Horrified, Appalled, Disappointed

[Gordon Sims]

Originally Posted by Joannm

Does your friend know the state of your soul? Is it so hard to believe that a faithful Catholic has not committed a mortal sin in a long time?

He seems to think he does. The fact of the matter is, I've worked my tail off the last few years to get to where I am now, spiritually speaking, and I'm guessing that this is by far the longest I've gone without a mortal sin on conscience since I was a kid. I will note that having one baby and another arriving soon (not to mention 3 older kids) leaves me way too tired to even think about sinning, lol.

Perhaps your friend does not understand that 3 conditions are necessary for mortal sin to exist. Also, what does your friend consider a mortal sin? Some people think almost any sin is a mortal sin.

I think part of the problem is that he has a handful of sins he struggles with on a regular basis (by his own admission, not supposition on my part), and he assumes everyone is in the same boat. I try not to argue with him or even discuss these issues with him anymore, mainly because it's more productive to hit my thumb with a hammer.

But to answer the question you asked your friend, yes you can and should go to confession even if you only have venial sins as you get the grace of the sacrament.

I'm actually looking forward to Confession again since I enjoy the "clean slate" feeling afterward. I also know that my going encourages my family to go as well, so it's not something I would actually skip.

I do tend to agree with those who believe that a lot of people are taking Communion in a state of mortal sin. However, that decision is between them and God and not one I'm going to let bother me. To be honest, even though I know it's a mortal sin, I always take Communion even when I know I shouldn't. Part of it's habit, part of it's the fact that I had no idea it was a mortal sin until the last couple years, but a big part of it is the simple fact that it's embarrassing to sit there when everyone else is going up for Communion. (One positive, though, is that this is something I've gotten better at in recent weeks due to me having several occasions on which I went to Mass more than once in a day and opted to take care of the baby while my wife went up.)