Catholic Candle note: The article below is a “companion” article to the previously published Catholic Candle article showing that all sin is an infinite evil in three ways and mortal sin is an infinite evil of a fourth way too. The previous article is available here: https://catholiccandle.neocities.org/faith/the-infinite-evil-of-sin .
Most people fail to understand the extent of Our Lord’s suffering which is caused by the sins we commit.
To steal is wrong and has consequences. Thus, a lad wouldn’t steal even a single apple if the store’s owner was watching him. So why do people sin when God is always watching them? In fact, I believe that when a person commits a venial sin, it’s like slapping Our Lord in His face. For a mortal sin, it’s as if the sinner punches Him and gives Him a Bloody Nose – or really, it is more like crucifying Him, since mortal sin kills the Divine Life of Grace in the soul.
These comparisons are meant to help us to better understand the evil of sin. For, how could we ever want to hurt our loving and sweet Lord that way? He, Who has done so much for us! He, Who created us and keeps us in existence! He it is Who also suffered and died because of our sins!
Let us take a closer look at sin and what it really is:
Sin is nothing else than a morally bad act. (St. Thomas, "De malo", Q. vii, a. 3), an act not in accord with reason informed by the Divine law. God has endowed us with reason and free will, and a sense of responsibility; He has made us subject to His law, which is known to us by the dictates of conscience, and our acts must conform to these dictates, otherwise we sin. (Rom., xiv, 23)[1]
And if we don’t form a good conscience and avoid all sin, we develop a habit of sin called vice.
What is vice? Vice is a habit of sin formed by repeated acts of sin.
One who makes a practice of stealing has the vice of theft. One who habitually drinks to intoxication has the vice of drunkenness. One who frequently sins against chastity has the vice of impurity. …..
A vice is easily acquired. This is one reason why we must be very careful not to commit sin. If we should be so unhappy as to fall into sin, we must at once cut off the possibility of forming vice by contrition, penance, and a resolution not to sin again.
After the first fall, one more readily yields to the next temptation. Each yielding weakens the will for the next. Thus, step by step, one who starts a sin will find himself the slave of a vicious habit. “He that contemneth small things shall fail by little and little.” (Ecclesiasticus. 19:1).
A vice is easy to break off in the beginning, difficult to break when fully formed, but always capable of being overcome by a resolute will with God’s grace.[2]
So, we must avoid all sin. Well, how can we do that? Keep in mind that God is always watching us. This is called “keeping in the presence of God”. Let us remember that, if we sin, we slap Him or punch Him, giving Him a bloody nose – or even much worse! With that always in mind, a person will have committed his last sin!