Faith of Our Fathers

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 45, 16 November 1922, Page 41

Faith of Our Fathers

[A Weekly Instruction for Young and Old.]

, (4) According, to the manner in vdiich sins are committed, they are divided into sins of thought, word, deed, and omission.

14. (1) By sins of thought we mean the simple thought or imagination,, the desire and the pleasure or complacency combined. It is a : sin of simple thought when we take deliberate pleasure in bad imaginations; for instance, in imaginations of impurity or revenge. A wicked thought only becomes really sinful from the pleasure we take in it and the consent we give to it. It is a. sin of desire when we wish to consummate the act of which a bad thought is the object. It is a sin of complacency when we take pleasure in the recollection of evil done.

The pleasure taken in hearing certain bad actions related is not always sinful, because we may be amused by the odd manner in which the thing has taken place, without consenting to the. evil it has involved. For in-

(Static©, in hearing of a robbery; the manner in which it has been effected has been so dexterous and clever that we may hear of it and relate it ourselves with satisfaction, without at all approving of the wrong done to our neighbor or of the offence against God. Or a witticism may escape from some one somewhat infringing on delicacy, and the tone of the speaker and his manner of turning the thing may strike one and provoke a smile. This pleasure that one takes has not the evil for its object, but the circumstances which arc foreign to it; therefore it is excusable, and must not be confounded with the delectation of bad thoughts.

16. (2) We sin by word wheb we indulge in conversations against faith, religion, charity, justice, or purity; when, tor example, we give way to blasphemy, backbiting, calumny, lying, perjury, or immodest discourse.

16. (3) We sin by action when we do what is .forbidden, and by omission when we neglect to do what is commanded, though we are... aware of the obligation, and could comply with it if wo chose; for example, if we, miss Mass on a. Sunday without sonic lawful motive.

17. (5) Sins are of the same kind when they are opposed to the same virtues ,or commandments ; they differ in kind when they are opposed to different virtues or commandments, or also if they are accompanied by circumstances that give them a new character of malice. Circumstances that change the nature of a. sin must oc mentioned in ,confession. ,■

18. (6) Sins of frailty are those which are either committed through ignorance that does not altogether excuse, or by yielding to some strong temptation ; sins of malice are those to which we consent with full knowledge, of our own accord, and by the pure choice of the will. Sins of frailty are not always venial; they may be mortal, and are so, in fact, whenever we yield to temptation in a. matter of weight.

19. (7) There is material sin when a bad act is committed through inadvertence or ignorance, for which we are not to blame, and without any participation of the free will; formal sin, when wo act with knowledge and of*our own free will. Formal sin only renders us guilty.

(20. (8) There are seven capital sins—pride, covetousness, luxury, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. They are called capital sins, not because they arc always mortal; but because every capital sin is the source of many other sins.

21. (1) Pride is an inordinate of our own elevation and a vain complacency in ourselves, It may bo called a swelling out of the heart proceeding from a puffed-up mind, that is to say, from a too'high idea -a man has of himself and his own merit; it leads us to set, ourselves up before others by despising them, and to self-glorification by referring things to ourselves, instead of glorifying God by referring everything to Him. ■:, Almost all vices spring from pride as from their fountain-head; but there are some that flow more directly from it 4 - and which -are on 'that account called the offspring .of pride. The chief of these are vain-glory, boasting, display, pompousness, haughtiness, ambition, hypo-, crisy; presumption, obstinacy, disobedience, self-delusion with regard to our own defects. ' ;' - *' ■•'.\ -* , : '-;■; 22. (2) Covetousness is an -inordinate love of money

and the goods of this world. To seek a fortune for a good end, subordinate to one’s duties and to salvation, is right and proper but otherwise, there is a sin which is avarice. This vice separates us from God, because we cannot serve two masters—r God and mammon. It produces neglect of salvation, selfishness, hardness towards the poor, craftiness, injustice, quarrels.; to say nothing of cares, anxieties, and murmurings against Providence.

23. (3) By envy is meant , the sadness that springs from witnessing the spiritual or temporal good of another, because it seems to lesson our own, or our own merit. This vice engenders rash judgments, detraction, malicious joy at the faults or disgrace of our neighbor, hatred, and vexations of all fluids.

24. (4) Luxury, or the vice opposed Co chastity, and forbidden by the sixth and ninth commandments, is the vile source of innumerable sins. Moreover, the criminal affection for carnal pleasures produces disgust for piety, darkness of the understanding, hardness of heart, the diminution and' even extinction of. faith. It destroys the health of the body and the noblest qualities of the soul, brings trouble and ruin upon families, and often leads to final impenitence.

25. (6) Gluttony is an inordinate love of eating and drinking, or the evil inclination that inclines men to the immoderate use 'of food or drink. The slaves of this degrading vice stoop so low as to make a god of their belly (Phil. iii.). Gluttony.may be committed by indulging in food too expensive or delicate for one’s condition in life, by eating at unsuitable hours, or by eating and drinking to excess. Gluttony produces drunkenness, impurity, outbursts of passion, blasphemies, . angry quarrels, blows or threats, heaviness of soul, disgust for spiritual things, disregard of the laws of the Church for fasting and abstinence. "When excess in drinking amounts to intoxication, and deprives a. man of the use of his reason, it is a mortal sin.

26. (6) Anger is an emotion or inordinate transport of the soul, which causes us violently to reject what displeases us, and impels us to take revenge on those who contradict us. The effects of anger arc hatred, revenge,; imprecations, blasphemies; outrages, and sometimes duelling and murder. Anger becomes a mortal sin when the emotion goes so far as to extinguish the love of God and our neighbor, and makes us blaspheme or commit other sins of serious gravity. There is a certain anger, a just and reasonable indignation, which is exempt from sin; it springs from true zeal and the pure love of justice.

27. (7) Sloth is an inordinate love of ease, a languor of the soul, and a disgust for the labor required for the fulfilment of our duties. Sloth becomes a mortal sin when through it we fail 'to fulfil a serious obligation. Sloth produces idleness, loss of time, negligence, ignorance, Inconstancy in keeping good resolutions, .tepidity, temptations of all kinds, and cowardice, which disposes us to yield to them.

28. (8) The virtues contrary to the capital or deadly sins are humility- which is opposed to pride; liberality, to covetousness; brotherly love, to envy; chastity, to luxury; temperance, to gluttony ; patience, to anger; diligence and fervor, which are opposed to sloth.

Over 50 years ago Bismarck drove from Germany the Order of Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. The little community coming to the United States found refuge on a faVm in Illinois where the nuns worked in. the fields, raised sheep, spun wool, and threshed wheat. In the evenings, under the supervision of Mother Superior, they strove to acquire a -knowledge of the English language. To-day with a. membership of 400 nuns,- with convents established in eight dioceses of the middle - west, the Order is conducting 60 schools, two academies, three hospitals, and/ one orphanage and instructing t over 7000 pupils. J