21. Sin, Grace & Virtue

It is not easy to summarize such themes as sin and grace. I will resort to the shortcut of lists. Sin and grace epitomize the entire life struggle of the human family. Not only are we born into a sinful condition (original sin) and touched by its consequences; so too are we culpable for adding our own transgressions to that primordial disobedience. In response to the reality of sin, God has not remained passive. Through the gift of Jesus, we are offered liberation from sin in baptism, receiving sanctifying grace and-- through the other sacraments and our general relationship to God and to his Church-- we receive the actual or helping graces to live out the new life for which we are called. If sin can be defined as selfishness and disobedience; then grace can be interpreted as God's gift of his divine love and life. This grace is made available for those who would have selfless and obedient hearts. By the presence of God's Spirit, grace is given as a gratuity from God. This grace forgives sins and transforms the person ever more and more into the likeness of Christ. This last point is important because from baptism on, as new Christs, we are made more lovable and able to love others in Christian witness. A person who is in God's good graces partakes in the supernatural life of in the love and life of God himself. Filled with optimistic hope, this person lives with his sights on heaven. Sin would break off this relationship with God as well as with others. If love unites, sin divides. Sin disrupts our harmony in ourselves (frustrating ourselves from within) and with others (causing shame and division from without).

Chief Effects of Sanctifying Grace:

1. It sanctifies and makes us pleasing to God;

2. We become adopted sons and daughters of God;

3. Our persons become temples of the Holy Spirit; and

4. We become inheritors of the kingdom of heaven.

Effects of Actual Grace:

1. It enlightens our minds to God's will; and

2. It strengthens our wills to avoid evil and to do good.

Virtue

Supernatural grace also offers us an assortment of supernatural powers--

A. Theological Virtues:

1. Faith - We believe all the revealed truths simply because God said so, no matter how seemingly impossible.

2. Hope - We firmly trust that God will be faithful to his promises to us and will in his mercy give us the means toward and the reality of obtaining perfect happiness with him.

3. Charity - We love God unconditionally and above all other persons or things, for his own sake. Also, as a consequence of this love of God, we love our neighbor as ourselves.

B. Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: (Making us alert and preparing us to follow God.)

1. Wisdom - Enables us to judge correctly of the things of God.

2. Understanding - Gives us insight into the mysteries of faith by which we are to live.

3. Counsel - Enlightenment, especially on practical matters.

4. Fortitude - Gives us Christlike courage to love God in the face of all.

5. Knowledge - Enables us to see God reflected in all creatures, praising and desiring only him in them.

6. Piety - We are attracted to reverence God as our Father and all others as his children.

7. Fear of the Lord - Great awe and reverence for Christ which keeps us from offending him by sin.

C. Effects in Us from the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, and chasity.

D. Moral Virtues: (Disposing us to lead a moral life.)

CARDINAL VIRTUES - like "hinges" from the Latin "cardo," all the other moral virtues hang upon these--

1. Prudence - disposes us to make right judgments;

2. Justice - disposes us to give each their due;

3. Fortitude - disposes us to do good despite trouble;

4. Temperance - disposes us to control desires and to correctly use things which please the senses.

OTHER MORAL VIRTUES--

1. Filial Piety and Patriotism - disposes us to honor, love, and respect nation and family;

2. Obedience - disposes us to follow superiors;

3. Veracity - disposes us to truthfulness;

4. Liberality - disposes us to use worldly goods wisely;

5. Patience - disposes us to bear trials;

6. Humility - disposes us to acknowledge limitations; and

7. Purity - disposes us to chastity, etc.

Examples of Virtues Reaffirmed in Scripture:

Romans 14:17 - Kingdom of God is a matter of justice, peace, and joy.

1 Colossians 13:4-7 - Patience, kindness, humility, politeness, selfishness, forgiveness, forbearance, trust, and hope.

Galatians 5:22-23 - Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness, chastity, and self-control.

Ephesians 4:32-5:6 - Kindness, compassion, mutual forgiveness, following the way of love, and giving thanks.

Grace

Many years ago, the religious writer, Karl Adam, wrote an introductory book on Catholicism in which he caused a little unwarranted controversy by reminding Catholics that although the action of the Holy Spirit belongs properly to the Church, the grace of God is not limited to it. Indeed, it is even by the grace of God that one is moved from unbelief to belief initially. God acts where he wills. This being the case, many of the graces of God may have fruit even outside the visible confines of the Church. Having said this, it needs to be mentioned that the grace of God draws us all to greater unity as well as to holiness and that this reality is most manifest in his Church which strives for sanctity and which embraces peoples the world over. Grace is God's gift to keep us from despairing in the face of sin. Where ever sin abounds, the gift of grace can subdue it. There is nothing which can ultimately conquer the grace of God. It makes what seems impossible, possible.

Sin

In reference to the flip-side of grace and virtue, there is the harsh reality of sin.

Internal Sins:

1. Morose Delectation - complacency in regards to a sinful object offered by the imagination;

2. Sinful Joy - voluntary complacency in an accomplished evil deed, by ourselves or others; and

3. Evil Desire - longing to do something forbidden.

Deadly Sins:

1. Pride - esteeming ourselves as more than we are and desiring to be treated as such;

2. Covetousness - strong desire for possessions, especially of another;

3. Lust - desire for unlawful bodily pleasure;

4. Envy - willful discontent or resentment, consented to, at another's good fortune;

5. Gluttony - overeating or drinking;

6. Anger - strong feeling of displeasure, often resulting in loss of temper; and

7. Sloth or Accidie - laziness that causes neglect of duty.

Catalogues of Sins from the Scriptures for Christians to Avoid:

Mark 7:21-22 - From the heart comes evil ideas which lead to immoral things or evil things; theft, murder, adultery, greed, deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly.

Wisdom 14:25-26 - Murder, robbery, corruption, faithlessness, disorder, falsehood, harassment of innocent people, ingratitude, moral decay, sexual perversion, broken marriages, . . . .

Romans 1:29-32 - Wickedness, vice, jealousy, fighting, malice, speaking evil of another, insolence, pride, boastfulness, disobedience to parents, having no conscience, not keeping promises, and showing no kindness or pity.

1 Colossians 5:11; 6:9 - Greed, worship of false gods, slander, drunkenness, stealing, adultery, and homosexual perversion.

Other sins can be determined by looking at transgressions against the ten commandments, disregard for the law of love, reflecting upon the opposites to the virtues, discerning what might be violations of the natural harmonies and laws, any disobedience against just laws (civil or ecclesial), etc. Sins against the theological virtues include these:

Against Faith:

1. Direct denial of faith by words, signs, or actions;

2. Lack of faith or infidelity; and

3. Defection from faith or apostasy.

Against Hope:

1. No desire to possess God as final happiness;

2. Giving up hope of salvation in despair; and

3. Trusting too much in one's own strength or in presumption of God's will in reference to something he will not do.

Against Charity:

1. Failure by necessity of means to make an act of love to God;

2. Failure at the age of reason of making an act of love to God and/or returning to a state of grace. One must make frequent acts of love throughout life;

3. Hatred of God is a direct violation;

4. Hatred of self or the other extreme of egoism are sins against charity;

5. Failure to love our neighbor, including enemies (enmity), and failure to forgive them;

6. Refusal to give customary signs of forgiveness;

7. Failure to help another in need (act of charity);

8. Failure to offer fraternal correction;

9. Seduction or inducing another to sin;

10. Offering scandal to others in unbecoming words or conduct, or good actions with only the appearance of evil;

11. Formal cooperation in a sinful action; and

12. Material cooperation as in concurrence in or preparation for an evil deed.

Degrees of Sin & Our Growing Identity

As previously mentioned, mortal sin is traditionally understood as a violation of the divine law in a grievous matter with full knowledge and consent. This sort of sin denotes a rejection of God's grace and the offer of salvation. Modern work in psychology has challenged whether or not an individual can always clearly commit such a sin since factors like ignorance, habit, immaturity, drug abuse, a worldly milieu, etc. can drastically affect the culpability of the person. Also, there has arisen an understanding of the human person, not so much in terms of isolated events, but as an individual molding his or her identity in the continuing process of making life's choices. Certain theologians, like Fr. Bernard Haring, have thus coined a new term, "fundamental option," which refers to the many sins and virtues in one's life which orientate the person either negatively away from God or positively toward him. The process or journey, so to speak, is not resolved until death. Whether or not all aspects of his proposal can be assimilated into the older conceptualization is unclear. It would seem to me that a person might still be able to give the full measure of himself, for good or evil, in a single act. Of course, whether a person has committed one mortal sin or a dozen, is all rather academic-- even in the older way of reckoning. One death sentence or twelve, it is still the same and hell just as terrible.

Certain acts might be judged as ALWAYS objectively wrong, but because of extenuating factors, not always sinful. Other acts might be so serious that they would always constitute sin in conscious human persons; however, the gravity would be measured in terms of their knowledge and free responsibility. We should do everything possible to avoid a serious "subjective" mortal sin. The confessor, unable to read another's soul, is often unable to definitively determine from a grocery list of sins whether or not a person is damned or not. Fundamental option theories cannot be used as an escape from culpability, either. After a lifetime of selfish manipulation, it would be highly unlikely, although not impossible, for a person to cease being evil prior to death. Being creatures of habit, we are molded by our acceptance or rejection of grace-- in lives of grace or of vice. God-willing, we will develop the good habits called virtues which nurture us in sanctity. This touches upon why lesser or venial sins are not a matter to be dismissed lightly. A lifetime filled with such petty transgressions, as the sum totals up, create a sinful person of no little depravity. The irony which makes it difficult to distinguish good people from evil ones is that bad people sometimes, almost in spite of themselves, do good things; and good people, once in awhile, do bad things. The two kingdoms are mixed and it will not be until the Judgment Day that we will be able to distinguish who is clearly in which.

Sin & Choice

Even wicked people do not choose directly what they see as evil. They select what appears to be good to them. Consequently, the bank robber, who kills three people to get some extra cash, views the money as an overriding good, if only for himself. He may care little or nothing for the tactics he uses or for the deprivation he causes others. He has deluded himself by seeking that which is only an apparent good. Not only should we avoid breaking the commandments, but the Christian understanding here is that the violation of another for some personal ends cannot be tolerated and is evil. Many have numbed their consciences in regard to terrible violations of the moral law. Does the drug dealer really care about the addict or is he just a cash cow? Is the substitution of unconditional tolerance for the judgment of the Gospel really in the best "eternal" interests of active homosexuals? What kind of love is it that would sacrifice a beloved's sanctity before God and the Church so that they might play house and fornicate prior to marriage? Where is trust, mutual respect for their persons, and an openness to new life-- when the wife is made to pop contraceptive pills like candy? How can a nation allow 4,000 abortions a day and then say that human rights are a real priority? Sin is all around us-- it is always linked to human selfishness. We must not be afraid to name it and claim it. Only then can we repent from it and ask God to assist us in changing our lives.

In the history of sin, there have been many variations on the theme of selfishness. Sin is the violation of the rightful good of another for some selfish end (like stealing money). It may be the violation of either an ecclesial law (like not keeping fast days) or of divine law (like violating the commandments). It can also be the infringement of a natural law by desiring and doing something in perversion to human nature (homosexuality, beastiality, pedophilia, etc.). Further, sin may be constituted by the desire and/or the act by which something which would ordinarily be good is bad because we are not entitled to it (as in a single person having sexual relations with another of the opposite sex). Taking to excess something which is good is also sinful (lust or gluttony). Attaching some deprivation to a good thing may be sinful, too (as in starving ourselves or violating justice in marriage by refusing the marriage bed).

We can sin, not only by deed, but in thought, in word, and in the things we should have done, but failed to do. When former President Carter mentioned lust in his heart, he was echoing an ancient understanding that sin begins inside of us. If we want to perform an impure act or violate the rights of another, then even the plotting and desiring of it constitutes sin. The Lord wants us totally converted to him-- body, heart, mind, and soul.