“he found himself in dire need”
In the parable of the Prodigal Son, there are examples of many different types of sins: pride, jealousy, drunkenness, fornication, covetousness, etc. Many people today fall into these and countless other sins but sadly are not like the younger son who recognized the sins he committed. Many people today do not fully understand the effects and ramifications of sin. “…we are shown the unhappy effects of sin. The young man’s hunger evokes the anxiety and emptiness a person feels when he is far from God. The prodigal son’s predicament describes the enslavement which sin involves (cf. Rom. 1:25; 6:6; Gal. 5:1): by sinning one loses the freedom of the sons of God (cf. Rom. 8:21; Gal 4:31; 5:13) and hands oneself over to the power of Satan.”[i]
What is sin? Sin is “‘A word, deed or desire in opposition to the eternal law’ (St. Augustine). Sin is a deliberate transgression of a law of God, which identifies the four essentials of every sin. A law is involved, implying that there are physical laws that operate with necessity, and moral laws that can be disregarded by human beings. God is offended, so that the divine dimension is never absent from any sin. Sin is a transgression, since Catholicism holds that grace is resistible and the divine will can be disobeyed.”[ii]
What are the four essentials of every sin?
A physical law is broken – sin is always unnatural
A moral law is disregarded – sin is always disordered
God is offended – sin hurts God
Man disobeys/goes against God’s will – sin deprives us of God’s good and Holy will
Search: Sin: Poop in the Brownies
Search: What is Sin?
Why should we detest sin? In the Act of Contrition we say that we detest sin because it has offended God who is all good and deserving of our love. When we sin, we deprive ourselves and others of good. We also deprive God of our love. If we do not hate sin, we will not stop sinning.
Why do people sin? There are a number of reasons why people sin, but ultimately sin is disorder in that it offers pleasure, possessions, and power outside of God’s will. If sin and the effects of sin were shown to us as they truly are then nobody would commit them. “Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called “capital” because they engender other sins, other vices.138 They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia.”[iii] These seven deadly sins can also be categorized into three groups that correspond to the temptations Jesus faced in the desert. The three areas are pleasure (sloth, lust), possessions (gluttony, acedia/greed), and power (pride, envy, wrath).
Search: The Temptation of Christ
What are the effects of sin? There are many dangerous effects sin has on one’s soul. We may not feel that sin is a problem, and so we keep on sinning. We may not feel any physical pain and so since we do not feel physical effects it can be easy to believe that sin is not all that bad. We have this attitude because our senses are awake while our soul is asleep. The effects of sin on our body may show in time, but the effect of sin on our soul is immediate.
First, sin has already “disfigured” us Original Sin. “Disfigured by sin and death, man remains ‘in the image of God,’ in the image of the Son, but is deprived ‘of the glory of God,’ of his ‘likeness.’ The promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of salvation, at the culmination of which the Son himself will assume that ‘image’ and restore it in the Father’s ‘likeness’ by giving it again its Glory, the Spirit who is ‘the giver of life’.”[iv]
Second, sin separates us from God. “Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the ‘eternal punishment’ of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory.”[v] When we attach ourselves to creatures or things we become slaves to them. Saint Dominic says, “A person who governs his passions is the master of the world. We must either rule them, or be ruled by them. It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.”
TV COMMERCIAL – Windows Phone – POP CULTURE CONNECTION
One of the biggest obsessions people have today is their phone. This commercial pokes fun at those who are slaves to their phones. The funny thing (or sad fact however you want to look at it) about this commercial is they are pushing a phone to get away from cell phone addiction. This is like telling a person who always gets drunk on one type of alcohol to drink a different brand; it does not fix the problem.
How can we avoid sin? The grace of God through the sacraments helps us work on our faith in charity to keep us from being separated from God. “Through the sacraments of Christian initiation, man receives the new life of Christ. Now we carry this life ‘in earthen vessels,’ and it remains ‘hidden with Christ in God.’…This new life as a child of God can be weakened and even lost by sin.”[vi] The Prodigal son had a new life when he received his father’s inheritance. The son however, squandered this new life when he decided to go and spend it on sinful activities. His decision ultimately weakened him and he lost his new life.
What do we do if we already sinned and are feeling the effects? First we need to thank God that we recognize and feel the effects of sin. Pope Paul VI said that the greatest sin of the 20th century was the loss of the sense of sin. Second, we should imitate the prodigal son, and go running back to the Father. We should run to Confession and beg for forgiveness to be restored in God’s grace. If a person is violently sick, or has a major pain for a long period of time they shouldn't just sit there and wallow in it; they should go to a doctor. The son, once he realized his sin, could not sit still; he had to go and ask forgiveness. We ask for forgiveness in Confession because we realize we are weak. Sin made the prodigal son weak, and it makes us weak too. “But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his relationships with God and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused. Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must ‘make satisfaction for’ or ‘expiate’ his sins. This satisfaction is also called ‘penance.’”[vii]
Search: All Souls
What is God’s wish for the sinner? Saint Paul tells us that God, “…wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”[viii] The prodigal son came to know the truth and it was the truth that he acted upon. To the woman who was caught in adultery, Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you. God, [and] from now on do not sin any more.”[ix] “God always hopes for the return of the sinner; he wants him to repent when the young man arrives home his father does not greet him with reproaches but with immense compassion, which causes him to embrace his son and cover him with kisses.”[x]
[i] Commentaries of Gospel of Luke, pg. 175
[ii] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 507
[iii] CCC 1866
[iv] CCC 705
[v] CCC 1472
[vi] CCC 1420
[vii] CCC 1459
[viii] 1 Timothy 2:4
[ix] John 8:11
[x] Commentaries of Gospel of Luke, pg. 175