Grace, Conscience and Sin

Grace is God's favour: the undeserved help he gives us so that we can answer his call to become his children and share his own life. It is a share in the life of God. Through Baptism we are drawn into the life of the Holy Trinity, so that with Christ we can call God "Father" and receive the Spirit who breathes love into us. We could never reach this by our own strength; it depends entirely on God's initiative.

Sanctifying grace, received in Baptism, is God's own life poured into the soul by the Holy Spirit to heal it of sin and make it holy. It is a stable gift that stays with us and enables us to live with God and act by his love; it is also called habitual grace. Actual graces are God's particular helps at a given moment, at the start of conversion or along the way. The Eastern Fathers speak of this gift as our being made sharers in the divine nature (CCC 1988).

This is called justification. The grace of the Holy Spirit cleanses us from sin and gives us the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ and through Baptism. Its first work is conversion: moved by grace, we turn to God and away from sin. Justification is not only the forgiveness of sins; it also makes us holy and renews us inwardly, and faith, hope and charity are poured into our hearts. Christ merited it for us by his Passion, and it is given in Baptism, the sacrament of faith.

No one can merit the first grace of forgiveness and justification; it is always God's gift. Strictly, no one has a claim on God, because everything we have comes from him. Yet God freely chooses to make us his co-workers. Once we live in his grace, moved by the Holy Spirit and by love, our good works can truly merit an increase of grace and eternal life. Even these merits are God's gifts, and the saints knew that their merits were pure grace.

Grace belongs to God's own order, so we cannot see or feel it directly; we know it by faith. That is why we should not rely on our feelings or on our works to conclude that we are saved. Still, by their fruits you will know them: when we look at God's blessings in our life and in the lives of the saints, we find a sure sign that grace is at work, and it moves us to trust and thanksgiving.

Conscience is a judgment of reason by which a person recognises whether a concrete act is good or evil, before acting, while acting, or afterwards. The Second Vatican Council calls it the most secret core and sanctuary of a person, where one is alone with God, whose voice echoes there (Gaudium et Spes 16). It urges us to do good and avoid evil, and it welcomes God's commandments. When a prudent person listens to it, he can hear God speaking.

Yes. A person must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience; to act deliberately against it is to condemn oneself. No one may be forced to act against conscience, especially in religious matters. But conscience is not a private law that makes good whatever we choose. It can be mistaken, and so it has to be formed by the truth.

Forming conscience is a lifelong task, begun in childhood. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful and judges according to the true good willed by the Creator. The Word of God is the light for our path: we take it in by faith and prayer and put it into practice. We examine our conscience before the Cross, ask the help of the Holy Spirit and his gifts, listen to the advice of wise people, and are guided by the teaching of the Church.

Conscience can err. If the error comes from our own fault, as when we take little trouble to find out what is true, or when a habit of sin has slowly blinded us, we are responsible for the evil we do. If the ignorance is invincible, that is, not our fault, the evil done is not imputed to us. It still remains an evil and a disorder, and so we must work to correct the errors of conscience.

Yes, three. One may never do evil so that good may come of it. Do to others whatever you would wish them to do to you (Matthew 7:12). Charity always respects one's neighbour and his conscience, so we avoid anything that makes a brother or sister stumble.

Sin is an offence against reason, truth and right conscience. It is a failure in true love for God and neighbour, caused by a disordered attachment to certain goods. It wounds human nature and harms our bonds with one another. Above all it is an offence against God: it sets itself against his love and turns our hearts away from him, as the first sin did.

Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart by a grave violation of God's law and turns a person away from God, our final end; it takes away sanctifying grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom. Venial sin does not break our friendship with God, but it weakens charity and, if left unrepented, slowly disposes us to graver sin. While we can judge that an act is gravely wrong in itself, we must leave the judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

Three conditions must all be present: grave matter, full knowledge, and deliberate consent. Grave matter is set out by the Ten Commandments. Full knowledge means knowing that the act is against God's law; deliberate consent means a choice that is truly personal. Ignorance that is not our fault, strong feelings, outside pressure or illness of mind can lessen or even remove responsibility, but feigned ignorance and hardness of heart increase it.

They are called capital because they give rise to other sins and vices. Following St John Cassian and St Gregory the Great, the tradition names seven: pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia. Repeated sin breeds vice and clouds the conscience, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root (CCC 1865).

Sin is a personal act, but we share in the sins of others when we take part in them directly and willingly; when we order, advise, praise or approve them; when we fail to disclose or hinder them though we are bound to; or when we protect wrongdoers. Sins also give rise to unjust situations and institutions, which the Church calls "structures of sin". They are the fruit of personal sins and lead others to do evil.

There are no limits to God's mercy. The sin Jesus calls blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the deliberate refusal to repent and accept that mercy; hardness of heart closes the door from our side. Christ gave the sacrament of Penance above all for those who have fallen into grave sin after Baptism. Contrition that comes from love of God above all forgives even mortal sins if it includes the firm resolve to go to confession as soon as possible. The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches likewise asks anyone aware of serious sin to receive the sacrament of penance as soon as possible (CCEO can. 719).