As a kid, I used to take coins from mom’s purse to buy chocolates for myself without her knowledge. As I continued, again and again, one day, she caught me and said that I should stop whatever I was doing because it was a sin! That was the first time I heard the word ‘Sin’. I asked her, ‘ Mommy, what is sin?” She smiled and took me in her lap and said, ” Anything, maybe your actions, words, or thoughts, which makes God sad is a sin.” I asked,” why does God become sad?”She continued,” He becomes sad because he made you a good boy. But if a good boy like you steals the coins from your mother’s purse, He gets hurt. God is good so he wants you to be good. He loves the sincere heart.”However, the notion of sins was still unclear to me. As I grew up, I got a deeper knowledge about acts of sin and acts of holiness. It’s the crime and offense against divine law. Then came the time where I had to prepare myself for the Sacrament of Confirmation. It is one of the Seven Sacraments of the Church. I attended Catechism classes, learned about the fundamentals of the Catholic Church, Saints, Angels, etc. In one of the classes, the Catechist told us about Sins. He highlighted what sin is and the types of sins in the UniversalCatholic Church.  

I learned that the Catholic Church has divided sins into two identities: Mortal sins and Venial sins.

 Turning away from God and embracing anything apart from God is a Mortal sin. If someone commits a sin, he loses heaven, and by his own free will and actions, he opts for hell. It insults the might & honor of the Living God and injures the soul of the sinner. Therefore it’s poisonous and deadly for the life which needs to be in the state of grace to be present in the sight of God. For example, murder, rape, adultery, etc. are mortal sins.
On the other hand, Venial sins do not have consequences as grave as those of Mortal Sins. These sins do not result in a complete separation from and eternal punishment in hell. It only weakens the soul but doesn’t kill the grace within. Violations of moral law fall under venial sins. As I started to dive down deeper into understanding the sins, then came the point where I encountered the seven deadly sins as identified by the Catholic Church.

At first, I was surprised at why the Catholic Church should classify sins despite all the sins falling against divine law. Moreover, it is not even mentioned in the Bible. But, the catechist cleared, that these seven deadly sins, also known as cardinal sins are behavioral or habitual based sins, which directly give rise to other immoralities. These seven deadly sins spur other sins and further immoral behavior. These seven deadly sins are contrary to the Seven heavenly virtues, prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope, and charity. 

The Seven Deadly Sins are believed to be first listed out by Pope Gregory1 in the 6th century and later elaborated by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13thCentury. He was an influential Italian philosopher, theologian, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church.

The seven deadly sins are Pride, Envy, Lust, Anger, Greed, Gluttony, and Sloth. 

Pride is a feeling of honor and self-respect, self-love, and a sense of personal worth. In fact, it fools people thinking that they are the source of their own might and greatness. It is the key to all other seven deadly sins because it makes you believe that you’re more important than you actually are, you are satisfied for it even when others don’t agree with you. You make excuses for stealing, cheating, insulting, etc., and justify your habits or behavior. It’s because you believe you are the only one who understands yourself better than we do. You know what, the best remedy for pride is humility!

When somebody expresses resentment or sadness in another’s person’s joy, achievements, or good fortune, then that is envy. There are two types of envy, material and spiritual envy. When you resent others who have talents, beauty, friends, money that’s the material envy but when you Express sadness over one’s progress in holiness that’s spiritual envy. Spiritual envy is eviler than material envy. The Catholic Church counters envy through meekness or kindness.

It is one of the seven deadly sins which states the indulgence of a person in sexual pleasure. If you Look at, imagine, and treat others as mere sex objects to satisfy your own physical pleasures who were created in the image and likeness of God, that is lust. Indulging in lust is a mortal sin. Chastity is the best remedy for lust.

The wrath is the sudden outburst of the emotion of hostility and desire for vengeance. You don’t have any control over what angers you, but you do have control in your hand over what you do after you become angry. When you seek to wreak vengeance after that, it becomes sinful. Anger harbors destructive feelings. The best countermeasure for anger is Patience.

Greed- The fifth deadly sin

 If you have an excessive love of and desire for earthly possessions and riches, then that is greed. It is the intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. It is sometimes called avarice. The best tonic from the sickness of greed is generosity.

Matthew 6 : 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate theone and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise theother. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Gluttony- The sixth deadly sin

If you ever had overindulgence in food or drink or you’ve ever over-consumed food or alcohol, that action amounts to gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins of the Catholic Church. Delightful dinner with your friends, families isn’t a sin, but intentionally overeating beyond your body’s needs is a sin. Similarly, the same case goes in consuming beverages or drinks. If you are ready to fight against gluttony then, periodic fasting, abstinence, avoiding meat, or some favorite food, are the best defenses against gluttony.

Sloth- The seventh deadly sin

It is laziness particularly concerned with prayer and spiritual life. It represents the ‘I don’t care feelings.’ Sloth doesn’t desire to make sacrifices, do something for others but always wants to relax and rest. It discourages spiritual, mental, and physical work. The Catholic Church says that if you aren’t fulfilling your religious duties, inattentive towards religious worships, or careless towards the services, that’s also a sin of sloth. You can overcome spiritual laziness by practicing the virtue of diligence!

Proverbs 21 : 25, ” The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his handsrefuse to labor.

Thus, we know that the seven deadly sins slowly but gradually eat up our soul from within. The question that we should ask ourselves is how gravely is my soul covered up by these seven deadly sins. Our effort should to acquire the seven heavenly virtues and get rid of these seven deadly sins. We must know that it is very easy to sin but very difficult to come out of that sin. hence, what is expected of us is to repent and seek the mercy of Jesus to be washed away completely from these sins.

Author of this blog : Michael Lepcha

Michael is currently a third year student and belongs to St. Augustine Church, Kangkebong,  Darjeeling Diocese .

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Contact : michaellepcha1997@gmail.com