OCCASIONS OF SIN 



49 



2. Practical Hints. — As a general rule it is 

 forbidden to seek an occasion of sin, even though 

 it be only remote, for "He that loveth danger 

 shall perish in it." 54 On the other hand no man 

 is bound to avoid all remote occasions, for this is 

 impossible. 55 But every man is strictly bound : 



a) To avoid all proximate and voluntary oc- 

 casions of (grievous) sin, and also those morally 

 necessary occasions that entail immediate danger 

 (occasiones in esse). 5G It is a mortal sin to ex- 

 pose oneself voluntarily and without necessity 

 to the danger of committing a mortal sin or to 

 remain inactive towards such danger in a case 

 of necessity, even though the sin be not commit- 

 ted, for to remain voluntarily in the proximate 

 occasion of sin is deliberately to choose evil. In- 

 nocent XI condemned the proposition that it is 

 licit to absolve a man who remains in the proxi- 

 mate occasion of mortal sin, though able to get 

 away from it. 57 



b) If a man finds himself in a morally neces- 



Ps., 50, n. 3: "Mulier longe, libido 

 prope. Alibi erat quod [David] vi- 

 deret, in illo unde caderet." (P. L., 

 XXXVI, 587)- 



64 Ecclus. Ill, 27. 



65 Cfr. 1 Cor. V, 9-10; John 

 XVII, is. 



66 Cfr. Prov. VI, 27-28; XVIII, 

 6-10; Matth. V, 29-30; Mark IX, 

 41-46. 



57 Prop. Damnat. sub Innocentio 

 XI, n. 61: "Potest aliquando ab- 

 solve qui in proximo, occasione pec- 



candi versatur, quatn potest et non 

 vult omittere, quinimo directe et 

 ex proposito quaerit aut ex se in- 

 gerit." No. 62: "Proximo, occasio 

 peccandi non est fugienda, quando 

 causa aliqua utilis aut honesta non 

 fugiendi occurrit." No. 63 : "Licitum 

 est quaerere directe occasionem pro- 

 ximam peccandi pro bono spvrituali 

 vel temporali nostro vel proximi." 

 (Denzinger-Bannwart, Enchiridion, 

 n. 1078-1080). 



