Retreat
Notes
Theme:
The Capital
Sins
Retreat given
by,
Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi,
OCD
Before it is possible to talk
about the Capital Sins, it is necessary to have a bit of a background. To begin with, we need to have some
notion of what we mean by a sin.
But a sin itself belongs to a larger category, which happens to be human
acts or human activity. So we have
to have some idea of what we mean by a human act, or human
activity. And in speaking of
human activity, we realize that ordinarily all activity is usually oriented
toward certain goals or ends, effects, of which the activity is the
cause. And so finally to freely
understand what is meant by sin, we should have some knowledge of the final goal
of individual human activity.
Now where does all this
knowledge, this idea about final goals and human acts come from?
Many of them come from reflecting
and meditating upon common experience, and from human beings comparing the
results of their own reflections upon experience with others.
Thus we are able to come to some
pretty basic conclusions, which we can state as ends or axioms, that is, they
cannot really be proved, because they are so basic. They are rather,
self-evident.
The first of these
is:
I. Whenever we act with
freedom and deliberation, that is, voluntarily and knowing what we are doing, we
do so because we want to achieve a particular purpose or result. By saying free and deliberate,
voluntarily and knowingly, we are speaking of the “human acts” mentioned above
as a category to which also sinful acts belong. And we can state also, as a datum of
common experience that,
II. We often perform
human acts for more than one purpose - for the attainment of (1) immediate, (2)
short term, and (3) long-term goals.
All of which goals are inter-related. Furthermore we can state that whenever
we choose to act in a human way (as opposed to instinct as in yielding to force
or duress),
III. The goals or
ends of our human behavior always appear to us as something good or
desirable. But how do we
know that a goal we wish to attain is good or desirable? Because, as common human experience
tells us, the good gives rise to a subjective feeling or sense of
“happiness”. Or as it has been
called for centuries possessing that good causes a kind of Blessedness in
us. So, even though the ordinary
goal of human activity is the attainment of an objective good outside ourselves,
we can never separate that from the subjective goal of experiencing that
happiness or Blessedness.
Now one of the realities or facts
of human existence is that we can easily be convinced or convince ourselves that
certain definite objective goals, which appear desirable and good are going to
result in our experiencing happiness or blessedness, but that when we attain
them, we discover that they haven’t made us happy. And so it happens that we humans need to
be instructed about what goals or ends are going to give us that sense of
happiness and blessedness.
Furthermore, whether we realize it or not, we are all striving for some
good end that will make us happy and blessed not just a little while, but for
always.
As you know, all kinds of people
are out there in the world representing themselves as knowing and being able to
guide others to what will make them happy and blessed forever. But because so many of them present
goals that are incompatible among themselves, it is obvious that not all of them
can be right.
But we Catholics are very
fortunate because we know that God, Himself, has told us, instructed us, as to
where true and lasting happiness lies, and that teaching is handed on to us
through the Church. And so we are
taught that the eternal happiness or blessedness of all human beings cannot be
found in creatures, whether they be external goods such as riches, dignities,
honors, fame, power, glory, nor are they to be found in goods of the body such
as health, strength, beauty, vigor, sensual enjoyment and pleasure, (of
themselves are tools).
Neither can lasting happiness be found in the goods of the soul such as
intelligence or knowledge or technical or artistic skills, nor does it consist
in all of these taken together (also tools). The reason being of course is that they
don’t last.
Thus, we know that the only good
that will give us that perfect, long-lasting, permanent happiness, one that
cannot be lost, is the uncreated source of all created good, God Himself, the
Supreme, eternal, Uncreated Infinite Good.
We can speak of Formal
Blessedness. This consists in
the most perfect possible knowledge of God and Love of God of which the human
person is capable. But this
beatitude is not a natural happiness, such as would be similar to the happiness
of knowing and loving a good person, another human being, but a supernatural
happiness, one based upon knowing and loving God through the immediate, direct
vision of the Divine Essence or nature, such that we become like Him and share
His own supernatural eternal life and happiness.
Although the Life and Blessedness
of God is Love, nevertheless for us it begins with the Vision of God, which in
turn causes us to love God, since love is based on knowledge. The vision takes place in the intellect,
because we cannot love what we do not know, (or experience through our
senses). And there is a special
created light of glory which enables us to know God; see God as He is in
Himself.
Now the effects of this
supernatural Vision of God is such that we cannot lose it. We realize that there is no true good
apart from God, and because that Good is so utterly satisfying, we cannot
possibly wish or will to be separated from it, and so this Blessedness makes the
beholder utterly incapable of sinning.
Also, because the vision of God
takes place in the intellect, and because there is special “light” of glory
imparted to it, which is a supernatural, spiritual entity, given to enable the
human intellect to see it, the body and soul do not have to be united in order
for a person to experience this lasting, non-losable blessedness. However, since the integrity and
perfection of human nature requires the union of body and soul, then blessedness
will be perfectly imparted through the Resurrection of the Body.
Now, how do we human beings
obtain this Blessedness? Well, as
we have said, (or should have said) God created us with an instinct or an inborn
appetite or desire, yearning for Goodness and Truth and Beauty. Such that we find things we perceive
as Beauty, Truth and Goodness irresistible, and so we
go after them. Thus, they become the objects of our human
activity, i.e., to gain possession of them. Now there is such a thing as a
natural blessedness but this is not enough because it is confined to this
life, and we know our lives on earth will end. Therefore, we sense instinctively that
natural happiness does not satisfy and cannot be satisfying. This indicates that we do have a
native instinct for supernatural, eternal blessedness - or as St.
Augustine said: Thou has created us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are
restless until they rest in Thee.
However, even though we cannot
experience supernatural blessedness which in this life, we really and truly
can attain a state of soul, a disposition of soul in this life
that guarantees we will experience the Beatific Vision in the next
life. And this state of soul
is directly acquired by our human
activity. I say guarantees
we will experience it. It
would be better to say guarantees that God will bestow it upon us. We have this as His Promise and this
Blessedness is also known as Eternal Life.
My text book stresses this very
beautiful doctrine which we already know: Life on earth, insofar as it will
one day come to an end, is not the state of ultimate perfection and happiness,
but the road by which we are supposed to use to travel or tend toward it in
virtue of our [human] activity. For the purpose of undertaking and
successfully completing that journey God provides us with several means or
helps:
1. We have, in regard
to our natural end because of these roads coincide for the most
part
(temporal
happiness).
(a) Internal means: that is, our very human nature with its faculties,
especially reason and
free will, and also the acquired moral virtues, which are moved by
a “natural” help given by God.
(b) External means: human society, whose function and purpose (intended
by God) is to help
all human beings to attain both temporal and spiritual (natural)
good. Natural truth,
Beauty and
Goodness.
2. To help us conduct
ourselves in this present life so as to attain our supernatural end, God gives
us also:
(a) Appropriate
internal means, supernatural grace:
(1) habitual or sanctifying grace with (2) the infused theological and
moral virtues, and (3) the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all of which come in a package so to speak; and
also actual graces (helps) both for the mind and the will together with a
special movement or “nudging” by the Holy Spirit.
(b) The external means: a
supernatural society - The Church - of which Christ is the
founder
and Head, and which was
given to us human beings specifically to enable us to attain our
supernatural beatitude, or
rather the disposition of soul, or state of soul I spoke of
earlier
which God will infallibly
confer it when this life is over.
The Church does this by means of
Doctrine, laws and
Sacraments, principally, and other means of conferring grace.
At the beginning and throughout
we have spoken of human acts. Now
we have to consider some facts about human activity, rather, we have to try to
understand the nature of “human” acts.
Although we human beings do
things, we function, and conduct ourselves in many different ways and although
things happen to us and take place within us in virtue of our being living
animated organisms, not all of them can be considered “human” in the strict
sense.
By agreement, we consider only
those acts to be “human” of which each individual is in some way the owner. That is, subject to his control. Uncontrollable and uncontrolled
activities by definition, are not “human”.
To be so, we must be able to take credit for, or to be blamed for
them.
We control our acts, own them,
when they proceed from a deliberate will or choice. Any other would not be considered action
proper to us as human beings.
Another way of saying it: Voluntary acts based upon reason. My text calls the others among the
latter “acts of man.”
Among the latter: Actions in
common with beasts: based on instinct, or just automatic like breathing, acts of
a child not yet at the age of reason; of a sleepwalker, or done during sleep, or
while completely drunk; acts of a hypnotized person. Also, acts done while completely
distracted, reflex acts, first movements of the passions.
Certain of those acts may become
human: if done with awareness and for a definite purpose. Eat, drink, think, speak, walk,
“Beatific love” - flows from the beatific vision: not a human
act. (Thought, reflexive,
instinctive, spontaneous, there is purpose - but put there by
God.
What then, are the properties of
a human act? Since only those acts
are “human” that have a bearing upon our “perfection” as made in God’s
image and likeness, they require the cooperation of the intellect and the
will.
The cooperation of the intellect
is required because there has to be conscious awareness of alternative modes of
acting in a certain situation, and particularly of the relationship between each
of those alternative modes of acting with the proper end and goal of our
existence as human beings (natural image and likeness of God) and as children of
God by adoption. The goal of course
is natural and supernatural perfection, and the proposed alternatives
would either bring us closer to, or farther from, perfection, or would be
indifferent. The cooperation of the will is required, obviously, because we are
free in choosing only when there is no coercion or anything else which
impedes or blocks the full use of free will.
So that is what is meant by
saying that we own and control our actions or deeds only when they proceed from
a voluntary, deliberate choice, and are based on reason. All human acts are
therefore either moral or immoral, depending upon whether they are
in conformity with our proper end: blessedness, or not. All human acts are
imputible, they are assigned to a particular, individual free agent, or
free agents working together, as the acts of that person or group
of persons.
And because they have both the
aspects of morality and imputability, they are meritorious: they are
either worthy of praise or of blame, of credit or debit. That is, human acts cause the person who
performs them to be worthy of either a reward or a punishment.
Although there are quite a few
principles that govern the discernment of the morality of human conduct, that
is, whether certain acts are intrinsically good, or intrinsically evil, or
indifferent, and how “circumstances” can affect the discernment process, I do
believe that the foregoing is adequate before speaking about the Capital
Sins. Only human acts can be
sins; and only those human acts are sins which either turn us away from our
final goal, or which impede or slow down our progress.
The reason we can talk of
Capital Sins is because it is possible for one sin to be the cause
of another.
One sin can be the cause
of another because it predisposes and paves the way for other sins. Greed, for example, prepares the way for
quarrels, cheating, etc.
In a more general way, any sin
predisposes for further sins by either depriving of grace, or by cooling the
ardor of charity. (Mortal and
venial respectively), which in turn cause selfishness and self-will
(rebelliousness) to increase and thus lead to other disorders or
predispose to further disorder.
Still in a general way - any sin
predisposes to further sins of the same kind - after one sin of theft, it
becomes easier to steal again, etc.
One further way that one sin is
the cause of another is that in order to commit sin A, which is the principle
sin someone wants to commit, he cannot do so unless he commits sin B. In that sense, Sin A becomes the cause
of sin B, even though sin B had to be committed first.
And it is in this sense that we
speak of the Capital sins. The word
comes from caput, capitis, which means “head” and the capital sins are “heads”
in the sense that they command and direct and take the lead in causing certain
other sins to be committed.
Ever since the time of Pope St.
Gregory, it has been generally accepted that there are seven capital
sins. And the way that has been
determined is by considering (1) what those things are that give a human so much
gratification that he is tempted to do anything, however disorderly and
therefore sinful, in order to obtain that gratification. (2) what those things are that cause so
much discomfort or pain that a person is tempted to do anything, no matter how
disorderly (and therefore sinful) it is, to escape that discomfort and
pain.
It is generally agreed among
moral (Catholic) theologians who teach the approved moral doctrine of the Church
(which of course is based on Divine Revelation) that there are four kinds of
goods or pleasures which are so gratifying as to be the object which give rise
to certain Capital sins.
The FIRST of these is the
gratification that comes from receiving honor and praise as someone altogether
above and superior to others with regard to some attribute or achievement. And the Capital sin which commands other
sins to be committed to obtain that praise and honor is called
VAINGLORY.
The SECOND of these is the
gratification which is obtained by eating and drinking, the gratification of
taste, which God attaches to food and drink so that we will use them to support
our human life and health and strength.
The sin, the disorder which seeks the gratification of taste for its own
sake, or which exceeds due limits, is called GLUTTONY.
The THIRD of these is the
gratification that comes from engaging in sexual intercourse and from certain
activities that prepare for sexual intercourse. Again God attached this gratification to
the use of generative faculties to insure the propagation of the human
race. And the Capital sin which
seeks that kind of gratification for it’s own sake or in a manner or measure not
intended by God is called LUST.
The FOURTH and final
gratification that human beings tend to seek after so passionately that they are
often willing to commit other sins to obtain it, is that which comes from
possessing material goods, money and great wealth in particular. The name of this Capital sin is
AVARICE, or GREED.
We turn now to the three kinds of
discomfort or pain or displeasure that are great enough to tend to cause human
beings to commit sin rather than to endure those kinds of sufferings (or evils)
(the gratifications are interpreted as “goods”).
The first of these, and
this gives rise to the FIFTH Capital sin is the physical labor and effort and
struggle involved in working out one’s salvation, and promoting their own
spiritual welfare. The name of this
Capital sin, which can cause one to commit sin in order to escape the hard work
required, is called SLOTH.
The second kind of these
sufferings or discomforts which give rise to the SIXTH Capital sin is
that which has to do with seeing others surpass oneself in excellence in any way
and thus seeing others receive the honor and glory and praise which we all
naturally desire. This sin, which
inclines human beings to commit other sins, rather than see themselves surpassed
is called ENVY.
There is no specific third and
final kind of suffering other than the physical and mental suffering and
discomfort already mentioned, except that in addition to the labor and fatigue
necessary to maintain ourselves spiritually healthy, that is in the state of
grace and charity, there is also the pain that is inflicted upon our bodies by
other agents, which not only hurt but could wound and even kill. But there is a SEVENTH Capital
sin which inclines a human being to commit sin in order to ward off imminent
threat of harm whether of body or of spirit (ego) and that sin is
ANGER.
And so we have the seven Capital
sins: VAINGLORY (or VANITY), GLUTTONY, LUST, GREED (or AVARICE), SLOTH, ENVY,
and ANGER.
Now though these are Capital sins
because they command and direct and cause other sins, they are not the
greatest of sins or the most grievous, necessarily. Because these have to do more with our
own humanity directly, they are not as serious as disorders in our relationship
with God through Faith, Hope and Charity, or which are violations of our
obligations to God.
Some of you are surely wondering
why the sin of PRIDE is not listed among the Capital SINS. After all, it was a sin of Pride that,
historically speaking, has given rise to all subsequent sin, namely the sin of
Pride committed by the devil and his fallen angels, and by Adam and Eve, our
first parents. And in addition,
Pride is capable of causing every other sin without exception, in that there is
no length to which really sinfully proud people will go in order to prevent
their pride from being wounded, or to avenge their wounded pride. So really PRIDE is much more than a
Capital sin, which we have seen to exercise the role of commander or director of
only certain other sins. Pride is
rather the Mother and the Queen of all other sins, including the
Capital sins.
Also, some of you may remember
that St. Paul teaches, in his letter to Timothy, (I Tim. 6:10) that
covetousness or love of money, that is GREED, is the root
of all evil. How can we reconcile
that revealed doctrine with the assertion that Pride is the true cause of
every sin?
There are different ways of
trying to show that there is only an apparent conflict between the two
statements and that both are true.
One explanation says that love of
money or greed disposes one to commit sin in the sense of
nourishing (like do the roots of plants) sinful deeds by making it
possible (i.e., having money) to commit sins, or better, to get anything one
wants. It is said “money talks”,
while there is a Latin saying, “Everything obeys money.”
Along these same lines, it is
said that riches (love of money) nourishes the desire and
inclination to all kinds of sins because the one who possesses great
wealth becomes aware that he can do pretty much what he pleases because
he can afford it.
Insofar as Avarice command the
commission of other sins to get material goods, including money, it is a
CAPITAL. But insofar as Avarice or
Love of Money enables one to commit other sins, it is not considered a
Capital Sin, but the root of that sin.
Pride and
Vainglory
Now having said all that (I’ve
taken all this from my Moral Theology Textbook) the author treats of Pride and
Vainglory as if they were the same thing or at least very closely
related.
Pride, he says, is the inordinate
(or disorderly) craving for personal, that is, one’s own excellence (or
supremacy).
It is a “craving” because it
resides in the will, our faculty of desire as well as the faculty which
“loves” and “commands”. In fact,
“desire” is a fundamental component of “LOVE”.
It is a disorderly
craving, because the desire to have attributes of QUALITY or EXCELLENCE is not
in itself disorderly. It is not
wrong to want to be an excellent father or mother, an excellent teacher or
singer, or craftsman, or professional person. It is not a sin merely to want to be an
excellent Catholic, even so excellent as to be a saint. So the disorderliness comes in ONLY when
one desires or believes oneself to
possess, an EXCELLENCE that goes
beyond the limit of possibility or beyond the natural or supernatural
capacity of the individual.
The disordinate craving
for excellence can therefore be of two kinds. What we’ve just mentioned is called a
disordinate craving for absolute excellence. There can also be the disordinate desire
for relative excellence, that is, compared to other persons. But generally Pride is the inordinate or
disorderly craving to be above and greater than anyone or
anything.
Considered in the abstract, Pride
is a very serious sin because the proud man exalts himself above and beyond what
he is in truth, above and beyond the limits established by God in creating each
person. After all, we are
finite beings, we have certain measures of talent and ability and
excellence. Thus a proud man
implicitly is guilty of contempt for God, and implicitly guilty of rebelling
against the norms God has established for us His human creatures. In other words, Pride destroys Charity,
by means of which our wills are one with God’s will for us. Because Pride destroys charity, it
separates one from God and is therefore a Mortal Sin.
According to St. Gregory the
Great, there are four distinct ways in which a sin of Pride may be
committed:
1. thinking that all
the good qualities and other goods that one possesses are from oneself,
rather
than from God or acting as if one
were the author of all the goods one has or is.
2. thinking that “yes, I have all these good
qualities and things from God, but because I deserve them”; God owes me those
good things, or again, acting as if one had somehow merited all that one is
or has.
3. by (attributing to oneself) [considering
oneself to have, from God] good qualities and talents that one does
not have, and
4. in those things that one really does
have from God (i.e., acknowledging same) desiring to be preferred to others, or
at least desiring to have them considered by others as greater than they really
are.
The first two naturally and
implicitly include contempt for God by simply dismissing Him from the
picture. The second two do
not dismiss Him or fail to acknowledge Him as source of one’s good, and
therefore are ordinarily venial sins.
The first two are ordinarily mortal sins.
As we stated above, Pride is the
Mother and Queen of all sins.
Nevertheless, there are certain sins which are so closely related to
Pride that they are called the daughters of Pride, because each of them
has some-thing to do with a disordinate affection, desire or belief in one’s own
excellence. These daughter sins
more frequently and more directly flow from Pride, and more closely serve the
interests of Pride. They
are:
1. Presumption
- defined as the inordinate appetite for excellence in one’s deeds or accomplishments,
and consists in one’s undertaking projects that exceed his abilities.
(Obviously this is not the same as the presumption that is a sin against
Hope, the supernatural virtue.
That presumption is also related to Pride because one thinks, “Oh I’m
so great, so excellent, that no matter what I do, God has to admit
me to Heaven”. The other sin
against Hope, “despair” is also related to Pride because one thinks,
at least implicitly, “Oh, I am so great, that my sins are too
great to forgive, “That is, God’s mercy cannot match my sins in greatness,
such that God is
2. Ambition - the
inordinate (disorderly) desire for dignities and honors (that is, offices
or positions), which one has not merited,
or beyond one’s merits.
3. Vainglory -
which is the FIRST of the seven Capital Sins and it is the inordinate desire
for an external manifestation of one’s excellence.
(all
three of the above are in themselves venial sins, because they do not leave
God out of the picture - as we said before.
But they become mortal when they result in deeds grievously harmful
to others, or when one is prepared to commit mortal sins to achieve their
objectives).
The Capital Sin, VAINGLORY, is
therefore an inordinate craving for fame and glory (external things), that is,
an empty show of glory, so as to impress others with an admiration of one’s
excellence, whether real or fictitious.
This tends to take place in three
ways:
(a) seeking
glory in something that is not deserving of honor or glory, such as in something
evil, false, phony, that is, fictitious, and of little account in most people’s
estimation.
(b) by
seeking to impress and be admired by people who really aren’t capable of
discerning what is worthy of praise: the simple, uneducated, etc.
(c) by
seeking and not referring honor and glory, praise and fame to its proper end,
namely, to the glory of God, the spiritual welfare of others or to one’s own
spiritual good.
The most common sins that are
commanded by or directed (orchestrated) by VAINGLORY are seven in number and are
called its daughters:
1. by boasting - by extolling one’s
self. This is a sin because it
usually includes lying, but particularly because it is always a lack of
humility.
2. by doing things in strange or odd or new
and different ways: dressing to attract attention; (presumption of
novelties).
3. by hypocrisy -
doing something to give the appearance of being good, when really, one is not
good.
All the above
are direct ways of seeking indirectly, or sought by refusing to yield in
the presence of those more worthy of admiration.
4. by means of obstinacy in holding
on to one’s own opinion in a discussion, despite the evidence that another’s
mind is superior.
5. by means of creating discord,
i.e., refusing to be of one will with others, or working at cross purposes
instead of peaceably with others.
6. by being
contentious - that is arguing, contradicting, criticizing, finding fault
with, bad-mouthing, etc.
7. by disobedience, in the sense of wanting
to give the impression of knowing better than the Superior, or that one deserves
some sort of exception or better treatment from the Superior.
(How effect human
relationships?)
(Can we detect any of these in
ourselves?)
In considering the remaining
Capital Sins I’m going to follow the order in which they are treated in my
textbook rather than the order in which I listed them in the last
conference. Probably because it is
not only a Capital sin, but also the root of all evil, it next deals with
GREED.
Greed, as you know, is the
inordinate desire (desire is a kind of love) for wealth. By wealth is meant all external goods,
material things, temporal goods, which are useful to human beings or beneficial,
and thus can be assigned a monetary value.
Greed or avarice can be of two
kinds, (l) the disorderly desire to obtain and possess things of value without
earning or deserving them in some way.
This is contrary to justice and can be a serious sin. (2) a disorderly affection for, or
attachment to, money or things of value by means of which they are loved or
desired beyond their true value, or by means of which one takes his pleasure and
delight in money and material goods.
My author says that this is usually a venial sin, unless one is inclined
to commit mortal sin in order to get joy and pleasure out of being wealthy, and
unless one makes money his or her god, and final end, i.e. seeks beatitude in
wealth.
As a Capital sin and therefore
one which commands and directs the committing of other sins, Greed or Avarice
frequently gives rise to seven other sins, and these are called its
daughters.
Insofar as greed causes one to be
disorderly or immoderate in holding on to wealth, there is (a) hardness of
heart or inhumanity by means of which one closes his heart to the
sufferings of the needy and refuses to be merciful by going to their aid, in
giving alms. Though here we have in
mind chiefly refusing to use one’s material resources to relieve the misery of
others, at times we see cases where a person loves money so much that he will
not even use it to relieve his own personal misery. As you know, these are called misers,
who generally live amidst filth and squalor, and who hoard their money because
they can’t stand the thought of surrendering it to the control of others, i.e.,
by putting it in a bank or investing it.
These would be the ones whom we can say have made money their god, and
seek their beatitude in its possession.
Insofar as greed causes one to be
disorderly or immoderate in obtaining material goods of value, there arises -
(2) restlessness and anxiety and unnecessary exertion in acquiring
what is useful or necessary to supply one’s needs of body. We have an example of this in the Sermon
on the Mount (Matt. 6:25-34). Where
Jesus tells us not to be anxious or worried about the life of our bodies, worry
over what we are to eat or drink or wear, etc. Thus, this kind of worry is opposed to
child-like-ness, and which causes one to be in the Kingdom of
God. Then it is that the Lord sees
to it that we have all that we really need for the lives of our
bodies.
(3) A further effect of greed is
that it will command acts of violence, whenever it appears that the
desired material goods are being withheld, whether or not one is entitled to the
things of value. Robbery, of course
is an example of this child of greed.
Still another would be (5)
lying or making false representations in order to acquire money or
goods. This would be a sin found in
merchants or vendors of any kind.
If such a person goes further and swears before God that the false
pretenses are really true, then the sin becomes (5) perjury. And when one does things to
deceive and cheat another out of money or goods, that is called (6)
fraud. Then finally, there
is (7) betrayal, when one will deliver another up to either his enemies
or deliver him up to some kind of suffering or evil circumstances in order to
make money.
The next Capital Sin we now
consider is LUST. It is, as we
mentioned, an inordinate desire for sexual or venereal pleasure. This is perhaps the strongest of
“natural” human desires, and can be so strong in certain circumstances that it
can hinder, if not completely block the use of reason and free will. Thus it can be the cause of very
disorderly conduct.
We are aware of artificially
created desires in our day and age such as addiction to drugs and alcohol, and
they, of course are even more powerful than the desire of Lust, since it seems
certain that addiction to drugs cause addicts to ignore other physical desires
altogether. However, Lust itself
can sometimes rise to the level of addiction. Maybe this is evidence of how much God
loves babies and wants to see the number of His human children
increase.
Many are the sins that arise out
of Lust. Actually, my author calls
them “vices” rather than sins, because these seem to be permanent dispositions
or states of soul in someone who does not want to restrain and control his or
her desire for sexual pleasure.
They are as follows:
(1). Intellectual blindness. This is a state of mind in which one
never thinks of spiritual realities, such
as God, the soul, the certainty of death, judgment, heaven and hell, and other
basic truths of our Catholic Christian Faith.
(2). It causes precipitation in that
it causes a lustful person to become the slave of physical desires to the extent
that one tends to give in to the desires right away, without giving the mind and
will a chance to intervene.
Because the mind is not given a chance to intervene, there is the effect of
(3). Inconsideration,
by which one fails to think about the consequences of his deeds, and the effect
they will have on his relationships, and whether or not they, the deeds, are in
accord with his or her state in life and other obligations to human
society. And closely related to all
of the former is
(4). Inconstancy. This is the inability to make a decision
and stick to it, especially when it comes to sticking to resolutions to escape
the influence of Lustful desires and to do good. Fickleness is a more common name for
inconstancy.
The net result of all these
daughters of Lust is that the virtue of Prudence cannot gain a foothold. Prudence is one of the Four Cardinal
virtues which are absolutely necessary for a person to achieve perfection as a
human being, and the infused Virtue of Prudence, or Prudence raised to the
supernatural level by the gift of Grace and the Holy Spirit, is absolutely
necessary for the baptized to attain perfection as Children of God by
adoption.
The “daughters” of Lust that
reside in the Will, the rational appetite are also four in number. There is:
(1).
Self-love or selfishness with respect to pleasures of sense. What this means is that pleasure
or pain become the final and sole determinant of conduct. That is - seek sense pleasure, avoid the
pain of sense.
(2). There is hatred of God insofar
as the commandments of God often prohibit the kinds of conduct which provide
the sought for pleasure and which often require the conduct that is painful
to the senses (or at least annoying).
(3). Love of the Present Life. This means affection for and attachment
to the pleasures of a physical nature that this life has to offer. The other side of the coin is the
(4). effect, or Horror of the next life.
Because quite often physical and sensual delights are incompatible
with the perception of and enjoyment of spiritual delights and spiritual goods,
a lustful person avoids them and may even
despise them.
In an interesting footnote, the
author says that lustful persons tend to betray themselves by their speech, as
Our Lord said: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Thus it is that lustful people tend to
have minds and imaginations full of impure thoughts, and not having the desire
or the ability to discipline themselves, tend to use “dirty” language and to
tell, and want to hear, dirty jokes.
The next Capital Sin is
GLUTTONY. As we
said, it is the disorderly desire to enjoy the delights of taste, and is usually
committed by immoderate or excessive taking of food and drink. In itself, it is not considered a
serious or mortal sin, although it can become one if one who is addicted to food
foresees or knows from experience that overeating does grave harm to one’s
health, and does so anyway.
Because the desire for pleasure
of taste is also a physical and sensual or sense pleasure, its effects or its
daughters tend to resemble or be related to the effects of lust, but to a much
lesser degree. Gluttony can also
impede the use of reason and will and the experience of ages shows that
immoderate eating and drinking, that is, giving in to the desire to enjoy
pleasure of taste also disposes one to give in more easily to temptations of the
flesh.
We have to be careful in talking
about gluttony, because almost everyone in our modern American society
over-eats. But mere over-eating
does not make one a glutton.
Practically all of us who overeat are always deploring the fact and we do
make sincere efforts to eat less or to eat more sensibly. But the real culprit is not a disorderly
affection or craving for food and drink, but rather our social customs and
practices. We tend to do all or
most of our socializing at the dinner table or over coffee, and while we are
busy fraternizing we tend to lose sight of how much we are eating. Another factor, also related to the
times we live in, is the fact that we will eat as a means of reducing the stress
of daily living, or of overcoming it, as when we break for coffee and a
snack.
So in going through this
following list of sins (disorders) caused by Gluttony, we have to keep in mind
that these apply to real gluttons, such as we read about existed among
the Romans after their civilization had become corrupt, and who gave themselves
up to first, Orgies of over-eating which were then followed up by sexual
orgies.
The first daughter of gluttony
then is (1) dullness of mind.
Clearly, this is not as bad as “blindness of mind” caused by Lust. Also, this dullness of mind is concerned
with ordinary mundane affairs, as well as with dullness concerning spiritual
truths, or the body tends to grow drowsy after one has over-eaten, so also the
mind grows drowsy and cannot function as well as it should and could. It is because of this effect of dullness
of mind that religious orders write into their Rules and obligation to practice
austerity at table. Fasting, or at
least moderation at meals, tends to sharpen the mind and opens the eyes of the
soul for clearer spiritual vision.
It didn’t occur to me earlier when talking about lust, but the reason why
Purity is such a valuable virtue to cultivate is that it is one of the best ways
to completely overcome spiritual blindness. As the Beatitude says: Blessed are the Pure of Heart, for
they shall see God. And
as we said when talking about the Beatitudes, We see God with the eyes of the
Heart!
Related to dullness of mind is
(2) inept cheerfulness. The
author says that because gluttony causes a wandering or distracted
mind, an undisciplined mind, gluttons tend to be blissfully unaware that things
are not going too well in their personal lives. Where they should be worried or
concerned, they are not, and go along as if things were just fine. I guess that is why we have the
expression: Fat, dumb and happy.
This expression shows that human experience corroborates what we have
just said about the effects of gluttony - that is - the state of soul it
produces.
These next three effects my
author lists I am reporting without fully understanding what he means. As the third effect, he lists in Latin
multiloquium, or “talking a lot”. He defines it as the inability to
hold one’s tongue. My own
personal experience can’t help me here because I really don’t know any gluttons,
so I have nothing to base an opinion upon.
I do know some people who talk a lot, but whom I would never dream of
accusing of being disorderly over-eaters.
Rather, as when talking about eating to overcome stress, (and to recover
some psychic energy, by the way) I think many people also feel the need to
communicate because it helps them cope with their stressful
lives.
The Fourth daughter is
“scurrility”. Scurrilous as
it is meant here does not mean what the English word does, which is:
given to low or vulgar speech, foul-mouthed. Rather, it has the Latin meaning of
“buffoonery” and has to do with external gestures. Perhaps, when applied to true gluttons,
it is analogous to being unable to control the tongue, such that one is unable
to control one’s gestures and the expressions on one’s face, so that the
disorderliness of the Capital sin of gluttony would show up in disorderly
movements or postures. I am just
trying to make educated guesses.
The Fifth and final of the
daughters of gluttony is said to be “un-cleanliness.” Again, the word has a special meaning as
applied to gluttons. It refers to
the fact that gluttons are prone to vomiting and so making a mess on themselves
or on their surroundings. I really
don’t see this as a sin or a vice in the true sense, because this would be a
case of the body trying to cope with a stomach that is too full and by natural
processes getting rid of the excess.
How influence human
relationships?
Do we detect any of this in
ourselves?
We’ve covered the First four of
the Capital Sins, all of which were concerned with what the intellect and will,
the ego, and the senses find attractive, interpret as “good” and which can be
the occasion of an inordinate “love” or craving. Now we turn our attention to the
remaining three, all of which have to do with certain things or experiences
which again, the mind and will, the ego, and the sense find painful and
abhorrent, so that instead of being attracted, they are repelled and try to
escape from them. They are, in
other words, interpreted as evil.
The first of these, the FIFTH of the seven Capital Sins is
ENVY.
As we stated when first
introducing all Seven, Envy is a disorderly sadness or sorrow or pain in
the presence of some good in the possession of another, and the cause of the
sadness or pain is the fact that this is interpreted as an evil inflicting
oneself, namely it casts a shadow upon, or eclipses, or diminishes one’s own
proper excellence, especially in the estimation of others. This is especially true in regards to
those good things or qualities, or abilities that generally evoke admiration in
other people, which are dignities that go with public office, being in a
position of special authority and power, titles or insignia of nobility, wealth,
beauty, splendid clothes and furniture, fame, eloquence, friends, virtues,
special expertise, even wisdom and happiness.
My author states that the sin of
envy is found particularly in ambitious people, people who crave to get
high up in the eyes of the world.
Also, he says, it is found among women, but he doesn’t try to explain
why, if indeed it is a true statement.
But let us suppose it is true, then maybe that is not an indication of a
defect in women, but is evidence of a very marvelous quality that
God has bestowed upon women much, much more so than upon men. And that is a woman’s capacity to love
and be for others. Thinking of
capacity to love in terms of size of one’s heart, it seems to me that women’s
hearts are very, very large and capable of sheltering within them many, many
persons. So unless a woman’s heart
is filled to the brim with people that she can love, she experiences pain and
sorrow. If we think about wonderful
and attractive qualities in a woman as things that enable her to draw people to
her so that she can place them in her heart to give her the joy of loving them,
then when it seems to her that good qualities in other women are going to
diminish the number of people she is able to draw to her own heart, it would
make her sad.
This very fact is true of God
Himself. I am not saying that God
is envious, but it does sadden Him (Jesus has attested to this in giving us
knowledge about His own Sacred Heart) when souls go to creatures rather than to
Himself, so that He can have the joy of effectively loving those
souls. I say effectively
loving because God cannot fail to love every soul because He is never lacking in
the desire to do what is best for souls, namely, to communicate Himself,
a share in His life and happiness to them.
But of course, God cannot infringe free will, so we human beings have to
freely permit Him to bestow His blessings upon us. When He actually is able to do that,
because we want Him to, that is when He effectively loves us. Now that is just an idea that occurs to
me to explain why my author claims women tend to be envious more so than
men. I wonder what you ladies
think about that assertion of my textbook?
But there is one other situation
that my author mentions that tends to evoke or provoke envy. He says it appears among folks who in
some respect are pretty much on a par with one another, as for example, their
condition in life, their knowledge and skills, or their virtues and
strengths. He claims that among
these peers, so to speak, many look around for some way of showing they are a
little bit better than everyone else.
I think that our human experience bears this out, because of the
expression we hear at times “one-up-man-ship”. It consists, as you know, in trying to
out-do one’s peers.
Now what would be the gravity of
a sin of envy? Since it is a mark
of true charity to rejoice in good, wherever we find it, because after all,
every true good is a real, though created participation in the goodness of God,
then envy is a violation of charity, it is a want of charity. To perceive “good in another” as an evil
inflicted upon oneself is a total reversal of “good order” and as such, in
itself, is a serious sin.
What then, would be the children
of the Capital Sin of Envy?
These do not come into play
unless the person who is tempted to be envious gives into and actually tries to
remove the evil. One way to avoid
evil is to run away from it so as not to experience it or be afflicted by
it. When that is not possible, and
for the ordinary person it is not possible to be so isolated from people that he
or she is never in the presence of more gifted and talented people, then the
only alternative is to try to get rid of the evil. And there is a kind of a gradual process
as one begins to try to overcome the cause of envy. That is, the awareness of
another’s superiority, continues the process and finally terminates the
process.
The first step occurs within,
secretly, as the envious person begins looking for faults and defects in
the other, so as to destroy the perception of the other as superior. Of course, the envious person does not
want others to perceive the other as superior so he resorts to detraction,
bad-mouthing the other, disclosing the others defects, whether real or imagined
(slander). These first two steps in
the process are actually deeds and thus actual sins. What follows then are states of soul
that result, depending upon whether the detraction has been successful or
not. If the attempt to destroy the
perception of superiority in the minds of others, and as a result that person is
shunned, the envious person experiences joy. Also, an envious person would experience
a joy, regardless of whether an attempt is made to diminish superiority of the
other, whenever bad things happen to the other person and this would be a
grievously sinful state of soul. If
on the other hand, the attempts fail, and the other person is perceived as the
superior, then the state of soul becomes one of sorrow and affliction. And again, whether or not attempts at
detraction had been made or not, the envious person will still experience sorrow
and affliction when good things happen to the other, and this too, is a very
grievously sinful state of soul.
And finally, as a result of the latter, the envious person winds up
hating the superior person by positively desiring to see bad things
happen to him, of course, hatred totally drives out charity, it totally drives
God out of the soul.
Somewhat related to the Capital
Sin of Envy is the SIXTH in the author’s treatment, but the last in the
list introducing them.
Envy seeks to drive away what is
perceived as an evil, that is, good in another that is interpreted as a
diminishment of one’ own personal good.
Anger seeks to drive away or
escape from what is truly and objectively evil. Thus, anger is not wrong in itself, that
is, anger is one of the natural passions with which God has endowed our
human nature for our own greater good and protection.
So, to qualify as a Capital sin,
ANGER has to be an inordinate attempt to drive away or destroy an evil. All anger, whether the passion or the
Capital sin, comes into play whether the danger is just threatening and
imminent, or whether it is actually experienced.
Anger, the Capital Sin, is
therefore defined as the disorderly desire or appetite for Revenge, or
better for Vindication. It
so happens that the Latin word for Revenge and Vindication is the same: Vindicta. I believe that the same word is used in
Latin for both is because both include the idea of “getting even”. Revenge seeks to inflict injury for
injury. Vindication is the
triumph of Justice. Justice,
too, is concerned with “getting even” in the sense of repairing the damage or
the injury done by an injustice, and that is usually done by “punishing” the one
who acted unjustly. So the key word
in the definition is “disorderly.”
Desire for vindication is not
disorderly when it is in accord with truth and justice. It is orderly, too, when exercised by
those in authority who are entrusted with the task of administering
justice. Ordinary citizens may
experience feelings of anger when injustices are committed against themselves
and others, but if their desire to see justice done includes the idea that it be
administered by the lawful authority, then those feelings of anger are not
sinful. They could even be good and
laudable.
Having said all that, we can now
understand when and how anger is disorderly. This can happen in two ways. One has to do with the kind of
vindication desired, the other with the manner in which one either
desires to see it achieved or actually carries out the desire.
It is possible (a) to desire
retribution when there is no just reason for desiring it. Namely, when the person to whom the
anger is directed is innocent, or (b) when the amount of punishment desired
exceeds what is fair and just.
Still again, (c) seeking retribution or vindication outside of the due
and proper channels, but carrying it out on one’s own, lacking the lawful
authority to do so. And finally,
the desire is disorderly when a person seeks to see the culprit punished (the
one who causes the evil) not out of a love of justice and right order,
but out of hatred and for the sake of enjoying the fact that the other is
suffering. This latter type of
disorder is gravely sinful because it is typical of hatred to drive God from the
soul. The others admit of degrees
of seriousness.
Thus far the author has not given
any indication that anger, insofar as it is basically a natural passion, causes
changes in the body of the angry person, who also experiences surges of energy
which prepare one to expend that energy by some kind of violent or vehement
action. Thus the Capital sin of
Anger can also be disorderly, as the author notes, when interiorly, the
surges of energy and the vehemence of the passion exceed what is appropriate and
proportional to the situation. Of
course, it is disorderly too, when the actual exterior violence designed to ward
off the evil or inflict punishment that is deserved beyond the measure that
justice requires.
The daughters of ANGER are six in
number. The first two are
internal acts, and the other four are manifested exteriorly.
(1). The first is Indignation
and could also be called a state of soul.
This resides in the intellect and nourishes itself from the imagination
and memory. Indignation says: “Who
does he think he is? How dare he do or say those injurious things?” The word indignation comes from the
Latin INDIGNUM, which means unworthy or without merit and
therefore without the right to do the act or say the things that either threaten
or cause harm to the angry person.
(2). The second, also
interior, is called in Latin “tumor mentis” or a swelling of the
mind. This denotes the result
of an angry person dwelling upon and meditating upon the present or threatened
evil or harm. It reminds us of a
swelling caused by an infection or a beating, and consists of the angry person
putting together a variety of plans and different ways of getting revenge or,
vindication.
(3). The third
daughter of anger is usually the expression of the first two vocally,
but by means of shouting and crying out, often incoherently, as if trying to say
everything at once, and with no logical connection in going from one outburst to
the next. Sometimes the only
purpose is to give vent to the feelings of anger, without really trying to
communicate ideas that are clear and informative.
(4). A possible
fourth daughter of anger is blasphemy in which an angry person who
is utterly without means of vindicating himself begins to blame God for the evil
or harm it would like to get rid of.
The reason it is called blasphemy is that God is all good and can
never be responsible for evil, because blasphemy is telling lies about
God.
(5). But more likely the
next daughter, the fifth, is verbal abuse of the person or persons
who have provoked the anger, or who in any way could have protected one from the
harm and failed to do so. verbal
abuse not only offends against charity, because in back of it is a true
desire to hurt, but also because the things said are not true, and therefore
lies.
(6). And finally, the
sixth daughter of anger may come into play, especially if the ones being
verbally abused resist and retaliate, and then the angry person resorts to
striking the one who has provoked the anger. The extent of the physical harm
inflicted can go from just a slap all the way to murder, depending on the
intensity of the anger.
And finally we come to the
SEVENTH Capital Sin: SLOTH.
Although Sloth is usually
identified with laziness, lying around doing nothing, it is really a
state of sadness, or even hatred, in regard to spiritual goods, or better, in
regard to what must be done to acquire spiritual goods. It is as we must have said yesterday
morning, a sorrow over, or the hatred of the fact that the deeds and exercises
and practices that help us attain spiritual good, holiness in particular,
require effort and labor and thus inflict pain or discomfort or some kind of
suffering upon the body. Since the
best way to avoid experiencing any discomfort or fatigue in the body is to do
nothing and to just rest, sloth is easily confused with laziness,
whereas a manifestation of the inner attitude we call sloth
is laziness.
Sloth is a sin because like all
sins, it is a disorder. The
disorder is found, first, in the fact that what is a good of a
higher order, is deemed to be an evil on the part of the lower
order in our human nature. To
prefer to avoid an evil experienced by the body rather than to acquire a good
that resides in the soul demeans and degrades a human being, and assigns to a
corporal, temporal, perceivable good, a greater value than that given to a
spiritual, eternal, imperishable good.
Secondly, sloth is a disorder
because it withdraws a person from the pursuit of perfection both as a human
being and as a child of God. We
pursue perfection on both levels, by carrying out the responsibilities imposed
upon us by our relationships and our state in life.
In saying that sloth withdraws us
from the pursuit of perfection, there is a nuance of sloth in every sin, which
either slows us down, or brings our journey back to God to a complete halt, the
God in whom we find perfection and blessedness . But since not every sin is committed out
of a hatred for the labor required in becoming holy, the Capital sin of sloth is
only present when one chooses the disorder of doing nothing, that is, giving the
body rest and ease.
My author points out that the
special ugliness of sloth is found in the fact that it interprets union with God
or friendship with God as something evil.
We know of course, that the closer we draw to Jesus in LOVE and want to
become like Him, transformed into Him, the more surely do we share His Cross,
and more fully in His Redemptive sufferings. Also, whom God loves, i.e., to whom He
has already communicated a large share of His life through grace, He chastises,
that is, He purifies them and expands their capacity, for an even greater share
of His divine life and those chastisements and purifications are always painful
to sense and ego.
Several are the daughters of
sloth and they derive from the fact that in trying to avoid evil we either try
to destroy it, or we run away from it.
As applied to avoiding the hard work necessary to attain spiritual good,
that is, holiness, the first way is (1).
to resist grace, especially the actual graces that would awaken a desire
to someone’s soul. That is done by
(2). avoiding prayer,
spiritual reading, hearing about God’s love for us, looking upon the Crucifix,
and any other of the ordinary means of living free of sin. Again, to avoid being moved by other
Christians to begin working for their own salvation, they will find excuses to
be angry with them and find fault with them and to dislike them, and thus refuse
the help of priests and other good people that is offered them.
Then finally, the second way to
avoid evil is to run away from it.
In the case of sloth, it means turning to those things which give it ease
and comfort and pleasure of body.
But even here the hatred of physical effort is evident, rather than go
out and do those sins which cause physical pleasure they just fill their minds
with thoughts about those kinds of sins, and so sin in thought and imagination,
allowing the body to enjoy the rest it craves. Though it seems impossible from what I
have said, to ever move a slothful person to turn to God and efficaciously
desire his salvation, about the only thing that works is fear of Hell, and not
just the pains of Hell but that they will be lost forever. It’s a shame we don’t talk about Hell a
lot more, hoping that someone who needs to, will hear about it.
Also, there are obviously degrees
of sloth. Some Christians are
slothful in the sense that they are willing to work only hard enough to get to
Purgatory. But that’s no fun, and
Purgatory can last till the end of time.
Besides, we should always shoot for higher than the bare minimum, because
typically we fall short of our desired goals. If we fall short of the threshold of
purgatory we obviously wind up in Hell.
Of course, the best way to
overcome sloth in our own lives is not even to think about hard work and effort
and corporal discomforts and privations, and rather to think in terms of Love,
or rather of the Persons we love, God-Father, Jesus (God-Son) and God-Holy
Spirit. As our love for God grows,
it confers so much spiritual power and energy upon us, that using
it up in prayer, in good works, in self sacrifice for the good of others,
embracing crosses and trials for the love of God, is the only thing that gives
peace and repose to our hearts.
How do these affect human
relationships?
Do we detect any of these in
ourselves?