Sin

[Crusader_4]

If someone is in the middle of a sin and then they deciede its wrong and stop in the middle of the act do they need to go to confession and in the case of a mortal sin recieve the Holy Body?

[Adeodatus]

I think your answer is hidden in your question.

Imagine you're cooking dinner, and haven't finished it yet. If someone asked you what you did afterwards, you'd say, 'I was cooking dinner' ([b]past tense[/b]). . If someone interrupts you while you're cooking, you'd say, 'I am cooking dinner' ([b]present tense[/b]). The difference is not in the action, but in the tense: past or present.

So if a sin is interrupted, the only difference is one of tense. You could either say afterwards 'I committed a sin' or if during the action, then you'd say, 'I am committing a sin'. It's still a sin, just an unfinished one.

For it to be a mortal sin, the sin must involve grave matter, and one has to have both full knowledge of what one is doing and have full consent of the will. This full consent may be weakened in cases of habitual sin, but I'm not saying that this should be used as a get-out clause! I'm just saying that we should repent and trust God's mercy rather than beat ourselves up over our sins.

Having said all this, why did the person stop? If it was a sense of shame, or a coming to their senses, then they should thank and praise God, for that is His grace. God wants us to repent and to come to Him, trusting greatly in His mercy. He made us to love Him, and so that He could pour His love into our hearts, to give Himself to us. God gives us the grace to repent.

So if we've committed a mortal sin, we may not receive the Eucharist. We should co-operate with God's grace of repentance, and since He is calling us to be reconciled with Him, we should first of all confess it in our hearts and tell Him we are sorry, and then go to confession as soon as we reasonably can and not delay. It is part of the priest's job to hear confessions, and most churches have very regular confession times available, or even on request.