“when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side”
What is the sin of omission? It is the, “Willful neglect or positive refusal to perform some good action that one’s conscience urges one to do. Such omissions is morally culpable, and its gravity depends on the importance of what should have been done, on the person’s willfulness, and the circumstances of the situation.”[i]
Why is omission bad? Omission is bad because it is a form of sin. The Catechism teaches that sins can be classified by their actions or inactions. “Sins can be distinguished according to their objects, as can every human act; or according to the virtues they oppose, by excess or defect; or according to the commandments they violate. They can also be classed according to whether they concern God, neighbor, or oneself; they can be divided into spiritual and carnal sins, or again as sins in thought, word, deed, or omission. The root of sin is in the heart of man in his free will, according to the teaching of the Lord….But in the heart also resides charity, the source of the good and pure works, which sin wounds.”[ii]
At Mass we seek forgiveness for the sin of omission when we say, “I confess…in what I have done and what I have failed to do”[iii]. When we fail to do God’s will, we forsake or give up charity. Habitually giving up charity allows sin to enter our hearts.
How did the priest and the Levite commit the sin of omission? Omission can be sinful when we let ourselves become so important that we neglect helping others. The people who walked by did not hurt the person lying there dying, but they did not help him either. “Here Our Lord is speaking to us about sins of omission. Those who passed by on the other side did not inflict any fresh injuries on the abandoned and badly-wounded wayfarer; they did not steal whatever he had left, or insult him. They had worries of their own, they didn’t want any complications, they had important things to do. They gave greater importance to their own business than to the man in need. Therein lay their sin: they passed by on the other side.”[iv]
Why did they neglect helping the dying man? Besides the possible reasons mentioned above, we have to look at the customs from the time of Jesus. One explanation could be that they (priest and Levite) thought that the man was already dead. “Very probably one reason why our Lord used this parable was to correct one of the excesses of false piety common among his contemporaries. According to the Law of Moses, contact with dead bodies involved legal impurity, from which one was cleansed by various ablutions (cf. Num. 19:11-22; Lev. 21:1-4, 11-12).”[v] However, this should not be an excuse for seeing if they need help or checking to see if the person was already dead. “These regulations were not meant to prevent people from helping the injured; they were designed for reasons of hygiene and respect for the dead. The aberration of the priest and the Levite in this parable consisted in this: they did not know for sure whether the man who had been assaulted was dead or not, and they preferred to apply a wrong interpretation of a secondary, ritualistic precept of the Law rather than obey the more important commandment of loving one’s neighbor and giving him whatever help one can.”[vi]
What are some present day sins of omission? The Catechism specifically points out the sin of euthanasia, which is a grave sin of omission. “Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.”[vii]
Search: Euthanasia
[i] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 389
[ii] CCC 1853
[iii] The Order of the Mass; Confiteor
[iv] Fernandez, In Conversation with God 4, 21.2
[v] Navarre Bible, Gospel of Luke pg. 138
[vi] Navarre Bible, Gospel of Luke pg. 138
[vii] CCC 2277