CatholicTheology.info

Choose a topic from Part 2A:

• Man's Last End
• Human Acts
• The Passions
• Habits in General
• Virtues
• Vices and Sins
  • 71. Vice and Sin
  • 72. The Distinction of Sin
  • 73. The Standing of Sins Toward One Another
  • 74. The Subject of Sin
  • 75. The Cause of Sin
  • 76. Ignorance as a Cause of Sin
  • 77. The Sensitive Appetites as the Cause of Sin
  • 78. Malice as the Cause of Sin
  • 79. External Causes of Sin
  • 80. The Devil as the Cause of Sin
  • 81. Human Beings as the Cause of Sin
  • 82. The Essence of Original Sin
  • 83. The Subject of Original Sin
  • 84. One Sin as the Cause of Another
  • 85. The Effects of Sin
  • 86. The Stain of Sin
  • 87. The Debt of Punishment for Sin
  • 88. Venial and Mortal Sin
  • 89. Venial Sin
• Law
• Grace

71. Vice and Sin

1. A sin is a human act (that is, a deliberate thought,word, deed, desire, omission) contrary to right reason, andtherefore contrary to God. A vice is a habit of sin. Vice is amorally bad habit; it stands contrasted with virtue which is amorally good habit. And sin, which is a vicious act, is contrastedwith a virtuous act, that is, a morally good act.

2. Vice is contrary to order and reason; it is opposed tothe rational nature of man.

3. In itself, a bad act is worse than a bad habit; for abad act is a deed done, whereas a bad habit is only a stabledisposition to commit bad deeds. Even human law punishes a criminalact, but not a criminal disposition.

4. One sin does not destroy the opposed virtue as a habit.Just as one good act does not establish a virtue, so neither doesone bad act establish a vice. But one mortal sin destroys allinfused virtues as virtues (as living and active virtues), but notas habits. A mortal sin destroys charity and thus renders faith andhope inoperative for getting a man on towards heaven. Mortal sinrobs faith and hope of their power as virtues, but it does notexpel them as habits. Venial sin neither destroys nor expelscharity or other virtues.

5. A person who sins by omission must, of course, be doingsomething at the time, but, for the sin of omission no determinateact is required to take the place of the omitted duty. The sin ofomission is not in what a person is doing but in what he is failingto do.

6. Sin is sometimes defined as "word, deed, or desirecontrary to the eternal law." The definition is adequate, forsinful "words, deeds, desires," involve thoughts andimaginings. And a sin of omission is actually a deed; it is thedeed of omitting what one should do.

"Lord, here burn, here cut, and dry up in me all that hinders me from going to You, that You may spare me in eternity."
St Louis Bertrand

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"God gives us some things, as the beginning of faith, even when we do not pray. Other things, such as perseverance, he has only provided for those who pray."
St Augustine

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"To do God's will -- this was the goal upon which the saints constantly fixed their gaze. They were fully persuaded that in this consists the entire perfection of the soul. "
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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