juridical “crime” image. The evil of sin in this
basically personalist model is located not in the violation of an extrinsic
law, but rather in the free, responsible malice of the sinner and the harm
inflicted on other persons. Sin is seen as truly interpersonal: the
personal malice of the sinner offending the persons of God and neighbor. By
sin, sinners alienate themselves from their neighbors, all creation, God, and
from their own true selves.
770. Today, perhaps more important than the
different models of sin, is the loss of the sense of sin and its
link with conscience. John Paul II quotes Pius XII: “the sin of the
century is the loss of the sense of sin.” He explains how
this sense of sin is rooted in our moral conscience,
and is, as it were, its thermometer. . . Nevertheless it happens not
infrequently in history, for more or less lengthy periods and under the
influence of many different factors, that the moral conscience of many people
becomes seriously clouded. . . . It is inevitable in this situation that there
is an obscuring also of the sense of sin which is closely connected with moral
conscience, the search for truth, and the desire to make a responsible use of
freedom. . . . [This] helps us to understand the progressive weakening of the
sense of sin, precisely because of the crisis of conscience and the crisis of
the sense of God (RP 18).
771. New Testament authors identified Christ
as the suffering Servant who has come to “justify many, bearing their guilt” (Is
53:11). Christ calls all to a radical conversion from the power
and deadly evil of sin, to the Kingdom of his Father.
To all entrapped in the snares of sin, he offers forgiveness: “Your sins are
forgiven” (Lk 7:48). “Sin no more!” (Jn 5:14; 8:11) In St. John
we meet the contrast between many “sins” (plural) or conscious
acts against the Kingdom, and “sin” (singular) meaning the “world”
as hostile to God and to God’s word (cf. Jn 1:29). This contrast is
repeated today in our Eucharistic celebrations in the Gloria and the Lamb
of God prayers. Much like “world” in John’s Gospel is St. Paul’s notion of “flesh.”
As contrasted with “Spirit,” it stands for the power of sin that permeates
the human condition and grounds all individual sinful thoughts, words, and
deeds (cf. 1 Cor 5:5; Rom 7:5, 18).
B. Church
Teaching on Sin
772. The Church’s doctrine of original sin was
taken up in Part 1, Chap. 8, as were the seven “deadly [capital] sins” of
Christian tradition. Original sin also appears briefly below in Part III,
Chapter 25 on Baptism. The distinction between mortal and venial sin is treated
in Chapter 27 on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But two more recent
approaches to sin that add considerably to a fuller pastoral understanding of
sin must be briefly treated: the different dimensions of sin; and “social sin.”
773. Sin can have different dimensions. It can
be described as a spiral, a sickness, addiction. 1) As a spiral
that enslaves us in a contagious, pathological habit of vice that acts like
a virus, infecting social attitudes and structures such as family, social
groups and the like. 2) As sickness, drawing on St. Luke’s
trait of linking healing with forgiveness of sin (Lk 5:18-26). 3) As
addiction, a process over which we become powerless as it
becomes progressively more compulsive and obsessive. Sin as addiction leads to
a pattern of ever deeper deception of self and others, ending in the inevitable
disintegration of all our major personal and social relationships. Examples
given of sin as addiction are consumerism and militarism.
774. Due consideration of these dimensions
of sin helps to have:
• a more realistic appraisal of the sinner’s
actual operative freedom;
• a positive orientation toward a process
of healing and forgivness; and
• a stress on the over-riding importance of the
social and structural dimensions of sin.
775. “Social sin,” stresses complicity in
evil by showing how members of the same group are mutually involved. It can
refer to:
• sin’s power to affect others by reason of
human solidarity;
• sins that directly attack human rights and
basic freedoms, human dignity, justice, and the common good;
• sins infecting relationships between various
human communities such as class struggle, or obstinate confrontations between
blocs of nations; and
• situations of sin, or sinful structures that
are the consequences of sinful choices and acts, e.g., racial discrimination,
and economic systems of exploitation (cf. RP 16).
Regarding the last meaning, PCP II urges
Filipinos “to reject and move against sinful social structures, and set up in
their stead those that allow and promote the flowering of fuller life” (PCP
II 288).
INTEGRATION
776. This chapter has focused on Faith
and Morality, Christ’s central symbol of the Kingdom of God, the Church’s
role in Christians’ moral life, and the reality of Sin. These themes
have described the social context of “following Christ.” Doctrinally,
they are based solidly on the correct understanding of original sin
and especially of grace. For the life of grace in the Holy Spirit is
constantly working to build up the kingdom
of God. It is the Spirit
within and among Christ’s disciples that enlightens and strengthens their life
of Faith in the Christian community against the power and alienation of sin.
777. As regards the worship dimension
of these moral themes, the Sacraments of Reconciliation and of Anointing
are directly concerned with healing and strengthening the disciples
of Christ in their spiritual combat against the malice and evil of sin. These
two Sacraments, then, act as a remedy for sin, particularly in its
relational dimensions. Moreover, without an ever-deepening prayer life which
alone can inspire and animate a personal relationship to Jesus Christ our
Savior, this spiritual combat will never be sustained. And it is within the
ecclesial context of the Church, the Christian community, that this
sacramentally nourished prayer life of the follower of Christ can grow and
develop by the grace of God.
778. This chapter has sketched in broad lines
the key dimensions constituting the context of following Christ. First,
the Catholic Faith influences Filipinos’ moral living by offering the
distinctive perspective of the Gospel, while developing Christ-like attitudes
and affections. Second, within Christ’s great symbol of the Kingdom of God, with its call to repentance and
discipleship, Filipino Christians are called to exercise a new life of mutual
respect, solidarity and fidelity. Thirdly, in this the Church serves as
their context and communal support in their struggle against evil. Lastly,
the “kingdom of sin” is described __ the mystery of evil,
experienced from within as stain, crime, and personal rejection __
a spiralling sickness and addiction that so infects social relationships that
society’s very structures are affected.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
779. What
is the social context of Christian moral life?
The
social context of Christian moral life today is a world-in-change, marked by
the Church “scrutinizing the signs of the times and interpreting them in the
light of the Gospel.”
780. What
is the role of Faith in morality?
Christian
Faith influences moral life primarily by:
• offering a new distinctive Christian
vision of moral good and developing Christ-like attitudes and values;
• teaching moral precepts that foster this
vision; and
• strengthening moral motivation by giving
reasons for acting in a Christian way and inspiring Christ-like affections.
781. How
does the “Kingdom
of God” summarize
Christian moral living?
The
Kingdom of God is characterized by its:
• condition for entry: conversion and
repentance;
• membership: becoming a disciple of
Christ;
• life: loving service grounded on
God’s Love for us;
• basic law: new life in the Spirit;
• charter: the Beatitudes.
782. What
response from us does the Kingdom call for?
The
Kingdom of God calls for:
• respect for one another;
• solidarity with all; and
• fidelity to God and to one another.
783. What
role does the Catholic Church play in moral life?
The
Catholic Church serves as the context and communal support for
the moral life of its members by:
• actively forming Christian moral
character;
• carrying on and witnessing to the Christian
moral tradition; and
• serving as the community of moral
deliberation.
784. What
is sin?
Sin is basically a refusal of God’s love.
It entails:
• refusing to follow our own conscience;
• rejecting our true selves, others, and God
by turning away from God, our true end;
• breaking God’s covenant of love with us.
785. How
is sin presented in Sacred Scripture?
Sin
is presented in the inspired Word of God in the Old Testament as:
• “missing the mark” by failing to
meet one’s obligations to God and neighbor;
• a defect or disorder of character
weighing down the sinner; and
• a conscious choice of rebelling against
God and transgressing His commandments.
786. What
images are used to picture sin?
The
Old Testament moves
• from the image of sin as a stain (unclean
before the all-holy God),
• to that of crime (willful violation
of the covenant),
and finally,
• to personal rejection (of love
relationship).
787. How
did Christ speak of sin?
Christ
called for a radical conversion of heart __ a turning
away __ from sin to service in the Kingdom of his
Father. One sign of this Kingdom was Christ’s own forgiving sins by the power
of the Spirit.
788. What new “models” of sin are
proposed?
One
insightful new model of sin looks more to its social effects on the sinner as
• a spiral of evil that
ensnares;
• a sickness that weakens; and
• a compulsive and obsessive addiction that
enslaves.
789. What is meant by “social
sin”?
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