26 



SIN 



St. Augustine says : "Which sins are venial and 

 which are mortal can be ascertained only from 

 Sacred Scripture, not from human wisdom." 29 

 And St. Thomas : "It is perilous to decide as to 

 the grievous character of a sin unless we have a 

 positive teaching to go by." 30 St. Raymond of 

 Pennafort, whom the Church honors as "the emi- 

 nent minister of the Sacrament of Penance," ad- 

 vises confessors to go slow in deciding any sin 

 to be grievous, lest they discourage their peni- 

 tents. 31 



A conscientious Catholic will strive to avoid 

 all sins, venial as well as mortal. 32 



29 Enchiridion, c. 78: "Quae sint 

 levia, quae gravia peccata, non hu- 

 mono, scd divino sunt pensanda iudi- 

 cio." (Migne, P. L., XL, 269). — 

 Cfr. ibid., c. 79: "Sunt quaedam, 

 quae lerissima putarentur, nisi in 

 Scripturis demonstrarentur opinione 

 gravia." (P. L., XL, 270). — Idem, 

 De Civ. Dei, XXI, c. 27, n. 5: 

 "Quae sint ipsa peccata, quae ita im- 

 pediunt pcrventionem ad regnum 

 Dei, ut tamen sanctorum mcritis 

 impetrent indulgentiam, di/Hcillimum 

 est invenire, periculosissimum dcfi- 

 nire. Ego certe usque ad hoc tem- 

 pus, quum inde satagerem, ad eorum 

 indaginem pervenire non potui." {P. 

 L., XLI, 750). — The reason why God 

 left this question unsolved, St. Au- 

 gustine finds in the salutary admo- 

 nition to avoid all sins: "Et for- 

 tassis propterea latent, ne studium 

 proficiendi ad omnia peccata cavenda 

 pigrcscat. . . . Nunc vero dum 

 z-enialis iniquitas, etiamsi perse~seret, 

 ignoratur modus, profccto et studium 

 in meliora prodciendi orationi in- 



stando vigilantius adhibetur." 

 (Ibid.) 



SO Quodlibet., IX, art. 15: 

 "Omnis quaestio, in qua de peccato 

 mortali quaeritur, nisi exprcssa 

 Veritas habeatur, periculose deter- 

 minatur." — Cfr. J. Gerson, De Vita 

 Spirit., lect. 4: "Doctores theologi 

 non debent esse faciles ad asseren- 

 dum, aliqua peccata esse mortalia, ubi 

 non sunt certissimi de re, nam per 

 huiusmodi asscrtiones rigidas in re- 

 bus universis nequaquam eriguntur 

 homines a luto peccatorum, sed in 

 Mud profundius, quia desperatius, 

 demerguntur." 



31 "Unum consulo, quod non sis 

 nimis promts iudicare mortalia pec- 

 cata, ubi tibi non constat per cer- 

 tain scripturam, . . . alias possent 

 induci homines in desperationem." 

 (L. 3, tit. de Poenit. et Rem., § 21.) 

 — Cfr. M. Alphonsus, Homo Apost., 

 tr. 16, n. 118; J. E. Pruner, Moral- 

 theologie. Vol. I, 3rd ed., p. 189. 



32 Cfr. St. Augustine, De Bapt., 

 II, c. 6, n. 9: "Non afferamus 



