Fr. Z. writes:
I love this guy! He doesn’t mince words.
Card. Arinze (Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni! HURRAY!) dismantles the notion that people can’t really commit a mortal sin unless they do something over and over again with the intent to separate from the God blah blah blah… the so-called “fundamental option” approach to sin.
He lays it down on the line about mortal sin.
By the way, let people who think that there isn’t really anyone in Hell – except maybe Hitler – reflect on the Cardinal’s words about mortal sin. MORTAL sin, right? It kills the like of grace in the soul. No sanctifying grace at the time of death? Then what happens?
When I hear some liberals say that they would like to have a Cardinal from Africa… heh heh… okay! They are pretty much like Card. Arinze when it comes to faith and morals.
2 comments:
I'm going to give you a quandary...or riddle...or zen koan.
Aquinas said the death penalties for sins in Leviticus and Deuteronomy still exist in the new covenant not as physical events but as tells...signs... as to which sins are mortal.
However in the OT, the consensual premarital sex couple are not killed but are to marry and, unlike other Jews, are never allowed to divorce. Strange exception...with a penalty which is a hidden blessing and is a prediction of Catholic marriage...no divorce.
This really is both encouraging... It is forthright and not mealy-mouthed, and frustrating... It leaves unaddressed the sorts of questions that caused the doctrine to begin to be questioned in the first place. Is missing mass a mortal sin? Fornication? Masturbation? If so and there has been a forty year silence on this, how can it begin to be explained in light of the CHurch as the indefectable teaching authority it is supposed to be?
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