In Memoriam: Mortal Sin by Monsignor Anthony La Femina

Essay: Mortal Sin

Introduction by Matthew J Bellisario 2020

Here is my third installment of ' In Memoriam of Monsignor Anthony La Femina'. This is another of the theological papers I was given by my friend the late Monsignor Anthony La Femina who went on to his eternal reward on Dec 27th, 2019 on the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist. 

Monsignor was very concerned about the direction the Church has been heading in our time. He was saddened to see how far Catechesis had degenerated in the average Catholic parish. That the Church's teachings concerning original sin, heaven, hell, divorce and remarriage, and others were being undermined by those in the hierarchy with little opposition bothered him immensely. This is why he chose to go into the average parish once a month or so to offer conferences and holy hours. In our day and age, many Catholics do not take seriously the gravity of mortal sin. This paper was originally used as a talk for a parish. I left in the text his bold letter typing which he used to emphasize certain theological points. 

Monsignor always said in regard to our unavoidable earthly departure and judgment, "We must always be cramming for final exams... I think of death often" and "when God comes to get you he comes to get you on His time and not ours." The point he always made to me was that yes God offers us mercy but he does not offer us unlimited time to ask for it. 

In true Monsignor prose, he points out the errors of Luther and contrasts them to the truth of the Catholic faith regarding grace and sanctification. The message here is that we must always be sure that no matter what goes on in our lives that we never intentionally commit a mortal sin, and if we do fall into mortal sin we must go right to the confessional as soon as possible! 

"The person with a true faith knows that the worse possible evil in this world is mortal sin, both with respect to God whom it gravely offends and the sinner who is condemned to eternal fire if dying impenitent."  (Monsignor Anthony La femina)

MORTAL SIN

 By Monsignor Anthony La Femina

PROBLEM

The Venerable Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) said: "The greatest sin of our generation is that it has lost all sense of sin”. The blushing from shame has practically vanished from our culture. Abortion, euthanasia, free sex, concubinage, sodomy, gender manipulation and sacrilegious Communions, are only very few monstrosities accepted and lauded by our generation.

God created us to know, love and serve Him on this earth to be happy with Him forever in heaven. For this purpose, He offers us His greatest gift: Sanctifying Grace.  This gift makes us holy and pleasing to God because by it He gives us to share in the very Sonship of His Son who became incarnate and suffered a died. By this grace we are brought into the very unity of the Trinity Thus, through the operation of the Spirit God is truly Father to those who have sanctifying grace, but only to them through their relation to his Son. Jesus’ Sacrifice was necessary because of the Original Sin and everyone’s personal sins. Heaven was consequently closed, but it was once again made accessible through the Sacrifice of Jesus, made present at the Consecration of every Mass.

Our first parents were created in a loving filial relationship with Almighty God through the gift of sanctifying grace.  However, they lost this gift along with the many other preternatural gifts for themselves and their posterity to whom they were intended to pass on their gifts by way of generation. The Church teaches us that human nature was wounded by Original Sin.

On the other hand, Martin Luther taught that human nature was completely corrupted. Martin Luther, a fallen-away priest, and monk taught that after the Fall human nature was so completely corrupted that mankind could not avoid grave sin. His solution for the salvation of mankind was simply a dead faith, a faith which did not require good works. He taught: “Sin boldly, but believe more boldly”.  Man could only be saved by believing that he is saved by Christ through a faith without good works. For Luther and all Protestants, there is no internal sanctity, no transfiguration and transformation by sanctifying grace that makes a person holy and pleasing to God in the likeness of His Son. To put it bluntly, Luther and his followers taught that men in the heavenly court are simply piles of dung covered over by the blood of Jesus. Luther thus lost not only the knowledge of the gravity of sin, how it offends a loving God, and the knowledge and consequences of divine justice, but, most importantly, he also lost the knowledge and fear of the infinitely awesome holiness of God. With the loss of the fear of God and his infinite holiness, there is no real impediment to the temptations of the devil to pleasing oneself and leading an independent life from God and His commandments.

The Church teaches that while human nature is wounded by Original Sin, it is not corrupted. When teaching that human nature is wounded, the Church means that all the children of Adam, with the exception of Mary by the special grace of the Immaculate Conception, were wounded in the two operating faculties of the soul, the intellect and will. The mind became darkened to the things of God and the will became weakened for doing good and avoiding evil.

It goes without saying that the devil does all he can to lie and convince mankind that mortal sin is no big deal. But mortal sin has its consequences, both supernatural and natural. Instead, the devil will use a false notion of God’s infinite mercy to delude the sinner.

What is Mortal Sin?

1. Mortal sin is the refusal to follow one or more of the Commandments of God or his Church. It consists in a break with the will of God’s plan for each of us and results in breaking filial relations with God. The person who commits mortal sin put God out of their lives in order to do what is pleasing to themselves rather than to Him. They want to lead their own lives apart from God. This is what happened in the Garden of Eden with our first parents.

How does one know that he or she loves God? Jesus has clearly answered this question:

“If you love me, keep my commandments.” Jn 14:15

“If I do not wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”  Jn 13:9

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."  Matthew 12:50

It is only by avoiding mortal sin that one may remain in God’s fatherly love and covenant family. By mortal sin, man subtracts him/herself from God.

We must remember that the sinner is always loved by God until his/her case is closed by final impenitence and death. No grace of forgiveness is given after death.  It is not that God has ceased to love in the case of mortal sin, but rather the sinner who has ceased to love, honor and obey God.

2. The refusal to fulfill God’s commandment(s) has a theological malice that can be due to either of two factors:

a) a theological hate for God and what pertains to Him.

b) human weakness.

We must note that this refusal, whether from hate of God or human weakness, results in a complete break with God.  Naturally, one is more serious than the other, but a mortal sin, no matter its cause, is a terrible sin and merits hellfire for all eternity. One might tend to excuse one’s self because a mortal sin is due to human weakness. But that thought is clearly from the devil whose goal is to minimize God’s importance in our lives.

God knows well the weakness of human nature and that is why he instituted baptism and the sacrament of penance, especially for the forgiveness of mortal sin after baptism.  However, penance is not an excuse for human weakness.  It offers the possibility for man to conquer the tempting’s of the devil and to completely eradicate moral sin in the Christian life order to live in continuous union with our Triune Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is only living in this familial union that permits entrance into eternal life.

3. What would be an example of what one does by committing a mortal sin?

What one does by mortal sin can be compared to this:

Two persons seem to be in a loving relationship and are enjoying a meal together.  All of a sudden (either because overcome with hate for the friend or because he wants to be rid of his friend for his own selfish reasons} one screams at his friend: Get out of my house and my life!! That’s putting it very simply but honestly what one does by mortal sin in his relationship with God. 

The person with a true faith knows that the worse possible evil in this world is mortal sin, both with respect to God whom it gravely offends and the sinner who is condemned to eternal fire if dying impenitent.  

God has promised the grace of repentance, but he has never promised time to repent.  Mortal sin must be repented of immediately and with the intention of completely eradicating it forever from one’s life.

St. Paul warns us, especially in our age so inclined to listen to the devil’s lies. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men… Therefore, God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts to impurity. To the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.  Who is blessed forever! Amen.  For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions.  Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.  And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice.  … Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.”  (Romans 1: 18-32)

The Catholic life should be one of a constant loving filial relationship with our Triune Lord.  This relationship should have, with the grace of God, prayer, sacrifice and the use of the Sacraments, completely eradicated mortal sin. The filial relationship with God must be a constant one, that is not interrupted by mortal sin but lives in love, devotion and obedience to God.

St. Paul warns that if the person does not repent God will allow that person to continue in sin and long for it. Once one becomes accustomed to sin repentance becomes almost impossible. The sinner has, like the devils, redefined the reality of what is good and evil.  Evil becomes for the sinner a most urgent and desirable “good”, and doing good becomes an evil.

4. The attacks of the devil to lead a soul into mortal sin and, finally, to eternal damnation.  How does he attack?

The tactics of the devil are unrelenting and because of this everyone must be constantly on guard.  St. Peter tells us that the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  We must resist him with prayer, sacrifice and the use of the Sacraments.

The particular ways the devil tempts each person are in accordance with the weaknesses of human nature and the particular weaknesses of the individual, especially due to past sins.  He does this by inciting the passions and the remembrance of past sins.  One must pray to be delivered from the evils, both past, present, and future so as to never become slaves of one’s own desires.

The most basic mode of the devil’s attacks upon humanity are the pleasures of the flesh and the senses. Humans are most prone to these sins. The devil does not have to search far to cause man to fall.  Thus, it is especially in this field that everyone must give special attention. Complete openness to one’s confessor and frequent confession are most important because the devil prefers to work in secrecy and in the dark. He is the prince of darkness. The devil seeks to inculcate vices which are bad habits that incline one to sin effortlessly. On the other hand, virtues are those habits which make a person obey God with ease.

5. What must be done to avoid mortal sin?

It is imperative to avoid all occasions and persons who are near occasions of mortal sin. One must keep close watch over one’s passions. This means that there are no persons excluded from this, no matter how close they have seemed or what they might have done for us. Our Lord made this clear in Matthew 10:37-39: “He that loves father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loves son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that takes not up his cross, and follow me, is not worthy of me. He that finds his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it.

St. Louis IX, King of France, led an exemplary life, bearing constantly in mind his mother's words: "I would rather see you dead at my feet than guilty of a mortal sin."

The last words of St. Louis as he lay dying in Tunisia, to his dear first-born son, Philip.

Dear son, since I desire with all my heart that you be well instructed in all things, it is in my thought to give you some advice. For I have heard you say, several times, that you remember my words better than those of anyone else.

Therefore, dear son, the first thing I advise is that you fix your whole heart upon God, and love Him with all your strength, for without this no one can be saved or be of any worth.

You should, with all your strength, shun everything which you believe to be displeasing to Him. And you ought especially to be resolved not to commit mortal sin, no matter what may happen and should permit all your limbs to be hewn off, and suffer every manner of torment, rather than fall knowingly into mortal sin.

Dear son, I advise you that you accustom yourself to frequent confession, and that you choose always, as your confessors, men who are upright and sufficiently learned, and who can teach you what you should do and what you should avoid. You should so carry yourself that your confessors and other friends may dare confidently to reprove you and show you your faults. If you have any unrest of heart, of such a nature that it may be told, tell it to your confessor, or to some upright man who can keep your secret; you will be able to carry more easily the thought of your heart.

Dear son, see to it that all your associates are upright, whether clerics or laymen, and have frequent good converse with them; and flee the society of the bad. And listen willingly to the word of God, both in open and in secret. Love all good, and hate all evil, in whomsoever it may be.

In conclusion, dear son, I give you all the blessings which a good and tender father can give to a son, and I pray our Lord Jesus Christ, by His mercy, by the prayers and merits of His blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, and of angels and archangels and of all the saints, to guard and protect you from doing anything contrary to His will, and to give you grace to do it always, so that He may be honored and served by you. And this may He do to me as to you, by His great bounty, so that after this mortal life we may be able to be together with Him in the eternal life, and see Him, love Him, and praise Him without end. Amen. And glory, honor, and praise be to Him who is one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit; without beginning and without end. Amen.

St. Louis IX, King of France