Some of the Last Things

In this week’s Gospel from Mark Jesus is real serious about the magnitude of sin.  As Christians we believe that “God is love” (c.f. 1 Jn. 4:8) and that “God is good” (c.f. Ps. 100:5).  We also believe that sin is evil and it must be avoided (c.f. 1 Thess. 5:22), because sin is contrary or better put, opposite of God.

Jesus understands that sin wounds and could lead to death (the possibility of separation from God).  No sin is good for us, though we fool ourselves into thinking so.  For even sin, as St. Augustine says, “seems like a good,” at least for a while anyway, until the Holy Spirit convicts us, which is a good thing.  So today, I thought could be a great teaching moment, on sin, hell, and judgment.  There seems to be so much confusion regarding these theological topics, some go way too far, some don’t go far enough, while some don’t even care.

The Church teaches that there are two types of sin, venial and mortal.  Venial sin is a sin that wounds our relationship with God.  Mortal sin is a sin that breaks our relationship with God.  All sin whether venial or mortal is freely chosen by us.  God never causes us to sin. 

“No one experiencing temptation should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.” (James 1:13-15, NABRE)

Jesus is very adamant about the seriousness of sin, “if your arm causes you to sin cut it off.”  He is not being literal, since self mutilation would be a grave sin.  Rather, Jesus is trying to make a point that all sin is contrary to God and life.

But let’s get back to mortal sin for a moment.  There seems to be a great misunderstanding regarding mortal sin.  There are some who think many sins are mortal and then there are some who believe that hardly any are.  When we speak of grave sin we are talking about sins such as murder, adultery, apostasy (to renounce or formally abandon one’s faith), blasphemy (refusal of forgiveness or a serious transgression against the work of God), slander, to defame, to perjurer oneself, and there are more.  And yet, for these grave sins to be mortal three conditions must be present.

1)    The person must know the sin is grave

2)    The person has to freely choose it, i.e. a person’s free will is not being effected such as in the case of an addiction

3)    The sin actually is grave matter

If one or more of these conditions are not fully present then the sin is not mortal.  The greater question of curiosity for us is, “have I committed these sins?”  The possibility exists.  However, when a person lives a genuine faith, I say that it is improbable that a person would commit a mortal sin, because in the end when a person commits a mortal sin it is not only the sin they are committing but also openly rejecting God and the life of a being a Christian.  Again, one could do this, commit a sin that is mortal and constitutes a separation from God.  Scripture is clear,

If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26-27, NABRE) and from St. Paul, “You are separated from Christ, you who are trying to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4, NABRE)

We can sin deliberately and fall from grace, even those who have faith, but it is not a sin of impulse, rather it is one that is premeditated and done regardless of what God asks of us.  It is also a turning from God himself.  The same decision that goes into following God is the same decision that goes into not following him.

To be clear, there is a mortal sin and we can choose it, it’s just not as easy as many people think, especially for those who have given themselves to God, the ones who live their faith genuinely.  I can’t stand when priests say, “Make sure you get to mass on Holy Days and Sundays otherwise you are in a state of mortal sin.”  How do they know this and who are they saying it to?  No one knows the human heart except for God.  I do not know if you have committed a sin that separates you from God unless you tell me and even then the three conditions must be met.  Also we are preaching to the choir, we are telling the people who do come to mass not to miss!

There is also great confusion with hell.  What is it?  Do people burn there for all eternity?  Is there a hell?  How can God send someone there?  I won’t answer them all, but there is a hell and basically it is eternal separation from God freely chosen by the person, i.e. God gives to us what we chose.  The problem is that some argue, “how can God let us chose hell, isn’t that harsh?”  God respects our free will.  He will do everything in his power to influence us towards the good and towards him, and will even give us the strength to do so, but we still have to say yes.

Hell is described as eternal fire because the torment of knowing we are separated from God for all eternity is hard to describe or even imagine, so, describing it as eternal burning makes the point.

When it comes to being judged by God all of us will face him and face him twice, the first time is the immediate judgment and the second time the final judgment or the judgment of the nations.  When we die we face Christ immediately, “Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment . . .” (Hebrews 9:7).  The second time is the final judgment when Jesus will separate the goats from the sheep, c.f. Matthew 25:31-46.  The most important thing with judgment is that Jesus is the only one who will be doing the judging, not us, never us, and thank God not us!  This does not mean, however, that we cannot judge acts.  We must keep order and justice.  If a person commits a crime they are to be served justice, but we can make no mortal judgment determining who can be forgiven or who cannot.

This week’s homily is a tough one, Jesus delivers a message on the horror of sin, and all sin is horror when you think of it.  We must do everything with the grace God gives us to build up virtue and holiness in our lives, not in order to avoid hell, but to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.  St. Paul talks about becoming slaves, the slavery to sin is death and loss of freedom, slavery to righteousness is life and freedom.  Think when you do something good or overcome a temptation, think of how good you feel, how truly free you are, and think now of the opposite, the crummy feeling we have when we do sin, we then feel guilt and shame. 

What then is the Good News Father?  Well, the Good News is this, God is patient, he is forgiving even when we sin mortally, and most of all he desires that we all make it to be with Him.  That is the Good News, God giving us life, grace, and the ability to be free – to be holy.  Therefore go and sin no more.

FJ

PS  You still have to get to mass every Sunday and Holyday of Obligation :)