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Also See:
Sin (Topic Page)
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"In whatever
you do, remember your last days, and you will never sin." (Sirach
7:36)
"Delay not to
forsake sins, neglect it not till you are in distress." (Sirach
18:21)
"Flee from sin
as from a serpent that will bite you if you go near it; Its teeth
are lion's teeth, destroying the souls of men." (Sirach 21:2)
"She
[the Blessed Virgin Mary] will bear a son and you are to name him
Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
(Angel to St. Joseph, Mt. 1:21)
"If your right
eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better
for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body
thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut
it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your
members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna." (Our
Lord Jesus Christ, Mt. 5:29) [Reminder:
Interpretation and application of Scripture should not be contrary
to the perennial, official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.
Do not take Scripture passages out of context. Do not inflict harm
on yourself or others, break laws, take unsuitable/incautious or
inappropriate/drastic actions, or take figurative items
literally.]
"Woe to the
world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but
woe to the one through whom they come!" (Our Lord Jesus
Christ, Mt. 18:7)
"If your
brother sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you
and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your
brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with
you, so that 'every fact may be established on the testimony of
two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell the
church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him
as you would a Gentile or a tax collector." (Our Lord Jesus
Christ, Mt. 18:15-17)
"Be on your
guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents,
forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and
returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,' you should
forgive him." (Our Lord Jesus Christ, Lk. 17:3-4)
"Amen,
amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of
sin." (Our Lord Jesus
Christ, Jn. 8:34)
"How
can we who died to sin yet live in it?" (Rom. 6:2)
"Consequently,
you too must think of yourselves as (being) dead to sin and living
for God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, sin must not reign over your
mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present
the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but
present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the
parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin
is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law
but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under
the law but under grace? Of course not! Do you not know that if
you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are
slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death,
or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Rom.
6:11-16)
"For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6:23)
"This saying
is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners." (1 Tm. 1:15)
"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." (Heb. 10:26-27)
"So
for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is
a sin." (Jms. 4:17)
"My brothers,
if anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone bring
him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from
the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover
a multitude of sins." (Jms. 5:19-20)
"He himself
bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin,
we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been
healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now
returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls." (1 Pt.
2:24-25)
"If we say,
'We are without sin,' we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us." (1 Jn. 1:8)
"My children,
I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if
anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our
sins only but for those of the whole world."
(1 Jn. 2:1-2)
"Everyone who
commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. You know
that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no
sin. No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him
or known him. Children, let no one deceive you. The person who
acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned
from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy
the works of the devil. No one who is begotten by God commits sin,
because God's seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is
begotten by God. In this way, the children of God and the children
of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in
righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his
brother." (1 Jn. 3:4-10)
"Death,
but not sin!" (St. Dominic Savio)
"I
will fear only one evil - sin." (Bl. John Martin Moye)
"[S]in
is an offense against God." (Pope John Paul II)
"[S]in...is
the death of the soul" (Dom Gueranger)
"...sin
can never pass unpunished." (Dom Gueranger)
"One
sin cannot excuse another sin." (St. John Vianney)
"...where
there is sin, there must be expiation." (Dom Gueranger)
"It
would be better to eschew sin than to flee death." (Kempis)
"The
end of sin is death." (St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the
Church)
"Had
we not sinned, God would not have wept." (Dom Gueranger)
"We
have only one evil to fear, and that is sin." (St. Alphonsus
Liguori, Doctor of the Church)
"Prosperous
sinners fare worst of all in the end." (St. John Chrysostom,
Doctor of the Church)
"Where
prayer is poured forth, sins are covered." (St. Ambrose,
Doctor of the Church)
"[T]he
sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin" (Pope
Pius XII)
"The angels sin, and are cast into
Hell." (Catechism of the Cure of Ars)
Q: "Which is the greatest evil in the
world?" A: "Sin." (Catechism of St. John
Neumann)
"There are two kinds of sin: original sin
and actual sin." (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
"Sin is a thought, a word, an action,
contrary to the law of God." (Catechism of the Cure of Ars)
"See, my children, a person who is in a
state of sin is always sad." (Catechism of the Cure of Ars)
Q: "Is it enough only to avoid
sin?" A: "No; we must also do good."
(Catechism of St. John Neumann)
"When we are in sin, our soul is all
diseased, all rotten; it is pitiful." (Catechism of the Cure
of Ars)
Q: "When do we commit sin?" A:
"When we willfully violate a commandment of God."
(Catechism of St. John Neumann)
"Actual sin is any willful thought, desire,
word, action, or omission forbidden by the law of God."
(Baltimore Catechism)
"The near occasions of sin are all persons,
places, or things that may easily lead us into sin."
(Baltimore Catechism)
"God will not forgive us any sin, whether
mortal or venial, unless we have true contrition for it."
(Baltimore Catechism)
"Sin
is separation from God and an alienation from love."
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"To
be a sinner is our distress, but to know it is our hope." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"Your
sins could never be stronger than God's willingness to forgive."
"Every
sin is more injury to him who does than to him who suffers
it." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"[E]very
kind of human sin can be reached by God's saving power" (Pope
John Paul II)
"Committing
sin makes us strangers to God and leagues us with the devil."
(St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church)
"...sin
is madness, for it exposes the soul to fall into infinite
misery" (Dom Gueranger)
"Sin,
in all its forms, is the deliberate eviction of Love form the
soul" (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"We
avoid the eyes of men to commit sin, yet we do it in God's
presence." (St. Ambrose,
Doctor of the Church)
"Can
any sin be called light, since every sin involves some contempt of
God?" (St. Eucherius)
"That
hope is deceitful which hopes to be saved amidst the occasions of
sin." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"The
closer one approaches to almighty God, the greater sinner one realizes
oneself."
"The
very pleasures of sin become the instruments of punishment in the
hands of God." (Pope Innocent III)
"The
peace of Christ can establish itself only where people are
prepared to rid themselves of sin." (Pope John Paul II)
"It
is morally impossible for him who neglects mediation to live
without sin." (St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church)
"Whatever sins I have avoided committing,
I owe it to Thy grace." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the
Church)
"Even
though I had committed but one little sin, I should have ample
reason to repent of it all my life." (St. Francis of Assisi)
"Sin
is a suppurating wound; punishment is the surgeon's knife."
(St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)
"...sin
[is] the greatest of all the evils that can befall us, because it
is an evil which strikes at God Himself." (Dom Gueranger)
"[I]t
remains in our power to sin or not to sin." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"Inordinate
self-love is the cause of every sin." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history
of the Church")
Q: "Why is sin the greatest evil in
the world?" A: "Because it offends God, and hurts the
soul." (Catechism of St. John Neumann)
"By sin, my children, we rebel against the
good God, we despise His justice, we tread under foot His
blessings." (Catechism of the Cure of Ars)
"We must firmly resolve with the grace of
God to avoid every sin and every dangerous occasion, and to lead a
good life." (Catechism of St. John Neumann)
"God requires temporal punishment for sin
to satisfy His justice, to teach us the great evil of sin, and to
warn us not to sin again." (Baltimore Catechism)
Q: "How do we commit sin?" A:
"In thoughts, words and actions, and by the omission of the
good that we are obliged to do." (Catechism of St. John
Neumann)
"The chief sources of actual sin are:
pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth, and
these are commonly called capital sins." (Baltimore
Catechism)
"As the sun alone cannot make a flower
expand if it is already dead, so the grace of the good God cannot
bring us back to life if we will not abandon sin." (Catechism
of the Cure of Ars)
"The faithful must be impressed with the
conviction that he who is dead in sin is to be recalled to
spiritual life by means of sacramental confession."
(Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"For there is no sin, however great or
horrible, which cannot be effaced by the Sacrament of Penance, and
that not merely once, but over and over again." (Catechism of
the Council of Trent)
"The
saints understood how great an outrage sin is against God. Some of
them passed their lives in weeping for their sins." (Catechism of the Cure of
Ars)
"So with regard to the soul, it is not
enough that sin has been pardoned; the wound which it has left
must also be healed by penance." (Catechism of the Council of
Trent)
"From the sufferings and death of Christ we
learn God's love for man and the evil of sin, for which God, who
is all-just, demands such great satisfaction." (Baltimore
Catechism)
"[A]lthough
sin is temporal in act, it is eternal in will." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"A
man sins not only by willing bad ends by willing bad
actions." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"[E]ternity
of punishment does not correspond to the quantity of the sin"
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest
theologian in the history of the Church")
"[A]
sin not at once taken away by repentance, by its weight drags us
down to other sins" (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of
the Church)
"It
is certain that, if I had sinned less, Thou, my Jesus, wouldst
have suffered less." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the
Church)
"Holy
Scripture clearly teaches that these scourges of God are provoked
by the sins of men" (Bl. Pope Pius IX, "Cum Nuper", 1858 A.D.)
"Have
you begun to stop trying to defend your sins? Then you have made a
beginning of righteousness." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the
Church)
"God
has promised pardon to the one who repents, but he has not
promised repentance to the one who sins." (St. Anselm of
Canterbury, Doctor of the Church)
"Where
is the foolish person who would think it is in his power to commit
a sin more than God could forgive?" (St. Francis de Sales,
Doctor of the Church)
"Sin
is the enemy of the soul; it throws her back again into that death
whence Jesus had drawn her by his Resurrection." (Dom
Gueranger)
"He
who commits sin does what is not pleasing to God; but he who
repents of his sins, does what is most pleasing to Him." (St.
Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church)
"Every
sin is a debt which we contract towards Almighty God, and His
justice demands payment down to the very last farthing." (St.
Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"The
evil consequences of sin are hard, trying, and bitter to bear, and
will necessarily accompany men even to the end of life."
(Pope Leo XIII)
"Of
all the counsels of Christ, one of the greatest, and so to say,
the foundation of religion, is to fly the occasions of sin."
(St. Bernardine of Siena)
"To
abstain from sinful actions is not sufficient for the fulfillment
of God's law. The very desire of what is forbidden is evil."
(St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle)
"Every
one who sins ought to pay back the honor of which he has robbed
God; and this is the satisfaction which every sinner owes to
God." (St. Anselm,
Doctor of the Church)
"When
shall we be made to understand that penance is a debt we owe to
God, a debt of expiation for the sins we have committed against
Him?" (Dom Gueranger)
"[N]obody
guilty of blasphemy can be absolved without a heavy penance
imposed by the decision of a strict confessor." (Fifth Lateran
Council)
"There are three elements by which the process
of sinning is completed: suggestion, delectation, and consent."
(St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"Sin,
therefore, is the will to sustain or follow after what justice
forbids, and from which the will is free to abstain." (St.
Augustine, Doctor of the Church, c. 391 A.D.)
"For
those who fall into sin after Baptism the Sacrament of Penance is
as necessary to salvation as is Baptism for those who have not
been already baptized." (Council
of Trent)
"Between sin and vice there is this
difference that sin is a passing act, whereas vice is a bad habit,
contracted by continually falling into some sin." (Catechism
of Pope St. Pius X)
"Observe
that on earth He forgives sins. For while we are on earth we can
blot out our sins. But after that we are taken away from the
earth, we shall not be able to confess, for the gate is
shut." (St. Theophylact)
"The
sinner offends this his Benefactor, abusing His gifts; and taking
advantage of His goodness becomes more hardened in sin day by
day." (Pope Leo XIII, "Divinum Illud Munus", 1897
A.D.)
"Man
is able by himself to fall into sin, but he cannot by himself
arise from sin without the help of grace." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"For
neither the devil nor anyone else can force me to commit a single
deadly sin against my will. We can never be overcome unless we
give up this armor and turn it over to the devil by our willing
consent." (St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church)
"[O]ne
may sin through certain malice, by contemptuously rejecting the
things whereby a man is withdrawn from sin." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"To
say that you do not commit sin, because you have no opportunity of
sinning, is almost to acknowledge that you are always prepared to
sin when opportunity offers." (Catechism of the Council of
Trent)
"...it
is for sinners that he came, that he might save them: it was with
sinners that he so humbly conversed, and at last gave himself to
sinners, that he might be their food." (St. Bonaventure,
Doctor of the Church)
"We are strictly bound to shun those
dangerous occasions which ordinarily lead us to commit mortal sin,
and which are called the proximate occasions of sin."
(Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
"Should anyone be conscious of sin, he
should immediately accuse himself, humbly solicit pardon from God,
and implore time to confess and satisfy for his sins."
(Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"By dangerous occasions of sin are meant
all those circumstances of time, place, person, or things, which,
of their very nature or because of our frailty, lead us to commit
sin." (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
"When we say
'and lead us not into
temptation,' we pray that God will always give us the grace
to overcome the temptations to sin which come to us from the
world, the flesh, and the devil." (Baltimore Catechism)
"[I]t is an excellent thing to go to
confession often, because the sacrament of Penance, besides taking
away sin, gives the graces necessary to avoid sin in the
future." (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
"The same reason, then, which prompts us to
confess that God is to be loved above all things, obliges us also
of necessity to acknowledge that sin is to be hated above all
things." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"[C]hildren,
it is sin that brings upon us all calamities, all scourges, war,
famine, pestilence, earthquakes, fires, frost, hail, storms - all
that afflicts us, all that makes us miserable." (Catechism of
the Cure of Ars)
"We
commit sin because of one of two reasons: either we do not as yet
see what we ought to do, or we do not do what we know ought to be
done. The first of these is the evil of ignorance; the latter,
that of weakness." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"For
sin is not natural nor is it implanted in us by the Creator, but
it is shown afterwards by the devil in the voluntary exercise of
our free choice, not prevailing upon us by force." (St. John
Damascene, Doctor of the Church, c. 8th century A.D.)
Q:
"Can the Church forgive every sort of sin?" A:
"Yes, the Church can forgive all sins, no matter how many or
how grave they may be, because Jesus Christ has given her full
power to bind and to loose." (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
Q:
"When is a bad thought a sin?" A: "Bad thoughts,
even though resulting in no bad deed, are sins when we culpably
entertain them, or consent to them, or expose ourselves to the
proximate danger of consenting to them." (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
"No
circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can make licit an act
which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the Law of
God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason
itself, and proclaimed by the Church." (Pope John Paul II)
"If
sin could destroy your fortune or your reputation, you would not
commit it; and because it exposes you only to the anger of God, to
the rigor of his judgment, you commit it without fear, as if you
had nothing to dread from his justice." (St. Ignatius Loyola)
"Satan
enchains us through the seven capital vices, rendering us slaves
in his kingdom of darkness. The most terrifying diabolical
possession is that which is realized through becoming familiarized
with sin. The more one sins, the more the image of the evil one
lives in him." (Fr. Fanzaga)
"Two kinds of punishment are due to sin:
the eternal punishment of hell, due to unforgiven mortal sins, and
temporal punishment, lasting only for a time, due to venial sins
and also to mortal sins after they have been forgiven."
(Baltimore Catechism)
"The Church by means of indulgences remits
the temporal punishment due to sin by applying to us from her
spiritual treasury part of the infinite satisfaction of Jesus
Christ and of the superabundant satisfaction of the Blessed Virgin
Mary and of the saints." (Baltimore Catechism)
"Now
it is worse to sin in public than in private, both because a
public sinner seems to sin more from contempt, and because by
sinning he gives scandal to others." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history
of the Church")
"Do
not imitate those who deceive themselves by saying: 'I will sin
and then go to confession.' How do you know that you will have
time to make your confession? Is it not madness to wound oneself,
in the hope that a doctor will be found who will heal the
wound?" (St. John Bosco)
"The
greatest obstacle to man's journey towards God is sin,
perseverance in sin, and, finally, denial of God. The deliberate
blotting out of God from the world of human thought. The
detachment from him of the whole of man's earthly activity. The
rejection of God by man." (Pope John Paul II)
"In
this life, men who are in sin retain the possibility of obtaining
everlasting happiness: not so those who are lost in hell, who, in
this respect, are in the same case as the demons." (St.
Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian
in the history of the Church")
"No
one is free of sin; but where good works prevail, sins are
lightened, overshadowed, and covered up. On the day of judgment
either our works will assist us or they will plunge us into the
abyss, as if dragged down by a millstone." (St. Ambrose,
Doctor of the Church)
"No
one has anything of his own except lying and sin. But if man has
any truth and justice, it is from that fountain for which we ought
to thirst in this desert, that bedewed by some drops of water from
it, we may not falter on the way." (St.
Prosper / Council of
Orange II, 529 A.D.)
"[M]an
is reckoned to be good or bad chiefly according to the pleasure of
the human will; since that man is good and virtuous, who takes
pleasure in the works of virtue; and that man evil, who takes
pleasure in evil works." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"Theologians hold that in fact no
deliberate act is morally neutral: if directed to God by grace
than it is meritorious; if it cannot be so directed it is sin; if
it is not directed then it is vanity, which amounts to sin." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history
of the Church")
"The
affections of the heart are more acceptable to God than external
acts. Now man is absolved from both punishment and guilt by means
of external actions; and therefore he is also by means of the
heart's affections, such as contrition is." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"You
aught not to become secure about your sins, except on the last day
of your life when you are no longer able to bewail them. But until
that day comes, you ought, ever suspicious and fearful, to be
afraid of faults and wash them away with daily tears." (Pope
St. Gregory I the Great, Doctor of the Church, 6th century A.D.)
"We can keep from committing sin by praying
and by receiving the sacraments; by remembering that God is always
with us; by recalling that our bodies are temples of the Holy
Ghost; by keeping occupied with work or play; by promptly
resisting the sources of sin within us; by avoiding the near
occasions of sin." (Baltimore Catechism)
"The principal effects which the Most Holy
Eucharist produces in those who worthily receive it are these: (1)
It preserves and increases the life of the soul, which is grace,
just as natural food sustains and increases the life of the body;
(2) It remits venial sins and preserves us from mortal sin; (3) It
produces spiritual consolation." (Catechism of Pope St. Pius
X)
"What
more wicked, what more detestable than to hate God, the supreme
goodness and sovereign truth? This, however, is the crime of all
sinners; for as he that hath God's commandments and keepeth them,
loveth God (John xiv. 21), so he who despises His law and violates
His Commandments, is justly said to hate God." (Catechism of
the Council of Trent)
"So
long as he is in the flesh, a man is not able to be without sins,
at least the lesser ones; but do not make light even of those sins
calls lesser. If you make light of them when you weigh them, be
terrified when you count them. Many lesser ones make one big one;
many drops fill a river; many grains make a lump." (St.
Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"It
is needful to remember that God wills beforehand that all should
be saved and come into His kingdom. Because He is a good God it
was not for punishment that He shaped us, but to participate in
His goodness. But because He is a just God, He wills that sinners
are to be punished." (St. John Damascene, Doctor of the
Church, c. 8th century
A.D.)
"A
judge justly punishes one who is guilty of wrongdoing; and if he
does not punish him he is himself a wrongdoer. In punishing him
the judge is not the cause either of the wrongdoing or of the
vengeance taken against the wrongdoer, the cause being the
wrongdoer's freely chosen actions." (St. John Damascene,
Doctor of the Church, c. 8th century A.D.)
"It is well and most useful to make an act
of contrition often, especially before going to sleep or when we
know we have or fear we have fallen into mortal sin, in order to
recover God's grace as soon as possible; and this practice will
make it easier for us to obtain from God the grace of making a
like act at time of our greatest need, that is, when in danger of
death." (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
"You must know that sin
can be committed in three ways. It is done either in ignorance, in
weakness, or of set purpose. And certainly the sin committed in
weakness is more grave than that done in ignorance: but that done
of set purpose is much more grave than that done in weakness."
(Pope St. Gregory I the Great, Doctor of the Church, 6th century
A.D.)
"...sin carries in its train two evils,
the stain and the punishment. Whenever the stain is effaced, the
punishment of eternal death is forgiven with the guilt to which it
was due; yet, as the Council of Trent declares, the remains of sin
and the temporal punishment are not always remitted. Of this the
Scriptures afford many conspicuous examples..." (Catechism
of the Council of Trent)
"Although
sins, when committed, were voluntary, yet when we are contrite for
them, they are no longer voluntary, so that they occur against our
will; not indeed in respect of the will that we had when we
consented to them, but in respect of that which we have now, so as
to wish they had never been." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of
the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"Therefore
God never spares him that offends, in that he never leaves his sin
without taking vengeance on it. For either man himself in doing
penance punishes it in himself, or God in dealing with man in
vengeance for it, visits it with His rod, and thus there is never
any sparing of sin, in that it is never remitted without
vengeance." (Pope St. Gregory I the Great, Doctor of the
Church, 6th century A.D.)
"Everyone
who sins dies. Every man fears the death of the flesh, few the
death of the soul. In regard to the death of the flesh, which
without a doubt must someday come, all guard against its coming:
that is the reason for their labors. Man, destined to die, labors
to avert his dying; and yet man, destined to live in eternity,
does not labor to avoid sinning." (St. Augustine, Doctor of
the Church)
"Sin
arises simply from loving what God hates and hating what God
loves. So if you love the passing things of this world and love
yourself with a sensual love, you sin. For this is what God hates;
in fact, it so displeases him that he willed to work out vengeance
and punishment for it upon his own body. He made himself an anvil,
and on this anvil hammered out our sins." (St. Catherine of
Siena, Doctor of the Church)
"Nothing
prevents one and the same thing being loved under one aspect,
while it is hated under another. God loves sinners in so far as
they are existing natures; for they have existence and have it
from Him. In so far as they are sinners, they have not existence
at all, but fall short of it; and this in them is not from God.
Hence under this aspect, they are hated by Him." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"A
man cannot be sure that his contrition suffices for the remission
of both punishment and guilt: wherefore he is bound to confess and
to make satisfaction, especially since his contrition would not be
true contrition, unless he had the purpose of confessing united
thereto: which purpose must also be carried into effect, on
account of the precept given concerning confession." (St.
Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian
in the history of the Church")
"Every
actual sin is caused by our will not yielding to God's law, either
by transgressing it, or by omitting it, or by acting beside it:
and since a hard thing is one that is disposed not to give way
easily, hence it is that a certain hardness of the will is to be
found in every actual sin. Wherefore, if a sin is to be remedied,
it needs to be taken away by contrition which crushes it."
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest
theologian in the history of the Church")
"There are two sides to very sin, the
turning to transient satisfaction and the turning away from
everlasting value. As regards the first, the principle of all sins
can be called lust - lust in its most general sense, namely, the
unbridled desire for one's own pleasure. As regards the second,
the principle is pride, pride in its general sense, the lack of
submission to God." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"For
sin is committed the moment the soul, yielding to the impulse of
corrupt desires, is pleased with evil things, and either consents
to, or does not resist them, as St. James, pointing out the
beginning and progress of sin, teaches when he says: Every man is
tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured;
then, when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin;
but sin, when it is completed, begetteth death." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"...so
great is the liberality of the divine munificence that not only by
punishments voluntarily undertaken by us in atonement for sin can
we make satisfaction to God the Father through Jesus Christ, or by
punishments imposed by the judgment of the priest according to the
measure of our offense, but also, (and this is the greatest proof
of love) by the temporal afflictions imposed by God and patiently
borne by us." (Council of Trent, 1551 A.D.)
"We
come face to face with sin which is a perversion of human freedom
and the profound cause of death because it involves detachment
from God, the source of life. And then sin in its turn becomes the
occasion and the effect of interference in us and our work by a
dark, hostile agent, the Devil. Evil is not merely an absence of
something but an active force, a living, spiritual being that is
perverted and that perverts others. It is a terrible reality,
mysterious and frightening." (Pope Paul VI, 1972)
"[A]
sin is not less grievous in a believer than in an unbeliever, but
much more so. For the sins of an unbeliever are more deserving of
forgiveness, on account of their ignorance, according to 1 Timothy
1:13: 'I obtained the mercy of God, because I did it ignorantly in
my unbelief': whereas the sins of believers are more grievous on
account of the sacraments of grace, according to Hebrews 10:29:
'How much more, do you think, he deserveth worse punishments...
who hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he
was sanctified?'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church
and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Sin
is ever to be shunned, but the assaults of sin should be overcome,
sometimes by flight, sometimes by resistance; by flight when a
continued thought increases the incentive to sin, as in lust; for
which reason it is written (1 Corinthians 6:18): 'Fly
fornication'; by resistance, when perseverance in the thought
diminishes the incentive to sin, which incentive arises from some
trivial consideration. This is the case with sloth, because the
more we think about spiritual goods, the more pleasing they become
to us, and forthwith sloth dies away." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history
of the Church")
"[A]s
Scripture has it - and experience teaches us no less - sin will
not be wanting where there is much talk, and he who is careless in
speech will come to harm; and elsewhere: The use of many words
brings harm to the speaker's soul. And our Lord says in the
Gospel: Every rash word uttered will have to be accounted for on
judgement day. Make a balance then, each of you, to weigh his
words in; keep a tight rein on your mouths, lest you should
stumble and fall in speech, and your fall be irreparable and prove
mortal. Like the Prophet, watch your step lest your tongue give
offence" (Pope Innocent IV, "Quae Honorem Conditoris
Omnium", 1247 A.D.)
"Isaiah,
setting forth the devil under the figure of the prince of Babylon,
says, How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning! Ezekiel says, You have been in Eden, the garden of God.
Which passages, as they cannot be interpreted in any other way,
show that we must take the word, He stood not in the truth, to
mean, that he was in truth, but did not remain in it; and the
other, that the devil sins from the beginning, to mean, that he
was a sinner not from the beginning of his creation, but from the
beginning of sin. For sin began in him, and he was the beginning
of sin." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"Man
began to sin by the very fact that he separated himself from God.
For it is written that 'the beginning of pride is to fall away
from God'; and in another place: 'Behold, all who go far from You,
shall perish; you have destroyed all who fornicated themselves
away from You.' Those, therefore, who go away from God and
commit fornication perish forthwith by sinning of their own evil
will, which is not God's doing. But God destroys them by judging
them justly, which is God's part. For God would not destroy them
by His judgment unless the had themselves perished by their own
iniquities." (St. Fulgence of Ruspe, 6th century A.D.)
"The
gravity of a sin can be considered in two ways: first, according
to the species of that sin, secondly, according to its
circumstances. And since particular circumstances are infinite in
number, so too they can be varied in an infinite number of ways:
wherefore if one were to ask in general which of two sins is the
graver, the question must be understood to refer to the gravity
derived from the sin's genus. Now the genus or species of a sin is
taken from its object... Wherefore the sin which is opposed to the
greater good is, in respect of its genus, more grievous, for
instance a sin committed against God is graver than a sin
committed against one's neighbor." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history
of the Church")
"The
just sin not easily out of contempt; but sometimes they fall into
a sin through ignorance or weakness from which they easily arise.
If, however, they go so far as to sin out of contempt, they become
most wicked and incorrigible, according to the word of Jeremiah
2:20: 'Thou hast broken My yoke, thou hast burst My bands, and
thou hast said: I will not serve. For on every high hill and under
every green tree thou didst prostitute thyself.' Hence Augustine
says (Ep. 78 ad Pleb. Hippon.): 'From the time I began to serve
God, even as I scarcely found better men than those who made
progress in monasteries, so have I not found worse than those who
in the monastery have fallen.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor
of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"Other
things being equal, an injury is a more grievous sin according as
it affects more persons; and hence it is that it is a more
grievous sin to strike or injure a person in authority than a
private individual, because it conduces to the injury of the whole
community... Now when an injury is inflicted on one who is
connected in any way with another, that injury affects two
persons, so that, other things being equal, the sin is aggravated
by this very fact. It may happen, however, that in view of certain
circumstances, a sin committed against one who is not connected
with any other person, is more grievous, on account of either the
dignity of the person, or the greatness of the injury." (St.
Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian
in the history of the Church")
"[A]
sin incurs a debt of eternal punishment, in so far as it causes an
irreparable disorder in the order of Divine justice, through being
contrary to the very principle of that order, viz. the last end.
Now it is evident that in some sins there is disorder indeed, but
such as not to involve contrariety in respect of the last end, but
only in respect of things referable to the end, in so far as one
is too much or too little intent on them without prejudicing the
order to the last end: as, for instance, when a man is too fond of
some temporal thing, yet would not offend God for its sake, by
breaking one of His commandments. Consequently such sins do not
incur everlasting, but only temporal punishment." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"For
when man's heart is not so fixed on God as to be unwilling to be
parted from Him for the sake of finding any good or avoiding any
evil, many things happen for the achieving or avoiding of which a
man strays from God and breaks His commandments, and thus sins
mortally: especially since, when surprised, a man acts according
to his preconceived end and his pre-existing habits, as the
Philosopher says (Ethica Nicomachea iii); although with
premeditation of his reason a man may do something outside the
order of his preconceived end and the inclination of his habit.
But because a man cannot always have this premeditation, it cannot
help occurring that he acts in accordance with his will turned
aside from God, unless, by grace, he is quickly brought back to
the due order." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Pardon
us, O Lord, pardon us. We beg to shift the blame for our sins, we
make excuses. But no one can hide from the light of your truth,
which both enlightens those who turn to it and exposes those who
turn away. Even our blood and our bones are visible to you, who
created us out of dust. How foolish we are to think that we can
rule our own lives, satisfying our own desires, without thought of
you. How stupid we are to imagine that we can keep our sins
hidden. But although we may deceive other people, we cannot
deceive you, and since you also see into our hearts, we cannot
deceive ourselves, for your light reveals to us our own spiritual
corruption. Let us, therefore, fall down before you, weeping with
tears of shame. May your judgment give new shape to our souls. May
your power mold our hearts to reflect your love. May your grace
infuse our minds, so that our thoughts reflect your will." (Abbot
William of Saint
Thierry)
"At
the sight of our sins a God is seized with painful disquiet, and
we remain calm. A God is sad over our sins, and we take pleasure
therein. A God sweats blood for our sins, and we never shed a
tear. We sin and, instead of hesitating and trembling, we think,
perhaps, 'I have sinned and what harm hath befallen me?' At the
sight of our sins a God-Man writhes in agony, and we, perhaps,
live on in a dreadful torpor which is an insult to the agony of
Christ, in a false security, which, in a way, is more terrible
than sin itself. We, perhaps, shall slumber on in utter blindness
until that hour in which the voice of the eternal Judge will
awaken us. Oh, dreadful moment in which the Redeemer, now mute and
patient in the Garden of Olives, burdened down with the mountain
of our sins, will unsheathe before the sinner the flaming sword of
vengeance! Oh, dreadful moment, in which the same Redeemer, who
now sheds His blood for our sins, will demand of the sinner an
account of the blood shed in vain!" (Fr. Groenings)
"Sin
is always a folly and a weakness, no matter of what kind it may
be, or who he be that commits it. The rebel angel, and fallen man,
may, in their pride, make efforts to persuade themselves that,
when they sinned, they did not act as fools, and were not weak;
but all their efforts are in vain; sin must ever have this
disgrace upon it, that it is folly and weakness, for it is a
revolt against God, a contempt for His law, a mad act of the
creature, who, being made by his Creator to attain infinite
happiness and glory, prefers to debase himself by turning towards
nothingness, and then falls even lower than the nothingness from
which he was taken. It is, however, a folly that is voluntary, and
a weakness that has no excuse; for although the creature have
nothing of his own but darkness and misery, yet his infinitely
merciful Creator, by means of His grace, which is never wanting,
puts within that creature's reach divine strength and light. It is
so with even the sinner that has been the least liberally gifted;
he has no reason that can justify his offences." (Liturgical
Year)
"Sin
is the executioner of the good God, and the assassin of the soul.
It snatches us away from Heaven to precipitate us into Hell. And
we love it! What folly! If we thought seriously about it, we
should have such a lively horror of sin that we could not commit
it. O my children, how ungrateful we are! The good God wishes to
make us happy; that is very certain; He gave us His Law for no
other end. The Law of God is great; it is broad. King David said
that he found his delight in it, and that it was a treasure more
precious to him than the greatest riches. He said also that he
walked at large, because he had sought after the Commandments of
the Lord. The good God wishes, then, to make us happy, and we do
not wish to be so. We turn away from Him, and give ourselves to
the devil! We fly from our Friend, and we seek after our murderer!
We commit sin; we plunge ourselves into the mire. Once sunk in
this mire, we know not how to get out. If our fortune were in the
case, we should soon find out how to get out of the difficulty;
but because it only concerns our soul, we stay where we are... It
is said that many confess, and few are converted. I believe it is
so, my children, because few confess with tears of repentance." (Catechism of the Cure of
Ars)
"My
children, we are afraid of death; I can well believe it. It is sin
that makes us afraid of death; it is sin that renders death
frightful, formidable; it is sin that terrifies the wicked at the
hour of the fearful passage. Alas! O God! there is reason enough
to be terrified, to think that one is accursed - accursed of God!
It makes one tremble. Accursed of God! and why? for what do men
expose themselves to be accursed of God? For a blasphemy, for a
bad thought, for a bottle of wine, for two minutes of pleasure!
For two minutes of pleasure to lose God, one's soul, Heaven
forever! We shall see going up to Heaven, in body and soul, that
father, that mother, that sister, that neighbor, who were here
with us, with whom we have lived, but whom we have not imitated;
while we shall go down body and soul to burn in Hell. The devils
will rush to overwhelm us. All the devils whose advice we followed
will come to torment us. My children, if you saw a man prepare a
great pile of wood, heaping up fagots one upon another, and when
you asked him what he was doing, he were to answer you, 'I am
preparing the fire that is to burn me,' what would you think? And
if you saw this same man set fire to the pile, and when it was
lighted throw himself upon it, what would you say? This is what we
do when we commit sin." (Catechism of the Cure of Ars)
"By
sin, man loses a twofold dignity, one in respect of God, the other
in respect of the Church. In respect of God he again loses a
twofold dignity. One is his principal dignity, whereby he was
counted among the children of God, and this he recovers by
Penance, which is signified (Luke 15) in the prodigal son, for
when he repented, his father commanded that the first garment
should be restored to him, together with a ring and shoes. The
other is his secondary dignity, viz. innocence, of which, as we
read in the same chapter, the elder son boasted saying (Luke
15:29): 'Behold, for so many years do I serve thee, and I have
never transgressed thy commandments': and this dignity the
penitent cannot recover. Nevertheless he recovers something
greater sometimes; because as Gregory says (Hom. de centum Ovibus,
Hom. 34 in Evangelia), 'those who acknowledge themselves to have
strayed away from God, make up for their past losses, by
subsequent gains: so that there is more joy in heaven on their
account, even as in battle, the commanding officer thinks more of
the soldier who, after running away, returns and bravely attacks
the foe, than of one who has never turned his back, but has done
nothing brave.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church
and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"There
is a difference between a sin committed by one who has the habit,
and a sin committed by habit: for it is not necessary to use a
habit, since it is subject to the will of the person who has that
habit. Hence habit is defined as being 'something we use when we
will'... And thus, even as it may happen
that one who has a vicious habit may break forth into a virtuous
act, because a bad habit does not corrupt reason altogether,
something of which remains unimpaired, the result being that a
sinner does some works which are generically good; so too it may
happen sometimes that one who has a vicious habit, acts, not from
that habit, but through the uprising of a passion, or again
through ignorance. But whenever he uses the vicious habit he must
needs sin through certain malice: because to anyone that has a
habit, whatever is befitting to him in respect of that habit, has
the aspect of something lovable, since it thereby becomes, in a
way, connatural to him, according as custom and habit are a second
nature. Now the very thing which befits a man in respect of a
vicious habit, is something that excludes a spiritual good: the
result being that a man chooses a spiritual evil, that he may
obtain possession of what befits him in respect of that habit: and
this is to sin through certain malice. Wherefore it is evident
that whoever sins through habit, sins through certain
malice." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Since
every sin is voluntary, ignorance can diminish sin, in so far as
it diminishes its voluntariness; and if it does not render it less
voluntary, it nowise alleviates the sin. Now it is evident that
the ignorance which excuses from sin altogether (through making it
altogether involuntary) does not diminish a sin, but does away
with it altogether. On the other hand, ignorance which is not the
cause of the sin being committed, but is concomitant with it,
neither diminishes nor increases the sin. Therefore sin cannot be
alleviated by any ignorance, but only by such as is a cause of the
sin being committed, and yet does not excuse from the sin
altogether. Now it happens sometimes that such like ignorance is
directly and essentially voluntary, as when a man is purposely
ignorant that he may sin more freely, and ignorance of this kind
seems rather to make the act more voluntary and more sinful, since
it is through the will's intention to sin that he is willing to
bear the hurt of ignorance, for the sake of freedom in sinning.
Sometimes, however, the ignorance which is the cause of a sin
being committed, is not directly voluntary, but indirectly or
accidentally...and this ignorance diminishes voluntariness and
consequently alleviates the sin. For when a thing is not known to
be a sin, the will cannot be said to consent to the sin directly,
but only accidentally; wherefore, in that case there is less
contempt, and therefore less sin." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history
of the Church")
"Christ,
God and Redeemer, as far as it pertained to the riches of His
goodness, offered the price of death for all, and because He, who
is the Savior of all, especially of the faithful, does not wish
anyone to perish, rich unto all who call upon him [Rom. 10:12]...
Now by the authority of the sacred witnesses, which are found in
great profusion through the extent of the Divine Scriptures, in
accordance with the doctrine of our elders made clear by reason, I
freely confess that Christ came also for the lost, because they
perished although He did not will [it]. For it is not right that
the riches of His boundless goodness and His divine benefits be
confined to those only who seem to have been saved. For if we say
that Christ extended assistance only to those who have been
redeemed, we shall seem to absolve the unredeemed, who, it is
established, had to be punished for having despised redemption. I
declare further that by reason and through the regular succession
of the centuries some have been saved by the law of grace, others
by the law of Moses, others by the law of nature, which God has
written in the hearts of all, in the expectation of the coming of
Christ; nevertheless from the beginning of the world, they were
not set free from the original slavery except by the intercession
of the sacred blood. I acknowledge, too, that the eternal fires
and the infernal flames have been prepared in advance for capital
deeds, because divine judgment, which they deservedly incur, who
have not believed these [truths] with their whole heart, justly
follows those who persist in human sins." (Council of Arles,
Letter of Submission of Lucidus, c. 475 A.D.)
"You
will begin most appropriately, and with hope of the greatest
profit, to recall men to the observance of the holy law of
fasting, if you teach the people this: penance for the Christian
man is not satisfied by withdrawing from sin, by detesting a past
life badly lived, or by the sacramental confession of these same
sins. Rather, penance also demands that we satisfy divine justice
with fasting, almsgiving, prayer, and other works of the spiritual
life. Every wrongdoing - be it large or small - is fittingly
punished, either by the penitent or by a vengeful God. Therefore
we cannot avoid God's punishment in any other way than by
punishing ourselves. If this teaching is constantly implanted in
the minds of the faithful, and if they drink deeply of it, there
will be very little cause to fear that those who have discarded
their degraded habits and washed their sins clean through
sacramental confession would not want to expiate the same sins
through fasting, to eliminate the concupiscence of the flesh.
Besides, consider the man who is convinced that he repents of his
sins more firmly when he does not allow himself to go unpunished.
That man, already consumed with the love of penance, will rejoice
during the season of Lent and on certain other days, when the
Church declares that the faithful should fast and gives them the
opportunity to bring forth worthy fruits of penance. After all, it
is always necessary to subdue concupiscence, for it is written,
'Do not follow behind your desires, and do not turn away from your
will.' Let the faithful easily turn their attention during this
most holy time of year to lessening the intemperance of the body
by fasting. In this way the soul might understand how it should
prepare itself to recall the holy mysteries of the passion, death,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ." (Pope Clement XIII, "Appetente
Sacro", 1759 A.D.)
"[T]he
primary gravity of a sin is derived from its object; so that a sin
is deemed to be so much the more grave, as its object is a more
principal end. But the principal ends of human acts are God, man
himself, and his neighbor: for whatever we do, it is on account of
one of these that we do it; although one of them is subordinate to
the other. Therefore the greater or lesser gravity of a sin, in
respect of the person sinned against, may be considered on the
part of these three. First, on the part of God, to Whom man is the
more closely united, as he is more virtuous or more sacred to God:
so that an injury inflicted on such a person redounds on to God
according to Zechariah 2:8: 'He that toucheth you, toucheth the
apple of My eye.' Wherefore a sin is the more grievous, according
as it is committed against a person more closely united to God by
reason of personal sanctity, or official station. On the part of
man himself, it is evident that he sins all the more grievously,
according as the person against whom he sins, is more united to
him, either through natural affinity or kindness received or any
other bond; because he seems to sin against himself rather than
the other, and, for this very reason, sins all the more
grievously, according to Ecclesiasticus 14:5: 'He that is evil to
himself, to whom will he be good?' On the part of his neighbor, a
man sins the more grievously, according as his sin affects more
persons: so that a sin committed against a public personage, e.g.
a sovereign prince who stands in the place of the whole people, is
more grievous than a sin committed against a private person; hence
it is expressly prohibited (Exodus 22:28): 'The prince of thy
people thou shalt not curse.' In like manner it would seem that an
injury done to a person of prominence, is all the more grave, on
account of the scandal and the disturbance it would cause among
many people." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"It is written (Deuteronomy 25:2):
'According to the measure of the sin, shall the measure also of
the stripes be.' Now, in contrition, the stripes are measured
according to the sins, because to contrition is united the purpose
of making satisfaction. Therefore contrition should be for one sin
more than for another. Further, man should be contrite for that
which he ought to have avoided. But he ought to avoid one sin more
than another, if that sin is more grievous... Therefore, in like manner, he ought to be
more sorry for one, viz. the more grievous, than for the other...
We may speak of contrition in two ways: first, in so far as it
corresponds to each single sin, and thus, as regards the sorrow in
the higher appetite, a man ought to be more sorry for a more
grievous sin, because there is more reason for sorrow, viz. the
offense against God, in such a sin than in another, since the more
inordinate the act is, the more it offends God. In like manner,
since the greater sin deserves a greater punishment, the sorrow
also of the sensitive part, in so far as it is voluntarily
undergone for sin, as the punishment thereof, ought to be greater
where the sin is greater. But in so far as the emotions of the
lower appetite result from the impression of the higher appetite,
the degree of sorrow depends on the disposition of the lower
faculty to the reception of impressions from the higher faculty,
and not on the greatness of the sin. Secondly, contrition may be
taken in so far as it is directed to all one's sins together, as
in the act of justification. Such contrition arises either from
the consideration of each single sin, and thus although it is but
one act, yet the distinction of the sins remains virtually
therein; or, at least, it includes the purpose of thinking of each
sin; and in this way too it is habitually more for one than for
another." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Against the background of what has been said so far, certain
other words of Jesus, shocking and disturbing ones, become easier
to understand. We might call them the words of 'unforgiveness.'
They are reported for us by the Synoptics in connection with a
particular sin which is called 'blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit.' This is how they are reported in their three versions:
Matthew: 'Whoever says a word against the Son of Man will be
forgiven but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be
forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.' Mark: 'All
sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies
they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never
has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.' Luke: 'Every
one who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but
he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.'
Why is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit unforgivable? How should
this blasphemy be understood ? St. Thomas Aquinas replies that it
is a question of a sin that is 'unforgivable by its very nature,
insofar as it excludes the elements through which the forgiveness
of sin takes place.' According to such an exegesis, 'blasphemy'
does not properly consist in offending against the Holy Spirit in
words; it consists rather in the refusal to accept the salvation
which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, working through
the power of the Cross... Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then,
is the sin committed by the person who claims to have a 'right' to
persist in evil - in any sin at all - and who thus rejects Redemption.
One closes oneself up in sin, thus making impossible one's
conversion, and consequently the remission of sins, which one
considers not essential or not important for one's life. This is a
state of spiritual ruin, because blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
does not allow one to escape from one's self-imposed imprisonment
and open oneself to the divine sources of the purification of
consciences and of the remission of sins." (Pope John Paul
II)
Also
See: Mortal
Sin | Mortal
/ Venial Sin | Original
Sin | Venial
Sin | The
Church Can Forgive All Sin (Coming Home Reflections) | Sin
/ Repentance / Forgiveness (Coming Home Reflections) | Sin
& Vice (Catholic Life Reflections) | Sin
& Vice (Q & A) | Penance
/ Confession (Sacraments Reflections) | Penance
/ Confession (Sacraments Section) | Now
is the Time for Repentance | Penance
| Repentance
| Commandments
| Concupiscence
| Forgiveness
| Indulgences
| The
Passion | Sacraments
Section Reflections | Prayers:
Sin / Sorrow for Sin / Mercy / Deliverance | Evil
/ Satan | Judgment
| Hell
/ Eternal Damnation | Purgatory
| Tough
Love in the New Testament | Sin
(Topical Scripture)
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