What to do if you fall into any kind of sin?

10 religious articles of mine can be found here in manuscript format: Please Click Here - https://mothermary.website/CatholicInspirationsManuscript.pdf

The first step to avoiding sin and practicing virtue is to know what sin is. Sin is any transgression of willful thought, desire, word, action, or omission of action that violates the moral laws of God and His Holy Church that is contrary to the correct order and tranquility of things, to the proper usage of things in time and place with the purpose God intended for His creation and contrary to a perfect conformity with His Holy Will. Sin weakens, dulls and desensitizes the conscience, but with each act of virtue we strengthen our conscience, our will, and our ability to please, glorify, love and serve God.

If we judge ourselves as sinners in need of God's mercy, and in this manner, we shall not be judged primarily by the strict and severe Justice of God, that is, be condemned." (Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary) By accusing ourselves of our sins in Confession - in this manner we judge that we have sinned and again, that we are sinners in need of God's Mercy, grace and help to avoid sin and practice virtue.

We can not know absolutely for certain whether we are in the state of grace or are justified before the Lord - or even of our own salvation - but we can have moral certitude of approaching Holy Communion in the state of grace after confession - with humility, reverence and gratitude.

The three things necessary for a sin to be mortal are:
1) grave or serious matter of the sin
2) sufficient knowledge of the serious nature of such a sin
3) full consent of the will

For example, to knowingly reject the Magisterium [teaching authority] of the Catholic Church or one of its teachings is a grave and mortal sin. It is sufficient to have this disposition and attitude: "I firmly adhere to with my intellect and believe in all the truths that the Catholic Church teaches, even if I do not fully understand them, and accept and embrace the Church's Holy Mysteries."

Those souls that lack sufficient knowledge and understanding of the serious nature of rejecting even one teaching of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church are not guilty of mortal sin but are greatly deprived of a solid and the true Faith. Such a case would certainly be rare in today's information age but would apply to such souls that are in that circumstance.

For God always provides Sufficient Grace for salvation in each and every circumstance man may find himself in, for He Wills the salvation of all, though not all may cooperate with His grace. Those in the grace of justification or sanctifying grace are certainly in the bosom of the Catholic Church and will in due time [Purgatory] reach Heaven or those in the grace of justification or sanctifying grace who have reached spiritual perfection with no attachment to any kind of sin, venial or mortal, at the time of death will go straight to Heaven which is very rare.

Only those guilty of one un-repented mortal sin without sufficient contrition for all sins committed after their death and just judgment deserve the eternal punishments of hell. (Summa) If one of these three things necessary for a sin to be mortal is sufficiently lacking – then that soul is guilty of a venial sin – and not guilty of a mortal sin and therefore not deserving of the eternal punishments of hell. We should be universally sorry for all of our actual sins.

If we have the misfortune of committing a mortal sin and we are beginning to despair – we should remind ourselves of the goodness and mercy of Our Lord – make a good, sincere and perfect act of contrition – loving God more than the fear of punishment - having contrition and sorrow for having offended God – as a temporary band-aid of reconciliation - and go to or at least want to receive the sacrament of confession/penance - (if it is not available or obtainable – for God does not ask the impossible). If we are beginning to presume in God's mercy after falling into mortal sin – we should remind ourselves – that a presumptuous prideful expectation of God's mercy is against the virtue of hope and we should rather recall to mind that "where eternal life is at stake – we can never be to sure of it" - and hope for God's mercy – that we are in no way deserving of. (1 Thessalonians 5:8, Psalms 146:11, Wisdom 12:22)

We should never ever give up but get right back up from our falls, and again, make a perfect act of contrition which is to have more love for God than the fear of punishment, ask for God's grace, and persevere with determination having zeal and fervor. In this way we reconcile ourselves with God and gain His friendship - but we must have the intention of going to confession/penance at our earliest convenience.

Catechism of Pope Saint Pius X, The Sacrament of Penance, Penance in General

38 Q. What is perfect sorrow or contrition?
A. Perfect sorrow is a grief of soul for having offended God because He is infinitely good and worthy of being loved for His own sake.

41 Q. Why does perfect sorrow or contrition produce the effect of restoring us to the grace of God?
A. Perfect sorrow or contrition produces this effect, because it proceeds from charity which cannot exist in the soul together with sin.

The Blessed Eucharist The Nature of This Sacrament — The Real Presence

35 Q. What should one who knows that he is in mortal sin do before receiving Communion?

A. One who knows that he is in mortal sin must make a good confession before going to Holy Communion, for even an act of perfect contrition is not enough without confession to enable one who is in mortal sin to receive Holy Communion properly.

Act of Contrition: O my God – I am with all my heart sorry for having offended Thee - and I detest all of my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of hell – but most of all because – they – my sins – have offended Thee – my God – Who are all good and deserving of all my love – I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen.

We should neither despair of God's Justice nor presume in or expect God's Mercy [sins against the Holy Ghost], but hope for salvation and for the forgiveness of all our sins through the tender love and mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

- 1 Thessalonians 5:8 "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, having on the breast plate of faith and charity and, for a helmet, * the hope of salvation. *"
- Psalms 146:11 "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him: and in them * that hope in his mercy. *"
- Wisdom 12:22 "Therefore whereas thou chastisest us, thou scourgest our enemies very many ways, to the end that when we judge we may think on thy goodness: * and when we are judged, we may hope for thy mercy. *"

Based on the Baltimore Catechism #3:

The two kinds of contrition are perfect and imperfect contrition. Perfect contrition fills us with sorrow and detestation of sin because we have offended God who is infinitely good and worthy and deserving of all our love. Perfect contrition will obtain pardon for mortal sin when we can not receive the Sacrament of Penance with the intention, resolve and will to receive this Sacrament of the dead.

Imperfect contrition or attrition is detesting sin because by it we deserve hell and lose Heaven. Imperfect contrition alone will not save us but is at least needed to make a worthy Confession. We should ask Our Lord for perfect contrition that will fill us with greater and pure love of Him for the sake of Our Lord - to reach eternal salvation - greater than the fear of punishments that befall our own self. In our acts of contrition we should aspire to have a firm and sincere purpose of amendment with the intention of sinning no more – avoiding all near occasions that lead us into sin - along with avoiding all venial and mortal sins.

Saint Thomas teaches in the Summa that nothing but an [un-repented] mortal sin deserves the eternal punishment of hell. We are culpable for knowing what constitutes a mortal sin, a serious offense against God, and what separates us from Him, through study of the articles and teachings of the deposit of Faith, for example those expressed in the Apostle’s Creed and a good solid Catechism – based on these truths that were available and from our level of effort to understand and acquire them.

We are also culpable for knowing how to love and serve God in virtue. We are culpable and responsible in knowing these teachings of the Church from what teachings were available to us, and our effort and ability to acquire and understand the teachings of the Church. Study of good catechisms, enriched with the good examples of the lives of the Saints, devotion to them and the Angels will greatly assist us. It is sufficient for a soul to believe in all that the Church teaches through her teaching authority, the Magisterium, without knowing and understanding every teaching.

What we believe determines our actions. Therefore it so very important that we inform and allow our conscience to be educated properly – according to the teachings of the Catholic Church – otherwise the result is chaos and anarchy.

Temptations are contrary to our conscience and are permitted by God to enable us to exercise our free-will. Some temptations can be quite vivid, intense, fierce, and can be protracted and last for some time, but temptations should not disturb us, but rather, we must let them go and drift away as a pebble that is dropped to the bottom of an ocean, as a forgotten memory, and see temptation as an opportunity to practice virtue. When tempted, one very good thing to do is to * pray to and ask Mother Mary for help * and if the temptation is strong, we should pray three Hail Marys, each in honor of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Because of the constant changing state of the present moment in time which depends on past moments as well as numerous choices constantly being presented to our free–will, emotions are also constantly causing movements in our inner most intentions and motivations both of which comprise the inner dispositions of our soul towards God and our fellow man. We should allow our emotions to move us towards virtue. When they are inclined to move us towards sin or vice we should rely on our intellect and reason and not act against either. It is wise to delay making an important decision when affected by a combination of bodily weakness through excess fatigue and/or hunger or when experiencing an emotion moving us contrary to virtue such as bitterness, frustration, irritation, aggravation or anger. We should also avoid making promises when we are overly elated and happy.

Love is not based on feelings and emotions but is primarily an act of the "will". Everything is in the "will". When our feelings do not apparently cooperate with the good spiritual life we want to live, we need to use our God-given "will", pray and make sacrificial offerings again, with our "will". Our spiritual life should not be about "feeling" good but should be about being good.

There are those who sincerely do not know the content of the law, although they may be few, obey their conscience and try to do God's Will the best they can. For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these, having not the law, are a law to themselves. Who shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them: and their thoughts between themselves accusing or also defending one another" (Romans Chapter 2:14-15 - Saint Paul) Such souls receive the grace of justification, are friends of God and are on their way to Heaven.

It so happens that these souls who possess only the natural law - obey and cooperate with their innate God given conscience and cooperate with Sufficient Grace participate in the Divine Life, are friends of God (the smallest of flowers in the field – and yet still a flower of the field) – "with only the Natural Law to guide him; and it is to hearts such as these that He [God] stoops." (St. Therese of the little flower).

"Wherefore the Law Indeed is Holy: and the Commandment Holy and Just and Good." (Romans 7:12) If we had nothing to guide our conscience then we would have nothing to follow and thus making it much more difficult if not impossible to reach eternal salvation and life. The commandments of God and His Holy Church are the guide to our conscience and to eternal salvation. "The law of his God is in his heart..." (Psalms 36:31 - King David) An exhortation to the practice of virtue - "My son, forget not my law, and let thy heart keep my commandments ... Let not mercy and truth leave thee, put them about thy neck, and write them in the tables of thy heart. And thou shalt find grace, and good understanding before God..." (Proverbs 3:1-4)

Where we have doubt as to whether something we have done or not done is a sin - we give all that to the Lord who knows us perfectly and completely and humbly ask for enlightenment to know God and self better - being at peace knowing that we are doing our best to love and serve God. God knows perfectly and completely our sins, the state of our soul and our inner dispositions before God and men.

When does something become a sin?

The answer to this question is actually very comforting. In one sense temptations are necessary for our own good and that of our eternal salvation. You may ask - how can this be? If every choice or option that we have is good then we are not exercising our free-will here on earth. In the Old Testament we are told that nothing and no-one can resist the Infinite Majesty of God. In other words if at the very moment of our creation - we had the Beatific Vision - that is we could see God face-to-face and perceive God as He Is - then we would be no better than an inanimate object or a machine doing only that which is programmed in it to do. And so for mankind on earth to truly exercise free will - the ability to choose between two or more options - it is necessary that one or more of those options be bad and not according to God's Will. You may ask - again - how can that be? Saint Augustine said to the affect - that God created us without our cooperation and He can not save us without our cooperation. And so we see that God placed Adam and Eve in a set of circumstances where eating of the forbidden fruit would be bad and not in accordance to God's Will. What God wants from us is a child-like dependence on Him - and to rely on Him and His Church to know what is good from what is bad.

And so it is clear in the Our Father - that we are to ask God to lead us Not into temptation but deliver us from evil. We should avoid all the near occasions of sin to the best of our ability - by avoiding any person, place or thing that will lead us away from God and sin. Saint Francis of Assisi taught us that temptations not consented to is actually a form of practicing virtue and very pleasing to God. So every temptation that we do not consent to or agree to with our will - actually pleases God, strengthens our conscience and better enables us to know, love and serve God and neighbor here on earth. Only if we fully consent to with our will - to a temptation - is when something becomes a sin. And so - if we immediately or even almost immediately resist and renounce all temptations as those bad thoughts enter our minds - then we have not sinned and have not fully consented to with our will to such temptations. And even if we partially consent to with our will to a temptation - that is a venial sin - and if that happens we ask God to forgive us and grant us grace to move our will and strengthen the faculties of our soul to resist that which is bad and displeasing to God in the future. It is only when we fully consent to a sin and actually commit that sin that it becomes sinful.

One really good way to avoid near occasions of sin, resist temptations and in a certain sense be free from them, is to always keep ourselves occupied in some productive activity or even enjoy a little recreation from time to time. And so - God simply does Not ask the impossible from us - and always gives sufficient grace and a way out of every bad situation over time - as we perseveringly and with patient endurance carry our cross daily and rejoice in the goodness and mercy of the Lord - for He wills what is best for us and keeps us on the straight and narrow in this pilgrimage on earth to Heaven.

One of the most comforting and encouraging truths of the Faith, is that in God the Father’s Divine Providence, His loving care for us, God always provides Sufficient Grace and a way out in each and every circumstance man may find himself in, for He Wills the salvation of all, though not all may cooperate with His grace. Christ’s redemption is for all men, but only His fruits are applied to the salvation of many.