What Is Mortal Sin And What Is Venial Sin?

[Aloysius]

whether or not it's grave matter is black and white.

whether or not it's mortal is not. it must be grave matter, full knowledge what you're doing is wrong, and full consent of the will. the two in bold, it's impossible to judge in anyone else. unless know for sure you either didn't know it was wrong or didn't give full consent of your will, you should assume it's a mortal case and seek normative ways of reconciliation with God before receiving the Eucharist. the other two conditions are for extra-ordinary circumstances, we trust in them but never presume they are present and lessen the culpability of the sin. only God can judge that.

whether or not it's grave matter, the Catechism will usually say something along the lines of 'grave' if you look up a sin that pertains to grave matter. grave matter is the big stuff, dealing with life and death, with procreation/ procreative organs, utter irreverence for God, etc. look it up in the Catechism it usually points out something about it being gravely disordered or something.

Pax Christi

[Laudate_Dominum]

also, i'd like to add, that when an otherwise mortal sin is commited in habit, or by adiction, it is not considered a mortal sin every time

I agree but my policy is when in doubt, err on the side of mortal sin. The famous conditions for mortal sin are a bit dubious in my opinion. It can be all too easy to interpret them in a way that makes mortal sin practically impossible. Any grave matter is just that, GRAVE MATTER! So even if you "think" it wasn't mortal, do you want to take the chance? And besides if it wasn't mortal sin, one should be ever more thankful and penitent because they had fallen into grave matter and lived (spiritually speaking).

Again, this is how I deal with the matter, but of course different temperaments and people with different spiritual struggles need to deal with things in different ways to effectively grow spiritually. I don't doubt that there are people out there who fall into a grave sin and are advised to still go to Communion by their spiritual director, and this could probably be legit in some cases. But I couldn't do it.

[PedroX]

So why would you go to a spiritual director that you couldn't trust? If my spiritual director tells me I'm being scrupulous then I trust him. If he tells me that I'm not taking sin seriously enough, then I trust him. Scrupulousness is something to guard against. Holiness is something to be pursued. I'm all about calling sin, sin, I just don't need to start second guessing the Church, or my spiritual director.

peace...

[Laudate_Dominum]

PedroX, I believe I've been misunderstood. In an earlier post I spoke more clearly of the necessity of a good spiritual director. The point about the mortal sin conditions being easily abused should be understood as supporting the need for a spiritual director. In other words, if someone is on their own they might fall into a moral laxity about sins and pretend they aren't mortal sinning. This is much less likely if you are accountable to someone else like a spiritual director who really knows your soul and can discern things. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

[Confessionator741]

thanks for that info guys!!!!

B

[Paladin D]

Yes, thank you guys for the info. But to get more to a personal note, lets say about masturbation.

At times I commit this sinful act, knowing it's wrong and not fully wanting to do it, (because I love God and it's a sin) but at times I fail. Would that still classify as Mortal sin? If not, it's still grave matter of course, right?

[Seven77]

thats a grave matter.

"full knowledge what you're doing is wrong, and full consent of the will" like Aloysius said are the other 2 things that make up a mortal sin.

there are some prayers here that might be helpful:

http://www.saint-mike.org/warfare/public/SW-Prayers.html#po

[Theologian in Training]

Sometimes, with regard to these types of questions, it is always good to consult the teaching of the Church. With that in mind, I would encourage you to click on the following link from the Baltimore Catechism in order to get a better idea of the differences that exist between mortal and venial sin, and what must be necessary for either to be committed. Of course, it is also necessary to see what the current catechism has to say about certain habits like masturbation. You can find that here, specifically, at 2352.

God Bless