The malice of mortal sin

 THE MALICE OF MORTAL SIN

By St. Alphonsus Liguori 

✝️  𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗼𝗱.

Mortal sin is commonly defined by theologians to be “a turning away from the immutable good;" a turning ones back on the sovereign good. Of this God complains by his prophet, saying: ”Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord; thou art gone backward. ” (Jer. 15: 6.) 

Ungrateful man, he says to the sinner, I would never have separated myself from thee; thou hast been the first to abandon me: thou art gone backwards; thou hast turned thy back upon me.

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He who contemns the divine law despises God; because he knows that, by despising the law, he loses the divine grace. “By transgression of the law, thou dishonourest God.” (Rom. 2:23.) 

In fine, the sinner when he breaks the command, says to God: I do not acknowledge thee for my Lord. 

For what do so many offend the Lord? For a little vanity; for the indulgence of anger; or for a beastly pleasure. ”They violate me among my people for a handful of barley and a piece of bread.” (Ezec. 13: 19.) 

God is an infinite good; and when he sees sinners put him on a level with some earthly trifle, or with a miserable gratification, he justly complains in the language of the prophet: ”To whom, have you likened me or made me equal? saith the Holy One.” (Isa. xl. 25.) 

In your estimation, a vile pleasure is more valuable than my grace. Is it a momentary satisfaction you have preferred before me?

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The Devil acts in a similar manner towards sinners: he places before them such a gratification, and says: Make this your God. Behold! this pleasure, this money, this revenge is your God: adhere to these, and forsake the Lord. When the sinner consents to sin, he abandons his Creator, and in his heart adores as his god the pleasure which lie indulges.

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✝️   𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗼𝗱. 

There is nothing more galling than to see oneself despised by those who were most beloved and most highly favoured. Whom do sinners insult? They insult a God who bestowed so many benefits upon them, and who loved them so as to die on a cross for their sake; and by the commission of mortal sin they banish that God from their hearts. 

A soul that loves God is loved by him, and God himself comes to dwell within her. ”If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him.” (John xiv. 23.) 

The Lord, then, never departs from a soul, unless he is driven away, even though he should know that she will soon banish him from her heart. According to the Council of Trent, ”he deserts not the soul, unless he is deserted.”

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When the soul consents to mortal sin she ungratefully says to God: Depart from me. “The wicked have said to God: Depart from us.” (Job 21:14.) 

Sinners, as St. Gregory observes, say the same, not in words, but by their conduct. They know that God cannot remain with sin in the soul: and, in violating the divine commands, they feel that God must depart; and, by their acts they say to him: since you cannot remain any longer with us, depart farewell. 

And through the very door by which God departs from the soul, the Devil enters to take possession of her. 

When the priest baptizes an infant, he commands the demon to depart from the soul: ”Go out from him, unclean spirits, and make room for the Holy Ghost.” But when a Christian consents to mortal sin, he says to God: Depart from me; make room for the Devil, whom I wish to serve.

Moreover, the man who commits a mortal sin afflicts the heart of God. “But they provoked to wrath, and afflicted the spirit of the Holy One.” (Isaias Ixiii. 10.)

“What pain and anguish would you not feel, if you knew that a person whom you tenderly loved, and on whom you bestowed great favours, had sought to take away your life! 

God is not capable of pain; but, were he capable of suffering, a single mortal sin would be sufficient to make him die through sorrow. ”Mortal sin,” says Father Medina, ”if it were possible, would destroy God himself: because it would be the cause of infinite sadness to God.” 

As often, then, as you committed mortal sin, you would, if it were possible, have caused God to die of sorrow; because you knew that by sin you insulted him and turned your back upon him, after he had bestowed so many favours upon you, and even after he had given all his blood and his life for your salvation.