Venial Sin - Cardinal Bacci

Venial Sin

1. Next to mortal sin, the greatest of all evils is venial sin. Sin is always an offence against the God of goodness. When we sin, we place our own will above His and put Him in a position secondary to ourselves. If mortal sin is spiritual suicide because it extinguishes in us the divine life of grace, venial sin is an injury, more or less grave, to the soul. The former completely separates us from God; the latter moves us farther away from Him. Mortal sin means the death of the soul. Venial sin is a disease of the soul which reduces its supernatural powers and leaves it more open to the ever-increasing attractions of evil.

We cannot speak of small sins, as if sin could be a triviality. Sin is always something great and terrible, because it is an offence against our Creator and Redeemer, whom we should love, honour and serve with every impulse of our heart and with the whole strength of our will. It is the height of ingratitude, because in order to offend God we make use of the gifts He has given us -- our eyes, ears, speech and all our powers of soul and body.

Let us think seriously about this. We must firmly resolve to be more vigilant so that with the grace of God we may avoid ever committing a deliberate venial sin.

2. There is another motive which obliges us carefully to avoid ever committing a venial sin. The path of sin leads us down a smooth and slippery incline towards destruction. Once we begin to descend it is difficult to stop. Even to begin is a disaster:

“He who wastes the little he has will be stripped bare.” (Eccles. 19:1)
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much;
and he who is unjust in a very little thing is unjust also in much.” (Luke 16:10)

Whoever is faithful to God in little things, will receive from Him the grace to remain faithful also in greater things, but a man who despises the lesser falls rejects the divine assistance and so exposes himself to the danger of falling more seriously. If we reflect on such dangers, we shall have a real fear of venial sin and shall be always on our guard against it.

3. The Gospel tells us that we must render an account of every idle word, and that nothing tarnished can be admitted into the splendour of Paradise. In the terrible torments of Purgatory we must pay the full price for all our faults, even the slightest. The thought of such fearful punishment should frighten us, but the love of God should keep us far from all shadow of sin. We read of some of the saints that throughout their lives they wept at the mere remembrance of their slightest negligence. If we loved God truly, we should shun the least suggestion of sin.

Sin - Cardinal Bacci

Sin
1. In that we prefer our own wayward whims to the law of God, sin is an abuse of liberty. It is a revolt against right reason, the dictates of which we refuse to obey. It is an offence against our Creator and Redeemer, whose commandments we despise and whose redeeming grace we reject by our actions. It is, moreover, an act of supreme folly, for it extinguishes not only the supern...atural splendour of grace, but also the natural light of reason. Through sin man is brutalised, and experiences in himself as his first punishment the confusion of his whole being.

In practice, the sinner denies God who has created and redeemed him. He upsets the natural order of things and is violently separated from the source of all truth, beauty and goodness. As a result he experiences in himself the hell which he has constructed with his own hands -- a hell of emptiness, disgust and remorse. Unless the helping hand of God reaches out to rescue him from the abyss, all this is simply a bitter foretaste of eternal despair. God, as St. Augustine has written, has ordained from all eternity that every dissolute soul will be its own punishment. For the sinner hell begins on this earth. There can be no peace for the wicked.

When we realise the gravity, stupidity and dire consequences of sin, it seems impossible that a rational being, enlightened and enriched by divine grace, should continue to sin. Nevertheless sad experience teaches us that the lives of individuals, families and human society in general are often distorted by this evil, which is the root of all other evils.

2. In order to understand more clearly the gravity of sin, it is helpful at this stage to consider three things: --

(a) The world with all its evils -- sorrows, diseases, wars, plagues and death. All these things do not come directly from the will of God, Who is the highest good, but happen with His permission. They are the effect of original sin and of the continuing transgressions of men.

(b) Hell, which is the handiwork of sin. God, infinitely good but also infinitely just, has ordained this terrible and everlasting punishment for the rebellious sinner.

(c) The Crucifix. To save us from sin the God-Man has suffered the cruelest of torments and death, but men go on offending Him with unbelievable ingratitude.

3. Now let us turn the spotlight on ourselves and think of our past lives. So many sins and abuses of God's grace! Such coldness and ingratitude! Where has all this brought us? Spiritually, sin has deprived us of God and of the supernatural life which His grace gives us. Intellectually, it is an absurdity, a dishonour and a degradation. Physically, it is an inversion of the right order and often means total ruin. Let us humbly repent, therefore, and make resolutions so firm that we shall be ready to face any sacrifice, even death, in order to put them into practice.

Two Paths to Heaven - Cardinal Bacci

Two Paths to Heaven

1. The first road to Heaven is the way of innocence. There are some generous souls who preserve till the end of life their original baptismal purity. St. Aloysius Gonzaga never ceased to repent of two small faults for which he could hardly be held responsible since he committed them in the ignorance of early childhood. Having lived like an angel in human form, he died with a smile on his lips murmuring that he was happy to be going to Heaven at last.

In more recent times there was the lovable boy saint, Dominic Savio. On the day of his first Holy Communion he made the resolution “Death rather than sin,” a resolution to which he remained faithful throughout his innocent young life.

Throughout its history the Church could boast of many other members like these who reflected the absolute purity and perfection of its divine Head and Founder. It should be our desire to possess this innocence, so that we may be pure and holy in the sight of God and may remain always close to Him. Sin is ugly. It deprives us of God, our only true good, and makes us unhappy, because the sinner can never be at peace. It makes us restless and remorseful during life, and when we come to die, unless God’s mercy intervenes, it causes us to despair of salvation. Let us jealously guard our state of innocence, keeping it intact by fervent prayer and meditation.

2. If we have been unfortunate enough to have lost our baptismal innocence by falling into sin, we should not be discouraged. God’s mercy opens another way for us, the way of penance. “I have come,” Jesus tells us, “to call sinners, not the just.” (Mt. 9:13)

Our divine Redeemer foresaw in the Garden of Gethsemane all our sins and acts of ingratitude. Nevertheless, He offered Himself as a victim of expiation on our behalf, and shed His Precious Blood upon the Cross for our redemption. How would it be possible for Him to refuse to forgive us? How could He not long to save us in spite of our sins? Let us recall the consoling parables of the prodigal son and the lost sheep. If we feel that we fall into the category of prodigal sons or lost sheep, then let us turn to Jesus for forgiveness.

3. This second path to Heaven, however, demands sacrifice on our part. Our repentance must be practical and supernatural. It should lead us to confess our sins in the Sacrament of Penance and to regain God’s friendship in Holy Communion. After that our way must be one of self-mortification: “Unless you repent,” Jesus warns us, “you will all perish.” (Luke 13:5)

The first penance which we must perform is to offer to God all the physical and moral sufferings which are in store for us during life and at the hour of death. Then we must add our own voluntary acts of self-denial. The generosity of the Saints in this regard was rewarded by the lasting friendship of God. As for ourselves, we should remember that Jesus Himself has warned us that we shall be lost if we neglect to do penance. (Ibid.)

The Surest Way to Avoid Sin - Cardinal Bacci

The Surest Way to Avoid Sin

1. The surest way of never offending God is to love Him. If we love God sincerely, it will be impossible for us to offend Him. “Love”, says St. Paul, “is the fulfilment of the Law,” (Rom. 13:10) and charity “is the bond of perfection.” (Col. 3:14) If all our actions are inspired by the love of God, it will not matter how insignificant they are, for they will be pleasing to Him and will gain merit for ourselves. Then it will be impossible for us to sin.

If most of our actions, on the other hand, are dictated by an inordinate attachment to creatures and to ourselves, they will certainly not lead us to God. Our hearts need love and cannot live without it. But whom shall we love if we do not love God, Who is our Creator and Redeemer? We shall find love for a moment in beauty, in goodness, and in pleasure, but it will soon pass away and leave us with empty hearts. God is our highest good and only He can fully satisfy our hearts. But He wishes us to belong completely to Himself.

Our hearts are too tiny to be divided between God and creatures. We must belong entirely to God. If we love Him sincerely all created things will form a ladder which will help us to ascend to Him. Let us love God and remain united to Him in all our actions. Then sin will never find its way into our souls.

2. Another way of making sure that we shall never offend God is to love our neighbour. “Love does no evil to a neighbour,” (Rom. 13:10) St. Paul assures us. We are told that when St. John the Apostle was too old to be able to preach long sermons and had to be carried in to speak to his congregation, he was accustomed to repeat the same brief message: “Little children, love one another.” One day the faithful, who had grown tired of hearing the same phrase so often, asked him to say something else to them. “But this is God’s command,” St. John replied, “and if you obey it, that will be sufficient.”

If we love our neighbour as ourselves for the love of God, we could never sin. We could never be guilty of injustice, calumny, or indifference to the misfortunes of others. Rather should we be kind, compassionate and ready to help our fellowmen in their spiritual and temporal needs. Let us examine ourselves on the extent of our fraternal charity and let us resolve to see the person of Jesus Christ in our neighbour.

3. The third defence against sin is a spirit of prayer. A man who is constantly close to God cannot offend Him. The spirit of prayer keeps a man in supernatural contact with God. As in an electric current, when the contact is interrupted, the light goes out. If we wish to receive light from God, we must remain in contact with Him.

Christ told His disciples that “they must always pray and not lose heart,” (Luke 18:1) and St. Paul explains how we can always pray. “Whatever you do in word or in work,” he says, “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Col. 3:17) In this sense, therefore, all work becomes prayer, and since we are constantly praying we cannot offend God.

Lapses into Sin - Cardinal Bacci

Lapses into Sin 

1. When we have spent many years fighting our evil inclinations, praying, and forming resolutions, it saddens us when we fall into grave sin once again. A lapse like this can be very discouraging and can make us feel that it is impossible to resist temptation. We may even feel that we are not destined by God to enjoy everlasting happiness. This is a very dangerous temptation which could lead us into ruin. It is part of the tactics of the devil to tempt us to sin and, when we have fallen, to persuade us that our fall was unavoidable and that we may as well resign ourselves to sinning because we are predestined to hell.

Predestination is a gigantic theological problem which has tormented the minds and consciences of many. It is a difficult question, but in practice it can be answered in a few words. It is certain that “God... wishes us all to be saved.” (1 Tim. 2:4) It is certain that God became man and shed His precious blood for our salvation. How then could we be predestined to hell? How could we be denied the graces necessary for salvation? Our constant falls do not indicate that God has abandoned us, but show that we have abandoned Him. If we sincerely do everything of which we are capable, God will not deny us His assistance.

2. Away, then, with all thoughts of discouragement. Let us ask humbly for forgiveness every time we fall, for God understands our weakness. Then let us begin again with confidence in God's grace.

But why, we may ask, does God permit us to fall time and time again without giving us the grace to resist? In such a case we must accept the mystery of God's dealings with us. God often allows us to fall in order to humble us and to make us realise that we are powerless without Him. Pride is often the cause of our sins, and our pride must be curbed. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (Cf. James 4:6) Instead of giving in to discouragement, therefore, we should acknowledge our own weakness and pray again to God to help us.

3. There are other explanations for our repeated lapses into sin. Sometimes we do not resist temptation immediately and it takes root in our souls. We may neglect to pray for God's assistance. We may have neglected to avoid the occasions of sin and have played about with danger. We may not be sufficiently determined to make any sacrifice rather than commit sin.

Let us consider our lapses and we shall discover that they can be explained in one of these ways. There is no need to lose confidence in God, therefore. Rather should we renew our good resolutions and reinforce them by constant prayer. Nobody who prays continually can keep falling into sin.

Falling into Sin - Cardinal Bacci

Falling into Sin

1. “The just man falls seven times,” (Prov. 24:16) says the Book of Proverbs. Unfortunately, we have all experienced how true this is. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” (Cf. 1 John 1:8)

We fall often in many ways - in thought, in speech, in action, and by omission. Sometimes we fall in a moment of weakness or of impatience; at other times we sin by an act of premeditated malice. “Watch and pray,” Our Lord warns us, “that you may not enter into temptation.” (Mt. 26:41)

Our Lord also said that we “must always pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1) In other words, we should have a spirit of prayer which is based on the love of God and keeps us close to Him. It is only when we are united to God that temptations cannot hurt us and we are protected by His grace from falling into deliberate sin.

It is idle to protest that this would require the virtue of an anchorite, and that we are entangled in all kinds of other business. Virtue is necessary for everybody, not only for anchorites. “The kingdom of heaven has been enduring violent assault, and the violent have been seizing it by force.” (Mt. 11:12) In order to attain to the kingdom of God, therefore, we have to do violence to our corrupted nature. A life of solitude is not essential for prayer, however. One can be busy from morning till night and pray continuously, so that his work is offered to God and done for the love of God. In this way work becomes prayer and will save us from falling into sin.

2. When we realise that we have fallen, what should we do about it? We must avoid two extreme and opposing kinds of reaction - hardness of heart, and an excessive anxiety which might lead to discouragement and loss of confidence in God's infinite mercy. Above all, we must avoid hardness of heart, and that accompanying state of indifference which causes us to become immersed in sin. Let us hope that we shall never foolishly boast: “I have sinned, yet what has befallen me? for the Lord bides his time. Of forgiveness be not over-confident, adding sin upon sin.” (Ecclus. 5:4-5) When we see that we have fallen into sin, let us cry out at once like the prodigal son: “I will get up and go to my Father.” (Luke 15:18) How unfortunate I am if I have lost the friendship of God! But God is an infinitely merciful father and I must throw myself into His arms and implore His forgiveness. When we have sinned, a good confession will give us God's forgiveness and peace of soul.

3. The second extreme to be avoided is discouragement, which can lead us to despair as Judas did. We know that God is entirely good and merciful. We know that Jesus died on the Cross for our salvation. How can we doubt that He will welcome us if we repent and return to Him?

No matter how grave and how numerous our sins may be, let us remember that the mercy of God is infinite. Let us remember that He is waiting for us, as his father waited for the prodigal son, and that He is following us like a shepherd who is searching for his lost sheep. He allowed us to fall in order to humble us and help us to realise that we are incapable of doing anything good by ourselves. Let us go to Him humbly and penitently, trusting He will give us the kiss of peace and forgiveness.

The madness of sin - Cardinal Newman

"Wickedness is sometimes called madness in Scripture—so it is. As literal madness is derangement of the reason, so sin is derangement of the heart, of the spirit, of the affection. And as madness was the disorder in which possession by the devil showed itself in Scripture, so this madness of the heart and spirit is the disorder which in all ages the devil produces in the spirit. And as there are different forms of that madness which is derangement of the reason, so there are different forms of that worse madness which is sin. In an asylum there are different forms of the disorder, and so this whole world is one vast madhouse, of which the inmates, though shrewd enough in matters of this world, yet in spiritual matters are in one way or another mad."

Newman Reader

Despondence for sin - Fr Daniel Considine SJ

"Often the despondence caused by sin is more wrong, and keeps one away from God more than the sin itself. Don't waste time being discouraged. Get up and go to God. Draw near to Him. Do not stand back hanging your head."
(Words of Encouragement)