The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 248: The Spread of Sin

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

We close the section on human dignity and goodness by learning how sin engenders vice. Our readings today discuss the proliferation of sin and how capital sins, in particular, lead to vices that can become rooted in a person or society. Fr. Mike reminds us that while sin is a personal act, it is also possible for us to cooperate in and encourage the sins of others. This can lead to the formation of “structures of sin” that lead others down the path of evil and contribute to establishing “social sins.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1865-1876. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

I'm a name's Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to The Catechism in a Year Podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down to the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward a Heavenly Home. This is day 248, we're ending our section on chapter 1 on human dignity and goodness and all the good things. We're talking about sin todays still. We're reading paragraphs 1865 to 1876, some nuggets in there. As always, I am using the ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with

any recent version of the Catechism of the includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe on your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day 248. It regards 1865 to 1876. I think I've said that three times now. We're talking about the proliferation of sin.

Man, you know, in the past, in the recent past, the recent past, we've talked about, well, not just us, but other people have also talked about, man, that no one seems to talk about sin anymore. And yet, sin is one of those things that, it's like a virus, it just spreads. There's the proliferation of sin. And sin creates a proclivity to sin.

That's the first line in paragraph 1865. Let's say that again, because it's compelling and it's also involved the word proclivity. Sin creates the proclivity to sin. It engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. And so we just realize that there is, there is sin begets sin.

Just like love begets love. You know, virtue begets virtue Sin makes it easier to sin we all we we know this I think it's helpful for all of us not just to know this but To interiorize it right to acknowledge that this is the truth in my life not just out there Yeah, the world's going to hell in a hand basket, but wow in my own life because I make certain choices, it makes other choices either more difficult or easier. We are also going to talk a little bit about vices and the capital sins, as well as certain sins that, as scripture says, cry out to heaven, that we realize that while sin is a personal act, we have a responsibility for

sins committed by others when we cooperate in them. This is relatively brief. We only have five paragraphs before we get to the nuggets of the day, but there's a lot that gets covered, so let's ask the Lord for help right now. Father in heaven, we give you praise, and we ask for your help. In Jesus' name, we ask that you come and meet us not just to be with us throughout this episode of the Catechism in a year, but also to be with us throughout this day. Lord God, when we experience the conviction of your truth, we're invited to walk in the light of your truth. Help us to not just experience the conviction, but also to be given the grace,

be given the power, the courage to not only step into the light but to walk in the light, but also to be given the grace, be given the power, the courage, to not only step into the light, but to walk in the light, to live in the light. Oh God, as you illumine our hearts, we see things there that we wish weren't there. As you illumine our hearts, we see things that we know you don't want there. So we ask you, come into our hearts with the fire of your love, with the light of your truth and dwell in our hearts so that we can dwell in you. Be with us so that we can walk in your light and live in your light. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

In the name of the Father, in the Son, in the Holy Spirit, and then it is day 248, we are reading paragraphs 1865 to 1876. The proliferation of sin. Sin creates a proclivity to sin. It engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root. 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 Cation and St. Gregory the Great. They are called capital because they engender other sins, other vices. They are pride, averse, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth, or acedia. The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are sins that cry to heaven. The blood of Abel, the sin of the Sotomites, the cry of the people

oppressed in Egypt, the cry of the foreigner, the widow and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner. Sin is a personal act, moreover we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them, by participating directly and voluntarily in them, by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them, by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so, by protecting evil doers. Thus, sin makes man accomplices of one another

and causes concupacence, violence, and injustice to rain among them. Sinns give rise to social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness. Structures of sin are the expression and effect of personal sins. They lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they constitute a social sin. In brief, God has consigned all men to disobedience, that He may have mercy upon all.

Sin is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law. It is an offense against God. It rises up against God in a disobedience contrary to the obedience of Christ. Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and injures human solidarity. The root of all sin lies in man's heart. The kinds and the gravity of sins are determined principally by their objects. To choose deliberately, that is both knowing it and willing it, something gravely contrary to the divine law and to the ultimate end of man is to commit a mortal

sin. This destroys in us the charity without which eternal beattitude is impossible. Unrepented, it brings eternal death. Vineal sin constitutes a moral disorder that is reprieve by charity, which allows to subsist in us. The repetition of sins, even vineal ones, engenders, vices, among which are the capital sins? All right paragraphs 1865 to 1876 right there. Let's dive in because this is I think there's as I said at the very beginning There's so much packed into these first five paragraphs that it is worth taking a look So sin procreates a proclivity to sin 1865 right away We recognize that when I choose sin it's easier to choose sin.'s just, let's get it out there. We all know this. Thus, sin tends to, last line here, thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself. Why? Because it clouds our conscience, right? That we,

we recognize how many times would I knew this was wrong? But the more and more I do it, the more like, are you sure is it really wrong? Like it clouds our conscience and it can corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. We can convince ourselves that we knew was the right thing to do. Well, in some cases, maybe someone else or I knew this was the wrong thing to do. Well, are you really sure? I mean, we're modern people now. It's the 21st century. Send clouds our judgment. That's one of the reasons why those people, those people who have resisted sin have walked in virtue. They're among the clearest, sometimes we see people who are choosing virtue and we can say, well, they're so naive.

They're so naive. And yet we have to ask the question, are they naive? Like they don't really know how the world works? Or are we so blinded by our compromises that we make super simple things really complex? I mean, how many times have you and I been in the situation where, okay, this is clear, the right thing to do is this. But because we have such a vested interest in doing our own will, we have such a vested interest and what would I lose?

What would it cost that we make this simple thing complex? Well, it's not a complex thing. We complicate things because our judgment has been clouded because we've chosen sin. Moving on, paragraph 1866 talks about capital sins. And I think this is remarkable. In one paragraph, the author of this section of the catechism, whoever that person is, in this one paragraph, they say more. And they explain more than, I mean, if you were to ask right now, what is a capital sin? Why are they called, why are they called capital sins? Would any of us be able to answer? Now, we might be able to answer what the Capital Sins are

because there was this movie called Seven with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt back in the day and not advocating and I'm just saying it existed and basically the story beyond the whole thing is there's a serial killer who's killing people according to the Seven Deadly Sins, these Capital Sins. So again, not endorsing the movie,

I'm just saying that many people who are roughly my age would know what this haven't deadly since because we remember the movie. And how scarring it was, it's not a good movie. I'm not recommending it at all. Although my mom, like she, she bought the, like the silver edition of that, she loved that movie because she's like, no, this is how the world is. This is like the brokenness of the world.

We need God's grace. And so it was for her. I'm not saying this is not a recommendation. It is a, like scary scary movie and it's disturbing Images in the movie. I'm just saying that Mrs. Schmidt's she For her it was little it was It was an examination conscience. I guess I don't know what it was anyways the seven deadly sins are pride Averse or greed

envy wrath lust gluttony, and sloth or acedia. Now we look at these and say, wait, so they're deadly sins, or they're capital sins. The paragraph 1866 doesn't say deadly sins, but they're commonly called deadly sins, capital sins. Why would we call them deadly sins? Why would they be called capital sins?

Is that because whenever those are present, they're always mortal? Great question, camper. The answer is no. And in one sentence, the author explains why they're called capital sense, why they're called deadly sense. It says, they're called capital because they engender other sins, other vices. Basically, they're gateway sins. They're, they are, they're capital sense because out of my pride come other sins, out of greed, averse, come more sins, out of envy come other sins. And so they're, again, just say it like this, they're gateway sins that they lead to other sins.

And I like to say they engender other sins or other vices. So on its own, gluttony, yeah, there's a sinfulness in gluttony, obviously. But gluttony, if you just look at your own life and think, wait, gluttony then led me to the next thing, to the next thing, to the next thing, or sloth in a sedia. That is like a slowness to do what I'm supposed to be doing in this moment, to recognize, to recognize in this moment, to act in this way or that way, is what God's will is. And

so I'm not inclined to do that. How many times have we been in that situation where, okay, I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing and that leads to even grave-er sins. So the example I think is just a great example is of King David. So King David hears the deadly sin of Sloathe. It says in 1 Samuel that when kings went out on campaign, that time of the year where kings went into battle, basically fighting for their people, David was back at home in Jerusalem. So the opening of the scene here in the story is, David's supposed to be doing something.

He's supposed to be out in the battlefield, so he's supposed to be out with his men, but he's not, he's back home. And then he's taking a siesta, and he strolls wrong, he sees Bathsheba bathing somewhere else, and then he calls her to himself and then essentially commits adultery with violators sexually, and then there's a child.

So he tries to have, and actually succeeds in having, Bethcheebiz, husband, Uriah, killed, and all of this. So he went from simply not doing what he was supposed to be doing, associated on the battlefield, but slowly, slowly, slowly became an adulterer, a sexual assaulter, and a murderer. And we realize, oh, that's one of the reasons why I slow with Racidia is a capital sin or a deadly sin. It can

lead to other deadly sins. It leads to other more serious sins. Hopefully that makes sense. Now paragraph 1867 highlights, there are sins that cry out to heaven. So from the scriptures, all these are examples right from the Bible. The blood of Abel, right, cries out from earth to heaven, cries out for justice, the sin of the Sodomites, cried out to God for justice. The cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, in justice to the wage earner, realize that when there are people who are violated, when there are people who are,

again, we talked about yesterday, when the dignity of the human person is being violated. So here is the blood of Abel. That his life is violence against him, this into the Sodomites, this sexual sin, the violation of the human dignity of the human person, but also the cry of those people oppressed in Egypt, of the foreigner, the widow, the orphan, injustice to the wage earner. Here are people that have dignity and that dignity of a weak person, a person in a place of vulnerability, and they're steamrolled, that they're used, that they're abused, that cries out to heaven for justice. And the last thing here, paragraph 1868 and 1869, we realize,

okay, sin is a personal act, right? Because it's my own, I'm making this choice. I'm making a choice. So I'm responsible for my own choices. But because I'm responsible for my choices, I'm not responsible for someone else's choices, but I do have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when I cooperate in those. So yeah, I'm not necessarily, I'm not responsible for someone else's decisions, but I am responsible for the sins of committed by others when I cooperate in them.

So if I participate directly and voluntarily in them, then that's my responsibility. So I'm participating directly and voluntarily in someone else's sins, I am cooperating in them. By ordering, advising, praising, or approving them, I'm cooperating in that sin. Now you can think about where might there be a situation in your life or in my life, where I might be participating directly and voluntarily in someone else's sin? Or where there might be a situation in my life when if I've commanded someone to

sin or I've advised someone to sin or I've praised someone's sin or approved someone's sin. These are situations where there is a seriousness where I need to go back and look over my life and say, have I ever counseled someone to sin? If I say, well, you know, you're in a really bad situation. So here's the way out of the situation and counsel them to do evil. Or have I praised someone's sin or approved someone's sin? You know, sometimes that happens to us.

I don't know if you've ever found yourself in a conversation with someone and they're talking about all of their sin. And you kind of like, wait, do I just, do I start shaking my head and saying, that's bad? You know, or do I, am I polite? In Minnesota, we're usually just polite. Just like, oh wow, huh, that's interesting.

Oh wow, interesting. Yet, if I praise or approve someone's sin, then I'm guilty. I think it's one of the reasons why, as Catholics, we have to ask the question, are there certain weddings that I can't go to? And there are. Are there certain celebrations that I can't go to?

And there are. Because by going to some of these weddings or some of these celebrations, I would be praising or approving of them. Just my presence approves of them. And I can't do that without cooperating in the sin. That's happening. It was on to say, by not disclosing or not hindering sins

when we have an obligation to do so and by protecting evil doers. And this turned the mirror back on the church here. And when we know this, we know that there are some places in, our country, some places around the world where the church was there, and the church knew of abuse, and the church didn't disclose. But the church instead protected some people who were committing horrible, horrible acts. And we must not, we must not ever do that.

If there is a way in which we can stand up for those who are being hurt, there's a way to be able to stand up and they say, okay, this is gonna cost something, but we have to disclose the evil that's happening here. We cannot protect the people doing the evil. We have to do that. And that's the high call.

That's the call that God is extending to everything one of us. Because if we do that, it goes on to Paragraph 1869, if we do that, it says, thus sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupacence, right? Attraction to sin, violence, and injustice to reign among them. And that can give rise to those things like structures of sin, or they might call social sin, because when we permit that to exist in our own world, when we permit other people to commit sin, or even just vaguely approve or vaguely praise or order or participate or voluntarily or not disclose what's going on or protect evil doers that were creating

these structures of sin. I know for myself, I know that for me it's just like, man, Lord, I can hardly, I can hardly choose virtue on a daily basis. I can hardly resist sin in my own life, but I have to not only resist sin in my own life. I also have to help all people, the people around me, resist sin in their lives too. And if I can't, at the very least, I have to refuse to participate directly and voluntarily in those sins. I have to refuse to order a praise or a proof of those other people. Since I have to fight to be in the place and you do too, we all do.

So when we see something evil going on, we have to disclose it. That we must not protect evil doers. That's a huge responsibility. It is huge enough, again, as I said, it's huge enough for us to fight against in our own hearts, but also to guard against the invitation, the temptation, the opportunity to cooperate with someone else's sin, we have to fight against that as well, which is hard. And yet it's the least we can do. The people who are the most vulnerable among us, they need us to be as strong as we can be on their behalf. The God who loves us, who pours our life for us, gives us the grace and gives us the strength to be the people we can be for the people around us. Again, to fight injustice when we see it, to disclose evil when we find it. To never cooperate with it

in our own hearts or in someone else's heart to never approve or praise it when we see it. But to do everything we can to be like Jesus in this world and that is tough. In fact, it is as you know, we are not able to do that on our own. We need God's help and therefore we need to pray. And I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mech. Can I wait to see you tomorrow? God bless.

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