even if he fails to carry out his resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

...

The reason for the annual requirement of confessing is so that those in mortal sin will be able to make their Easter duty.
[/quote]

True enough; but this refers to an extraordinary absolution, which still anticipates subsequent confession. The Church does not merely encourage baptism - as if it is proper to rely on the extraordinary form of desire - but requires it. While I agree with the correlation between the obligations of yearly penance and yearly Eucharist, I don't think there is warrant to remove the normative necessity of confession from your interpretive analysis. The fact remains that if mortal sin is understood to be a typical experience for the active Catholic, the only ordinary means of removing the threat of eternal doom is sacramental absolution (which, as previously mentioned, is necessarily anticipated by perfect contrition in the first place), and far more frequent confession should be required.

[quote]It isn't the grave sin of despair to think that mortal sin is a frequent occurrence. Much like the theological virtue of "charity," the grave sin of "despair" has a very technical definition.[/quote]

I did not sat what you're implying. I said that those in despair think that mortal sin is frequent (which says nothing about the precise definition of despair, only the psychological state in which those who despair find themselves). That is not the same as saying that everyone who thinks that mortal sin is frequent commits the sin of despair.

[quote]Full knowledge and deliberate consent can certainly be present where weakness is present. If a person, knowing that fornication is seriously wrong, freely chooses to commit that sin, he commits a mortal sin, even if he committed that sin out of weakness. In fact, all humans experience weakened free will as an effect of original sin, but that doesn't make us incapable of committing a mortal sin.
[/quote]

Mortal sin is not a matter of "Bob has been told that fornication is a grave sin and Bob does it anyway". That does not do justice to the word "full" prefacing knowledge and consent. I do not think your explanation / treatment of mortal sin does justice to its radical nature. I also notice that you continue to ignore the attitude of the early Church towards mortal sin and penance and the obvious connotations.