March 26, 2023

CHRISTIAN
LIFE
 WHAT IS SIN?

Sin in Greek word is "hamartia" which means "to miss the mark"

Sin is:

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

• rejecting God, our Creator and Lord, and our own true selves and
others; and
• breaking God's loving covenant with us (CFC 762)
According to Saint Augustine

Sin is an utterance, a deed or a desire contrary to the eternal law of God.

(CFC 762)

The Old Testaments presents three basic ideas on what we call

sin;
A. Missing the mark - When we offend God, ourselves, and others by
failing to meet our covenant relationship.
B. Perversity - means that there is a defect and disorder in our
character, when we stubbornly disobey God's commandments.

C. Rebellion and transgression - when we choose to do what is evil

in God's sight and destroy our relationship with him and with
others. (CFC 766).
 What is sense of sin?

Sense of sin is when we recognize in ourselves the tendency to

sin and acknowledge ourselves as sinners when we have done
evil.

Jesus Christ liberates us form our sinfulness and call us to

overcome the reality of personal sin and sinful structures in
our lives.
• Today this sense of sin has been weakened by secularism and
consumerism. Through radio, tv, and cinema, we continually
face so many examples of bribery and corruption in business
and government, cheating in family life and lying in personal
relationships, that we often rationalize: "Anyway, everybody
does it," or "Anyway, it is already accepted in the society
(CFC 763-764)
 What are the different kinds of sin?

There are many kinds of sins. Saint Paul in his letter to the Galatians
enumerates these sins: fornication, impurity, idolatry, sorcery, strife,
jealousy, anger, selfishness, fractions, envy, drunkenness, carousing,
and the like.

Saint Matthew in his gospel enumerates some sin: murder, adultery,

theft, fornication, false witness, slander. (CFC 1852- 1853).
 What is gravity of sin?

Sins are distinguished according to their gravity. Mortal Sin is a

grievous offense against God. It is mortal or deadly because it
removes from us sanctifying grace.

When we commit mortal sin it destroy love in our hearts by a

grace violation of God's law; it turns us away from God.
There are three (3) conditions for a sin to be mortal

• Grave matter - as enumerated by ten (10) Commandments: do not

kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness;
do not defraud; etc. It is thought, desire, word, actions, or omission
that is seriously wrong.

• Full knowledge - When we fully know the serious wrong we have

done.
• Complete Consent- When we do the sin with our own free will and
with our own deliberate personal choice. We commit a grave sin
when there is great malice.

Mortal Sin separates us from God and removes from us his grace. It
excludes us from Christ's kingdom and bring us to eternal death of hell.
(CCC 18540- 1861, My Catholic Faith).
Venial Sin is a less serious offense against God which does not deprive
our soul of sanctifying grace and which can be pardoned even without
sacramental confession.
• The word Venial comes from Latin which means "easily pardonable"

• We commit venial sin when the evil we have done is not seriously
wrong, or when it is done at the spur of the moment, or without
giving our full consent. Examples of venial sins are grumbling,
impatience, slight, faultfinding, lies that harm nobody, sudden
outburst of anger which insults a companion. (My Catholic Faith)
 CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

We believe that God is merciful and forgives our sins. In the beginning,
even if our first parents disobeyed God, he never abandoned them but
instead promised to send a Savior. Throughout our history, God always
manifests his merciful love by providing what is best for us. We believe
that Jesus Christ is the fullest revelation of God's mercy to sinners. In
Jesus Christ, we have experienced God's forgiving love.
• In the Gospels, we have learned how Jesus restored to wholeness the
persons who were repentant of their sins: Mary Magdalene, from
whom seven devils were cast out; the adulterous woman; the
paralytic man who was able to walk again; the Samaritan woman;
Zacchaeus, the tax collector; Simon Peter, and the thief hanging on
the cross. (CCC 1846- 1848).
CHRISTIAN CELEBRATION

• The enduring understanding of this lesson are: as human beings, sin

is a reality in our life; that we need to repent and be sorrowful for all
the sins that we have committed; that we need God's mercy and
forgiveness for He love, then we can grow in holiness.
• Throughout the sacraments of reconciliation, we experienced
God's mercy and forgiveness. We are reconciled back to God with
our fellow human beings. We are at peace with ourselves as we
strive to do penance for all the sins that we have done. (CCC 1423-
1430).

• Through we may be young, let us open our eyes to the ugliness of

sin that brings onto our relationships: sin separates us not only
from God but also our very being and from others. Sin breaks the
bond of friendship and love that unites the human family.