Yes, if we are truly sorry, acknowledging our sins and seeking His pardon, God will forgive them because He is all merciful. By the power of His grace, God offers Salvation to all men. We especially encounter God’s merciful forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance. Jesus, our Savior, was sent by the Father to suffer, die, and rise from the …
The power of God’s graces draws the sinner to Salvation. In the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation, through the priest, Christ meets the sinner, forgives his sins, and gives him again the peace which belongs to God’s children. He also gives the sinner the added power of grace to overcome sin in the future and the strength to be faithful …
Venial sins are forgiven by God even without the Sacrament of Reconciliation. A sincere act of contrition and the will to amend our lives is enough to obtain forgiveness. Nonetheless, the Church encourages us to frequently confess even our venial sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, since it is of such great benefit to the soul, especially with respect to …
Every personal sin can be traced to one of seven human weaknesses. These personal sins are called Capital Sins. Capital Sins do not necessarily refer to grave sins, but rather to those sins which are the source of all others.
The Capital Sins are pride, avarice, envy, anger, lust, gluttony, and sloth. Pride is seeking after one’s own honor. Self-seeking and vanity are examples of pride. Avarice is seeking after wealth by stealing, fraud, injustice, and stinginess. Envy is a certain sadness of the mind. It leads to hatred and resentment of others. We are envious when we resent the …
Temptation is an invitation to sin that comes from either within us or from outside us. Temptations are not sins. Sin occurs only when we consent to a temptation. With God’s help we can resist them.
Not all temptations come from the devil. Many temptations come from the world around us and from the forces within us called passions. Passions are inclinations towards rebelling against God’s will. We can conquer temptation, if we want to do so. We gain merit in God’s eyes by conquering temptation, and we grow in holiness. We must, however, have God’s …
The Incarnation is the greatest of God’s works. The Incarnation refers to the mystery of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God the Father, uniting His divine nature with a complete human nature.
The Incarnation means that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God (the Divine Word), became man and came to live among us. “And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word’” (Luke 1:38). At that very moment Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, became man in …
God the Son became incarnate and came into the world: (1) to bring us His own divine life; (2) to save us from sin; and (3) to renew the world. 1. God the Son came into the world to bring us His own divine life. Born of the Virgin Mary, the Son of God truly became one of us. He …