III.  Decrease in the Life of God - Sin

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A.  Nature of Sin - A rebellion against God and rejection of his love through any deliberate, freely chosen thought, word, action or failure to act. 

The human condition is one of weakness.  Our term of life is brief - rarely more than one-hundred years.  Our intellect is clouded by pride and lack of knowledge.  Our wills are changeable and sometimes our choices are based upon whim and fancy of what we think is best for ourselves.  People differ in their search for what brings happiness, there is a basic conflict between created things, and the seed of death is present in everything.

B.  Kinds of Sin

  1.   Original Sin 

This instability is attributed to the Original Sin committed by our first parents whom God created with the freedom of mind to obey or disobey.  Because they were originally created in the material perfection of God, sin entered the world through their opposition to him through pride and their sin was passed on through their offspring.  God’s love for his creation is so strong, that his Son took on human nature, taught us about himself, about God our Father, and the reason for his mission.  Then Christ formed His Church upon the apostles and gave His church the power to remove the slavery of the Original Sin through the Sacrament of Baptism.

        a.  Origin

            The result of our first parent’s original sin of pride.
        b.  Effects
             Suffering, ignorance, a strong inclination to sin, physical death.
        c.  Removal
             Through the Sacrament of Baptism which removes all actual sins and all associated punishment.

  2.  Actual Sins - Any willful thought, desire, word, action or omission which rejects God’s love.

        a.  Capital Sins The chief kinds of Actual Sins we are tempted to commit.
              1)  Pride – Overly high opinion of oneself.

              2)  Covetousness – Desire for more than one needs or deserves.

              3)  Lust – Desire to overly please and gratify one’s body’s senses.
              4)  Anger – The emotion caused by belief of a person wronged, or failure by others to respect

         one’s person or property for selfish reasons.

              5)  Gluttony – To eat more than one needs for good health.
              6)  Envy – Feeling of ill will or hatred because of another’s seeming advantages or possessions.      

              7)  Sloth – To be satisfied with inaction, to do no work, or exert any effort.

        b.  Venial Sins

              1)  Cause
                    a)  God’s love is rejected and his law broken in a less serious way. 
                    b)  With or without full knowledge of the seriousness of the action.
                    c)  With or without full consent of the will.

              2)  Effect
                    a)  Decreases God’s grace love (life) in our soul.
                    b)  Weakens our resistance to more serious sins.
                    c)  Causes a debt of punishment which must be removed either now on earth or in purgatory
                         before we are invited to share in God’s eternal presence in heaven.
              3)  Removal
                    a)  Valid reception of the Blessed Sacrament.
                    b)  Prayer and good works.

        c.  Mortal Sin  

              1)  Cause
                    An evil thought, desire, word, deed or omission which is:
                    a)  Seriously wrong.
                    b)  The person must know it is seriously wrong.
                    c)  The person must fully consent to the wrong.

              2)  Effects
                    a)  Removes God’s presence (love and life) from the soul.
                    b) Takes away the merits of all good actions.
                    c)  Prevents us from gaining new merit for heaven.
                    d)  If a mortal sin is consciously and freely committed with no remorse or sorrow for the action,
                         at the time of death, our choice to reject God is honored for eternity.

              3)  Removal
                    a)  Only by valid reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Penance.
                    b)  Three conditions necessary for forgiveness.
                          ۰  Sorrow for the sin because it rejected God’s love.

                          ۰  Promise not to commit the sin again.

                          ۰  Make restitution for any damage caused to others.