Scrupulosity: Condition Or Cross?

[BarbTherese]

A problem with scruples too can be that one can only commit sin per se with some degree of deliberateness. I cannot commit sin per se totally indeliberately or some degree of knowing that whatever is morally wrong and consenting. And very often with scruples I 'see' only WHAT happened and not the why of it all - and when you think about it if we fall in any 24 hour span an infinite number of times, then there is endless for the scrupulous person to agonize over.
The only ONLY thing that can separate us from God and His Love and Mercy is by our own free choice and decision to do so:

Mortal Sin has to be [u][b]at the one and the same time[/b][/u]:[list=1]
[*]Grave matter
[*]Full knowledge that it is indeed grave matter
[*]Full consent to commit that grave matter, to do so, and knowing I have totally rejected God
[/list]
If any of the above are not present, there is no mortal sin. The Church in the Catholic Catechism clarifies for us on the matter of "full knowledge" and "full consent"
[quote]
[u]Catholic Catechism[/u]:
[b]1862[/b] One commits [color=#ff0000][i]venial sin[/i][/color] when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, [b]or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent[/b].

The Church clarifies for us the matter of "complete consent"

[b]1859[/b] [color=#ff0000]Mortal sin[/color] requires [i]full knowledge[/i] and [i]complete consent[/i]. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God's law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a[b] personal choice[/b]. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart[sup][size=2]133[/size][/sup] do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.
[b]1860[/b] [i]Unintentional ignorance[/i] 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. [b]The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders[/b]. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest. [/quote]

As seen in the above, mortal sin and separation from God and His Mercy has to be a very free and personal choice to do just that. Venial sin is forgiven in very many ways, with sorrow for sin - any and all sin (a humble disposition), and including by going to Holy Communion. The Love and Mercy of God is only lost because one has clearly chosen to reject His Love and Mercy by freely and consciously committing grave matter.

Edited January 11, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

[quote name='MarysLittleFlower' timestamp='1326002925' post='2364881']
I have scrupulosity. I empathize with you and yes it can be tough to go through this. I've suffered with it a lot. It can also deprive a person of the Sacraments which is a huge danger, if this ever happens to you, please don't try to deal with it on your own but talk to a good priest. I tried dealing with it on my own and this did not work at all.. spiritual direction helps.

The way it was explained to me - I don't know honestly if there's anything psychological like OCD.. but - it's not a well formed conscience. Your conscience is either well formed, scrupulous, or too lax. Scrupulous is when you feel everything's a sin, or you feel things are sinful when they're not, - it takes many forms. It can have spiritual reasons too like pride or distrust in God's mercy, but I guess it depends on the person, I honestly don't know about anyone else. I don't even understand about myself yet. But what you do, is you let your confessor be your conscience for you. Ask a good orthodox priest to be your SD or confessor. If he says something is not a mortal sin, or not a sin at all, - then trust him. Don't rely on your judgement.. don't focus on your feelings.. focus outward, do your duties, pray, etc, don't be too introspective,that just increases it. When you pray, focus on loving God in your will, loving Him much, but regardless of what you feel. Don't constantly think "did I do this? Did I TRULY consent to this? was this a sin? etc". Just ask your confessor for advice, and something else to keep in mind - mortal sin is when you CHOOSE something. My priest said, it's like signing a cheque for a million dollars. You KNOW you're doing it. It's not accidental.. neither is it a temptation. It's when the person chooses the temptation over God. Sometimes people with scrupulosity are also plagued by intrusive thoughts which just increases everything, and that's one of the times it's great to remember this rule.

Hope this helps you but scrupulosity is something where you need a spiritual director/confessor, don't deal with it on your own and there are Saints who had scruples! yes it can be a cross. Maybe it's different for each person. God can make something good come out of any trial, including this... for example, He can help you learn obedience, greater humility, and more trust in Him Sometimes there's so much inner turmoil that it's hard to obey what the confessor is telling you, he tells you it's not a sin and you keep feeling like it is, - that's an opportunity to practice obedience.

God bless
[/quote]

I have talked to a priest about this and it appears to him that I am not trusting God. I am really trying to get better at that.

[quote name='BarbaraTherese' timestamp='1326247311' post='2366642']

Mortal Sin has to be [u][b]at the one and the same time[/b][/u]:[list=1]
[*]Grave matter
[*]Full knowledge that it is indeed grave matter
[*]Full consent to commit that grave matter, to do so, and knowing I have totally rejected God
[/list]
If any of the above are not present, there is no mortal sin. The Church in the Catholic Catechism clarifies for us on the matter of "full knowledge" and "full consent"
[/quote]
I do remind myself of these when I am feeling bad about something, and I look back to what I thought at the time. And #2 pretty much eliminates almost any scrupulous sin because you have no idea if it is grave matter most of the time...

You know, some times it is worse than other times. Like today I was just wondering if I had committed a mortal sin. I examined my conscience, convinced I had done something. And then I started thinking about how I could receive Communion if I had committed something I couldn't remember. I went to Confession a week ago, I couldn't have done something. But I truly believe the devil is trying to keep me from Communion, the Eucharist is my strength. He knows he cant take me down once he removes the Eucharist from the picture. That is really scary for me. He has only succeeded once, and that day when I got a blessing instead of receiving Christ in the Eucharist, I went back to the pew and cried. That was the only time I had not received because of scrupulosity. It was awful.

[BarbTherese]

One of the most encouraging books of the Bible for those suffering or under temptation is the Book of Job. We read in the opening paragraphs that the devil cannot do anything whatsoever unless first it asks permission of God to do so:
[quote]
[url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=20&ch=1&l=6#x"][6][/url] Now on a certain day when [u]the sons of God[/u] came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them. [url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=20&ch=1&l=7#x"][7][/url] And the Lord said to him: Whence comest thou? And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it. [url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=20&ch=1&l=8#x"][8][/url] And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil? [url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=20&ch=1&l=9#x"][9][/url] And Satan answering, said: Doth Job fear God in vain? [url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=20&ch=1&l=10#x"][10][/url] Hast not thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the earth?[list]
[*][u]Note in the Douay Rheims translation[/u] :[u]The sons of God[/u]: The angels.-- Ibid. Satan also, etc. This passage represents to us in a figure, accommodated to the ways and understandings of men,
[*]1. The restless endeavours of Satan against the servants of God;
[*]2. That he can do nothing without God's permission;
[*]3. That God doth not permit him to tempt them above their strength: but assists them by his divine grace in such manner, that the vain efforts of the enemy only serve to illustrate their virtue and increase their merit.
[/list]
[11] But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth thee not to thy face. [url="http://www.drbo.org/x/d?b=drb&bk=20&ch=1&l=12#x"][12][/url] Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand: only put not forth thy hand upon his person. And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. [/quote]

Try very hard and with prayer to put into practise what your spiritual director advises. Obedience is a powerful virtue.
Put your problem that you feel Satan is trying to keep you from Holy Communion to whoever is advising you and ask how to respond. Were it me, I would simply trust in God's Mercy and go to Holy Communion, providing my spiritual director had not advised me otherwise.If
I felt I might have committed a mortal sin and forgotten it, I would do exactly what you did and either refrain from the Communion Procession or join it for a blessing only. This is no victory at all for Satan - rather it is a victory over Satan. Do you think that The Lord would abandon you to less Grace, His Love and Mercy, because of the confusing state you found yourself in and refrained from Holy Communion. Not at all, NEVER! I would then go to Confession at the first opportunity.
There is nothing at all sinful, rather it is a virtue, to refrain from Holy Communion if I feel I may not be in a position to go to Holy Communion. However, for the person suffering scruples, their course would be to be obedient to their director as the safest and surest response.
Sometimes in Confession or speaking with a priest, he may give us a response such as "Trust God more" and we cannot trust God enough; however, if I am having problems putting my trust in God, then spiritual direction is probably needed. which would tackle a problem more intimately and over a longer period - both advising and giving support.
Prayer for relief, and daily, is very important, paramount, for the person suffering scruples - second and very important too, very important, is seek spiritual direction. You may find you only get more confused through a Catholic Discussion site. We are not spiritual directors (well I''m not anyway) which is a very unique personal relationship between the director and directee - and very often on these sites we are drawing on our own experiences which are not necessarily applicable to every person.
I only wish I could be more helpful, but it seems to me that you really do need a spiritual director and this means regular meetings with him or her over a period of time. Rest assured that we are all tempted by Satan, if not here, then somewhere or other there. But God's Grace and His Love and Mercy is more than sufficient to set the beast running. We need to invest in that.

Edited January 11, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[BarbTherese]

It may be that the person suffering scruples (or even a person not suffering same) refrains from Holy Communion - and then on returning to their seat after the blessing suddenly realize that they could have gone to Holy Communion after all and burst out crying. Or the sheer stress of joining the Communion Procession only for the blessing releases emotion with tears on getting back to one's seat. We can tell ourselves all sorts of reasons for our tears and we may be right, or we may be wrong. The tears are not the issue and could have numerous reasons, it is the refraining from Holy Communion and the why of it that needs to be addressed.

[quote] I do remind myself of these when I am feeling bad about something, and I look back to what I thought at the time. And #2 pretty much eliminates almost any scrupulous sin because you have no idea if it is grave matter most of the time... [/quote]

The Catholic Catechism would pinpoint what is and what is not grave matter. I sincerely doubt (although not impossible!) that the scrupulous person can commit a mortal sin. They are too confused in their reasoning and often too emotional to have full consent - they are too stressed out and most all the time probably.

Edited January 11, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[BarbTherese]

[quote]
[b]1858[/b] [i]Grave matter[/i] is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother."[sup][size=2]132[/size][/sup] The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger. [/quote]

Also there are the Precepts or Commandments of The Church:

[font=Arial][b][size=3]1. To assist at Mass on all Sundays and [url="http://www.the-latinmass.com/id92.html"][color=#000000]Holy days of Obligation[/color][/url].[/size][/b][/font]
[font=Arial][b][size=3]2. To [url="http://www.the-latinmass.com/id29.html"][color=#000000]fast and to abstain [/color][/url]on the days appointed.[/size][/b][/font]
[font=Arial][b][size=3]3. To [url="http://www.the-latinmass.com/id87.html"][color=#000000]confess sins[/color][/url] at least once a year.[/size][/b][/font]
[font=Arial][b][size=3]4. To receive Holy Communion during the Easter time.[/size][/b][/font]
[font=Arial][b][size=3]5. To contribute to the support of the Church.[/size][/b][/font]
[font=Arial][size=3][b]6. To observe the laws of the Church concerning marriage.[/b][/size][/font]

Edited January 11, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

[quote name='BarbaraTherese' timestamp='1326266311' post='2366813']
One of the most encouraging books of the Bible for those suffering or under temptation is the Book of Job. We read in the opening paragraphs that the devil cannot do anything whatsoever unless first it asks permission of God to do so:


Try very hard and with prayer to put into practise what your spiritual director advises. Obedience is a powerful virtue.
Put your problem that you feel Satan is trying to keep you from Holy Communion to whoever is advising you and ask how to respond. Were it me, I would simply trust in God's Mercy and go to Holy Communion, providing my spiritual director had not advised me otherwise.If
I felt I might have committed a mortal sin and forgotten it, I would do exactly what you did and either refrain from the Communion Procession or join it for a blessing only. This is no victory at all for Satan - rather it is a victory over Satan. Do you think that The Lord would abandon you to less Grace, His Love and Mercy, because of the confusing state you found yourself in and refrained from Holy Communion. Not at all, NEVER! I would then go to Confession at the first opportunity.
There is nothing at all sinful, rather it is a virtue, to refrain from Holy Communion if I feel I may not be in a position to go to Holy Communion. However, for the person suffering scruples, their course would be to be obedient to their director as the safest and surest response.
[/quote]
About refraining from Communion, I can't do that. Because I KNOW that I did not commit a mortal sin, it's all mental for me. If I don't ever receive Communion, that would be a victory for Satan because I know that is what he is trying to get me to do. He doesn't want me to receive Communion. My Confessor told me that I frequently receive Communion and frequently go to Confession, he said that when I commit a sin, to get down on my knees, ask for forgiveness from Our Heavenly Father, and move on with the rest of my day. It is true, I know the difference from when I actually commit a mortal sin and when I am being scrupulous. When you are in mortal sin and a practicing Catholic you feel dead, and hopeless, but when you are scrupulous there is more suffering and anxiety, at least for me.

[BarbTherese]

Follow just what your director has advised you to do with confidence.

Apologies. I didn't mean that you should refrain from Holy Communion, but that if you did for some scrupulous reason it would be a victory over Satan rather than a victory for Satan, for even if you were wrong in not going to Holy Communion, transcending that is the fact that you were trying to be obedient to The Church, The Mystical Body of Christ on earth. If we think that we have some valid reason not to go to Holy Communion, then it is best not to go and that this is a virtue rather than the opposite. But always be guided without hesitation by your director with great confidence.
Rest assured that Grace present is always far superior than anything Satan can tempt us to do - and that is all the thing can do i.e. tempt. Never force, while temptation can be very strong.

Edited January 11, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[BarbTherese]

[quote]for even if you were wrong in not going to Holy Communion[/quote]

I would just like to qualify my statemen above. It would have been better worded "even if you made a mistake in not going to Holy Communion and had been, in fact, able to go to Holy Communion". It was an honest mistake at that time and transceding that mistake would be that you were honesty trying to do what was right.

Speak with your director about your conviction that Satan is trying to keep you from going to Holy Communion. Follow your director's advice.

Here is what Cardinal Cottier OP had to say in an introduction to a book by Fr Amorth, an exorcist in Rome :
[quote] [url="http://catholicinsight.com/online/church/vatican/article_751.shtml"]http://catholicinsig...ticle_751.shtml[/url]
It is appropriate to recall some principles. The evil of sin is committed by a free will. Only God can penetrate the depth of a person's heart; the devil does not have the power to enter that sanctuary. He acts only on the exterior, on the imagination and on feelings of a sentient origin. [u][b]Moreover, his action is limited by the permission of Almighty God[/b][/u].

The devil generally acts through temptation and deceit; he is a liar (cf. John 8:44). He can deceive, induce to error, cause illusion and, probably more than arouse vices, he can support the vices and the origins of the vices that are in us. ....................

The devil is much more dangerous as tempter than through extraordinary signs or astonishing external manifestations, because the gravest evil is sin. It is no accident that we ask in the Lord's Prayer: "Lead us not into temptation." Against sin, the Christian can fight victoriously with prayer, prudence, in humility knowing the fragility of human freedom, with recourse to the Sacraments, above all Reconciliation and the Eucharist. He [u][b]must also ask[/b][/u] the Holy Spirit for the gift of discernment, knowing that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are received with the grace of Baptism.

.........................[u][b]In the face of deceit, it is desirable that the Catholic faithful have an ever-more-profound knowledge of Christian doctrine[/b][/u]. The apostolate must be promoted on behalf of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is of extraordinary usefulness to combat ignorance. The devil perhaps is instigator of this ignorance: he distracts man from God and it is a great loss that can be contained by promoting an adequate apostolate in the media, in particular television, considering the amount of time that many people spend watching television programs, often with contents that are culturally inconsistent and immoral.
[/quote]

Edited January 12, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

Thanks for all the help

[BarbTherese]

[ImageTrinity]

I struggled with scrupulosity for years and I feel your pain. That only thing that helped me was to find a spiritual director who is a priest and psychoanalyst...he was able to address both the spiritual and psychological sides of my struggle which was a huge blessing! If you have a spiritual director you trust, listen to his counsel. Mine told me that I should not go to confession more than twice a month (I had been going a few times a week or sometimes a few times a day!), that I should receive communion everyday and that I should find ways to help others. As tough as it was at first, I eventually discovered God's mercy and peace through these habits.
My spiritual director has dealt with plenty of scrupulous people, and he has referred some to a psychiatrist for further counseling and medication for OCD. It really depends on the person.