How to Differentiate Between Venial and Mortal Sins

Catholics go to confession for both venial and mortal sins.

The Catholic Church considers venial sins to be less serious than mortal sins, although both are moral evils. Mortal sins are the worst sins because they alter the sinner's direction away from the proper moral end and toward the opposite end. Venial sins do not alter the sinner's ultimate ends, but merely consist in a simple deviation -- the sinner is still aiming for the proper moral end but is moving in a more curved path. Find out if a sin is venial or mortal by examining its various aspects.

Instructions

1. Determine if the sin is a "grave matter." Only sins of a grave matter can be mortal sins. According to the New Advent, the gravity of a matter is judged from the teaching of Scripture, the definitions of popes and councils, and from reason. Sins are mortal that cause some grave disorder with regard to God, society or ourselves, such as blasphemy, murder and stealing.

2. Ask the sinner how much knowledge he had about the nature of the sin. Mortal sins must have been committed with full knowledge that it is a mortal sin. If the sinner is not aware of the sinful character of the act and its opposition to God's laws, his sin is a venial sin. However, if the sinner pretends to be ignorant about the sinful nature of an act, which is commonly the case, this increases the voluntary nature of the sin, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

3. Calculate the sinner's amount of consent to commit the sin. A mortal sin requires the sinner's full consent to act against God's eternal law. Mortal sin's malice lies in its conscious and voluntary transgression of the Divine Will. Full consent means that the sin was a sufficiently deliberate personal choice.

4. Measure the extent to which the sinner has lost the vital principle within us, that is, charity. Venial sins allow charity to subsist, even though they offend this virtue. Immoderate laughter, for example, is a venial sin because it involves a disorder, but it is not opposed to the love of God and people. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that mortal sins attack the vital principle and necessitate a fresh initiative of God's mercy. Thus, the sinner must once again experience a conversion of the heart through the Sacrament of Confession.

References

• New Advent: Sin
• Catholic Doors: Frequently Asked Questions about Sins: Mortal and Venial