Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: February 05, 2017
A couple of weeks ago I made a few remarks about confession, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. These take place here year-round every weekday at 11:30 am and on Saturday at 3 pm. Continuing with that, I’d like to share a couple of other insights which people may find interesting and helpful to them as they celebrate – or re-discover – this sacrament.
Many people fail to make a necessary distinction, between what’s called the objective and the subjective, when they confront their failings. Objective means “by itself” or “considered in and of itself” or “just considered from outside.” Many human actions, when considered objectively, are less than perfect and thus are sinful. Some are extremely seriously wrong; here abortion is a good example of this. But even very minor failings – think “little white lies” as an example – are wrong. They’re not in accord with God’s will. These things are wrong even before they’re committed by anyone.
But any individual person’s own sinfulness is something else. Considered subjectively, the Church understands that more than just doing, thinking or saying something imperfect is necessary to commit serious sin. For a sin to be mortal sin, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent” (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1857).
Mortal sin is horrible, of course. Since it’s something gravely wrong, done with full knowledge and is a deliberate choice to reject God and instead intend to sin, it can’t be called accidental. It’s something the sinner is absolutely responsible for. And since God cannot overrule human free will, it’s a choice not to be saved by the Lord.
But most folks don’t always appreciate that definition I quoted above. Even if they do seriously wrong things, if the sinner is not actually, fully personally responsible they don’t commit a mortal sin. The Catechism references this in an exemplary way at no. 2352. Note that Pope Francis, for example, has said that women who obtain abortions almost never commit mortal sin, since the psychological pressures on them have reduced their ability to think straight, and they may not even be completely knowledgeable as to how wrong the action is. Many others do sinful things out of habit, which reduces the personal sinfulness of the action; this can be especially comforting to those whose addictions to solitary sexual sin can seem so overwhelming.
By all means, nothing sinful can ever be approved. But it can be understood better, so as to become less of a spiritual hurdle in life. Confession is the ordinary way for Catholics to be absolved of mortal sin; venial sins, by contrast, are more immediately forgiven by prayer, by holy communion, and charitable works and do not need the formality of confession. Since we are all “venial sinners,” that’s good news for everyone. For those who sin more seriously, the Lord Jesus left His holy Church the power of reconciliation: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them” (Jn 20:23a).
Yours in the merciful Lord,
Father Paul
