Again, apologies for spacing, which is because I cannot change errors easily now.
This past week, I have been concentrating on mortal sin and how deadly it really is.
Now, for the next few days, I shall concentrate on venial sins.
Some of my sources and my ideas have already been shared in the perfection series, but more emphasis is needed. This could be called an addendum to the perfection series.
If one is not working on venial sins, one is not on the road to perfection. Remember, only the perfect go to heaven when they die, and purgatory purges both venial sin and imperfections. Such imperfections as anxiety need to purged, as this and other weaknesses lead to sin.
Let me start with St. Francis de Sales, from his Introduction to The Devout Life. My comments are in blue.
CHAPTER XXII. The Necessity of Purging away all tendency to Venial Sins.
AS daylight waxes, we, gazing into a mirror, see more plainly the soils
and stains upon our face; and even so as the interior light of the Holy
Spirit enlightens our conscience, we see more distinctly the sins,
inclinations and imperfections which hinder our progress towards real
devotion. And the selfsame light which shows us these blots and stains,
kindles in us the desire to be cleansed and purged therefrom. You will
find then, my child, that besides the mortal sins and their affections
from which your soul has already been purged, you are beset by sundry
inclinations and tendencies to venial sin; mind, I do not say you will
find venial sins, but the inclination and tendency to them. Now, one is
quite different from the other. We can never be altogether free from
venial sin,--at least not until after a very long persistence in this
purity; but we can be without any affection for venial sin. It is
altogether one thing to have said something unimportant not strictly
true, out of carelessness or liveliness, and quite a different matter
to take pleasure in lying, and in the habitual practice thereof. But I
tell you that you must purify your soul from all inclination to venial
sin;--that is to say, you must not voluntarily retain any deliberate
intention of permitting yourself to commit any venial sin whatever. It
would be most unworthy consciously to admit anything so displeasing to
God, as the will to offend Him in anywise. Venial sin, however small,
is displeasing to God, although it be not so displeasing as the greater
sins which involve eternal condemnation; and if venial sin is
displeasing to Him, any clinging which we tolerate to mortal sin is
nothing less than a resolution to offend His Divine Majesty. Is it
really possible that a rightly disposed soul can not only offend God,
but take pleasure therein?
I write this as dawn breaks, and when one first wakes up one's thoughts
should be on God, giving Him the new day. Venial sins weaken the will,
allow bad habits to fester, and usually come from the predominant fault,
which must be destroyed.
These inclinations, my daughter, are in direct opposition to devotion,
as inclinations to mortal sin are to love:--they weaken the mental
power, hinder Divine consolations, and open the door to
temptations;--and although they may not destroy the soul, at least they
bring on very serious disease. "Dead flies cause the ointment to send
forth a stinking savour," says the Wise Man. [23] He means that the
flies which settle upon and taste of the ointment only damage it
temporarily, leaving the mass intact, but if they fall into it, and die
there, they spoil and corrupt it. Even so venial sins which pass over a
devout soul without being harboured, do not permanently injure it, but
if such sins are fostered and cherished, they destroy the sweet savour
of that soul--that is to say, its devotion. The spider cannot kill
bees, but it can spoil their honey, and so encumber their combs with
its webs in course of time, as to hinder the bees materially. Just so,
though venial sins may not lose the soul, they will spoil its devotion,
and so cumber its faculties with bad habits and evil inclinations, as
to deprive it of all that cheerful readiness which is the very essence
of true devotion; that is to say, if they are harboured in the
conscience by delight taken therein. A trifling inaccuracy, a little
hastiness in word or action, some small excess in mirth, in dress, in
gaiety, may not be very important, if these are forthwith heeded and
swept out as spiritual cobwebs;--but if they are permitted to linger in
the heart, or, worse still, if we take pleasure in them and indulge
them, our honey will soon be spoilt, and the hive of our conscience
will be cumbered and damaged. But I ask again, how can a generous heart
take delight in anything it knows to be displeasing to its God, or wish
to do what offends Him?
Talking too much, eating snacks which are not necessary, too much entertainment,
which should not be daily, wasting time, buying unnecessary items, buying lottery tickets,
and so on are imperfections and could be venial sins. So-called "white lies", disobedience
which is hidden, not saying daily prayers, not reading Scripture daily, harboring offenses,
these are all venial sins.
CHAPTER XXIII. It is needful to put away all Inclination for Useless and
Dangerous Things.
SPORTS, balls, plays, festivities, pomps, are not in themselves evil,
but rather indifferent matters, capable of being used for good or ill;
but nevertheless they are dangerous, and it is still more dangerous to
take great delight in them. Therefore, my daughter, I say that although
it is lawful to amuse yourself, to dance, dress, feast, and see seemly
plays,--at the same time, if you are much addicted to these things,
they will hinder your devotion, (shopping, computer games, tv,
curiosity, talking about other people, interior critical spirit, not
order in the house, snacking, too much make-up or any, immodesty,
even in a small way, not dressing for Mass, and so on....)
and become extremely hurtful and
dangerous to you. The harm lies, not in doing them, but in the degree
to which you care for them. It is a pity to sow the seed of vain and
foolish tastes in the soil of your heart, taking up the place of better
things, and hindering the soul from cultivating good dispositions. It
was thus that the Nazarites of old abstained not merely from all
intoxicating liquors, but from grapes fresh or dried, and from vinegar,
not because these were intoxicating, but because they might excite the
desire for fermented liquors. Just so, while I do not forbid the use of
these dangerous pleasures, I say that you cannot take an excessive
delight in them without their telling upon your devotion. When the stag
has waxed fat he hides himself amid the thicket, conscious that his
fleetness is impaired should he be in need to fly: and so the human
heart which is cumbered with useless, superfluous, dangerous clingings
becomes incapacitated for that earnest following after God which is the
true life of devotion. No one blames children for running after
butterflies, because they are children, but is it not ridiculous and
pitiful to see full-grown men eager about such worthless trifles as the
worldly amusements before named, which are likely to throw them off
their balance and disturb their spiritual life? Therefore, dear child,
I would have you cleanse your heart from all such tastes, remembering
that while the acts themselves are not necessarily incompatible with a
devout life, all delight in them must be harmful.
Too many peter pans and peter pams will never become holy because they are
obsessed with trivialities.
CHAPTER XXIV. All Evil Inclinations must be purged away.
FURTHERMORE, my daughter, we have certain natural inclinations, which
are not strictly speaking either mortal or venial sins, but rather
imperfections; and the acts in which they take shape, failings and
deficiencies. Thus S. Jerome says that S. Paula had so strong a
tendency to excessive sorrow, that when she lost her husband and
children she nearly died of grief: that was not a sin, but an
imperfection, since it did not depend upon her wish and will. Some
people are naturally easy, some oppositions; some are indisposed to
accept other men's opinions, some naturally disposed to be cross, some
to be affectionate--in short, there is hardly any one in whom some such
imperfections do not exist. Now, although they be natural and
instinctive in each person, they may be remedied and corrected, or even
eradicated, by cultivating the reverse disposition. And this, my child,
must be done. Gardeners have found how to make the bitter almond tree
bear sweet fruit, by grafting the juice of the latter upon it, why
should we not purge out our perverse dispositions and infuse such as
are good? There is no disposition so good but it may be made bad by
dint of vicious habits, and neither is there any natural disposition so
perverse but that it may be conquered and overcome by God's Grace
primarily, and then by our earnest diligent endeavour. I shall
therefore now proceed to give you counsels and suggest practices by
which you may purify your soul from all dangerous affections and
imperfections, and from all tendencies to venial sin, thereby
strengthening yourself more and more against mortal sin. May God give
you grace to use them.
Purification cannot be ignored. Using the stress and daily activities for purification is
one way of changing. Not complaining about anything is one way of purification, as
is gratitude-being thankful for water, food, work and so on.
We live in the West in an entitlement society which affects even the best people, who think
they deserve the best or this or that. Look at your tendencies and you will find your
flaws.
to be continued....
