+ What Is Sin?

Sin has been defined as an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience.

It is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment

to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It is also

defined as an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law (CCC 1849).

Sin is real and our Christian faith tells us that all of us are not perfect and we

need a physician to cure us (ef. 12 Jn 1:1-10).

CFC 762 further explains: We can sketch the essence of sin in a few broad

strokes as:

refusing to follow our own conscience's call towards the good;

- rejecting God, our Creator and Lord, and our own true selves and others,

by turning away from God our true end;

breaking God's loving Covenant, with us, shown forth in Jesus Christ, dying

and rising for our sake; and

If we say, "We are free of the guilt of sin, we deceive ourselves; the truth is not

to be found in us. But if we acknowledge our sins. He who is just can be trusted

to forgive our sins and cleanse us from our wrong doing" (CFC 763).

Simply put, sin is a turning away from and rejecting of God's offer of

life and love. It is a great obstacle to living a moral life and a major barrier

to our response to discipleship.

* Dimensions of Sin

Sin can have different dimensions. It can be described as a spiral, sickness, and

addiction. 1.) As a spiral that enslave us in a contagious pathological habit of vice that

acts like a virus, infecting social attitudes and structures such as family, social groups
and the like. 2) As sickness, drawing on St. Luke's trait of linking healing with forgive-

ness of sin (Lk 5:18 -26). 3. As addiction, a process over which we become powerless

as it becomes progressively more compulsive and obsessive. Sin as addiction leads to a

pattern of ever deeper deception of self and others, ending in inevitable disintegration

of all our major personal and social relationships (CFC 773).

Sin has a social dimension. In the Old Testament, failure to respond to God was

a community failure because of the covenant. If one person failed to love others

the whole community suffered because of their relationship with one another. This

communal dimension was described by the prophet Amos who attacked the rich for

failing to love the poor. Likewise, in the New Testament, St. Paul used the body of

Christ imagery to explain to us that we are related to one another ( 1 Cor. 12:12-26).

The fundamental law that we should follow to avoid sin is: love God

above all and love our neighbors as ourselves.

* Degrees of Sin

CFC 1805-1807 states that sin can be venial or mortal depending on the different

levels of moral evil involved.

Mortal sins-or sins which lead to death, the loss of true or "eternal life"_

"exclude from the Kingdom of God" (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-10, Gal 5:17-21, Eph 5:5). They

are called mortal because they kill the over all love pattern of our relation to

God, our fundamental core freedom as related to God. By such sins, a person

freely rejects God, His law, the covenant of love God offers, preferring to turn

in on himself/ herself or to some created and finite reality, something contrary

to the divine will. Such sins must be confessed in the Sacrament of Penance or

Reconciliation (CFC 1806).

Sins called venial (from venia, meaning pardon or forgiveness) are "excusable"
sins which do not involve the person's fundamental freedom nor lead to spiritual

death. "All wrongdoing is sin, but not all sin is deadly" ( I Jn. 5:17). Venial sins harm

our relationships with God and others by undermining the fervor of our life of

charity, and can gradually lead to mortal sins. Though venial sins are by definition

pardonable, they should not be taken lightly for they offend God.

CCC 1857 presents the three conditions to be met for a sin to be considered

mortal.

1. The object is grave matter. Here we ask the question, "Is it wrong?" The gravity

of sins is more or less great like murder, abortion, and the like.

2. Committed with full knowledge. We ask, "Do I know it is wrong?" We are not

responsible for something we did not know to be a sinful action or attitude

because of our age and inexperience.

3. Deliberate consent: Do I freely engage in the evil? I must choose to do freely

and willingly. I am not blame worthy for my acts if I am being forced under

threat.

Sin involves a degree of personal commitment that touches the very

roots of our freedom where basic decisions are made through the choice

or avoidance of an act.

Seven Deadly Sins/Capital Sins

There are sources of other sins and occasions of sin. Traditionally they are the

following:

1. Pride, the chief of all sins. It is the excessive for honor. It is contrary to

humility.

2. Lust: disordered desire for, or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure

3. Anger. destructive aggresiveness

4. Gluttony: excessive indulgence in food or drink

5. Envy: begrudging others their talents, success, and wishing them evil

stealing, and injustice

7. Sloth: laziness and escape from exerting due effort (CFC 381)

St. Paul enumerates the different works of the flesh which can be compared to

these "capital sins," now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity,

licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outburst of fury, acts of

selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the

like. "I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not

inherit the Kingdom of God" (Gal 5:19-21) (of. CFC 382).

Sin is an act of rejecting God's love, self, and others, either by omission

or commission. When we refuse God, we deceive ourselves and others.

+ Personal and Social Sin

Personal sin is never just "private", with no effect on anyone else. Rather, just

all persons are relational, always affecting others and the community in everything

they do, and likewise being affected by what others do, so personal sin is neither

committed nor overcome in private (CFC 1804).

Social sin today refers to situations and structures that attack basic human rights

and dignity, and infect social relationships between communities.

According to CFC 775 social sins can refer to the following:

Sin's power to affect others by reason of human solidarity;

sins that directly attack human rights and basic freedoms, human dignity,

justice, and the common good;

sins infecting relationships between various human communities such

as class struggle, or obstinate confrontations between blocs of nations;

and

situations of sin or sinful structures that are the consequences of sinful

choices and acts, e.g. racial discrimination and economic systems of

exploitation.

Therefore, sin is never a private error or wrongdoing. It always affects and

hurts the community in general. Going to confession is not enough; we have

to look for the root causes of sin in our lives and with the help of God, work

against their causes.

The following virtues help us avoid committing sin:

1. Theological virtues

a. Faith may be simply defined as conviction, trust, commitment to, and

belief in the God who reveals Himself to us. It comes from the Latin

word Fides, which means belief. St. Paul reminds us that faith brings us

life in Christ (Gal. 2:20).

b. Hope is a gift from the Father which is anchored on faith and love. It is

centered on confidence and trust that God wants all men to be saved.

It is also the joyous expectation that we will live in perfect happiness

with God. St. Paul concludes: "For in hope we were saved. Now hope

that sees for itself is not hope. But if we hope for what we do not see,

we wait with endurance" (Rom. 8:24).

c. Love/Charity is a virtue that enables us to love God above all and others

as we love ourselves. In the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, He

proclaims that love is the greatest of all the virtues ( 1 Cor. 13:13).

II. Cardinal virtues

Traditionally these virtues are called "cardinal" because of their

importance:

a. Prudence helps us decide what to do when we are confronted with

a difficult situation and take counsel from others before making

decisions.

b. Fortitude is the virtue that helps us to remain courageous so we may

overcome fears in order to preserve what is good and right.

c. Justice is a virtue that moves a person to respect the rights of others.

d. Temperance helps us to balance our desire for food, drink, and even

sexual pleasures. St. Paul compared evil desires with the same thing

as worshipping an idol ( Col. 3:6).