We are constantly tempted to treat venial sin as something harmless, and perhaps even indulge in it carelessly. We couldn’t be more wrong.
Editor’s Notes
The second period of the preparation for St Louis de Montfort’s Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin – “Week 1” – is focused on gaining a greater knowledge of ourselves, and sorrow for our sins.
Today, we are reading Fr Aloysius Ambruzzi’s explanation of the evil of venial sin, from his Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius.
The themes, as well as vocal prayers and readings associated with this ‘Week 1’, can be found here. You can find the book here.
Although this is part of the Total Consecration preparation, it also stands alone as a great text in its own right.
Reminder
In the Spiritual Exercises, one would make a general confession, of all the sins of one’s life, at the end of this week. This might be beneficial for those following this series: whether it will be possible or not is another question, and will depend on a multitude of factors.
But if it were possible to arrange such a confession (or even just a regular confession) with a priest, the most fitting day to do so in this preparation might be Day 18.
CONTENTS:
READING: The text consists of a chapter from Fr Aloysius Ambruzzi’s Companion to the Spiritual Exercises. This text is intended to provide material for further consideration of the subject of this week.
MEDITATION: Fr Ambruzzi’s text is intended to provide material for the meditation, which appears in point-form following it. A guide on how to use these points in meditation can be found here.
Reading: Venial Sin
Deviating from the Road
A Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius
Fr Aloysius Ambruzzi SJ
The first Prelude is to see myself in the sight of God like the man full of leprosy that approached Christ our Lord crying: “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.”
The second Prelude is to ask light and grace to know and feel the malice of my sins and to detest and abhor them.
1. Half-deliberate venial sins
There are many venial sins which we can hardly avoid:—
Sins of infirmity, committed through weakness;
Sins of surprise, committed by sudden and strong temptation;
Sins of impetuosity, when passion carries a man for a moment beyond self-control;
Sins of indeliberation, i.e., done in haste, before conscience and reason have had full time to deliberate and weigh what they were about. (Cf. Manning, Sin and Its Consequences.)
We are like soldiers in warfare: we cannot help being wounded and spattered by the blood of conflict. We are labourers out in the fields, and the stains of our toil cleave to us. We are wayfarers on the road, and the dust settles down upon us almost without our knowing it.
Impossible though it be to avoid all such half-deliberate venial sins, we can and we should try to diminish their number.
Vigilate et orate. The spirit of prayer, the habit of serious work and of attention to our own business, the practice of mortification and of generosity, will incredibly diminish the number of such venial sins.
Such failures, moreover, should help us to increase in self-knowledge, in humility, and in humble trust in the Lord. The two daily Examens of Conscience—the General and the Particular—and the practice of frequent Confession will greatly serve to increase the purity of our soul.
2. Malice of deliberate venial sin
There are venial sins which we commit deliberately.
We deliberately misjudge our neighbours; we murmur and entertain uncharitable thoughts. We make spiteful remarks and indulge in uncharitable gossip. We are testy, jealous and exacting. We are easily ruffled and say angry words. We tell “white lies”. We indulge in vain and proud thoughts. (Cf. Venial Sin, by Rt. Rev. J. S. Vaughan)
Against sins such as these we must declare war, à outrance, if we truly love God and our soul.
Many persons, though apparently pious, make light of deliberate venial sin—in their manner of acting, if not in their mind. And yet, after mortal sin, there is no evil greater than venial sin.
The least venial sin is a greater evil than any temporal evil: it is a moral evil and an offence against God.
“The Church holds that it were better for the sun and moon to drop from Heaven, for the earth to fail, and for all the many millions who are on it to die of starvation, in extremest agony (as far as temporal affliction goes), than that one soul, I will not say should be lost, but should commit one venial sin.” (Newman, Anglican Difficulties.)
To know God’s Will and to act against it, is in a true sense an evil of infinite gravity.
The ingratitude implied in a venial sin is enormous. To grasp that we have but to consider:—
What God has done for us;
What Christ has done in Bethlehem, on Calvary, on the Altar;
What we ought to be in our relations with God our Father and our Spouse. Nothing we do could be enough for Him, and instead we are deliberately mean and niggardly with Him. We are attached to what He denounces, and we persevere in the danger of losing Him altogether. What would happen if a child were to treat his father, a friend a friend, or a bride her bridegroom, as we have treated Christ, our Father, our Friend and the Bridegroom of our soul?
3. Lamentable effects of venial sin
Venial sin deprives the soul of its beauty.
It does not destroy charity, nor does it diminish it, but it hinders its exercise: the divine fire is smothered.
Mortal sin is the death of the soul: venial sin is the leprosy that disfigures it. It is true that God loves the soul notwithstanding the number of venial sins it commits, “just as a mother loves her child covered with festering ulcers, but will no longer press it to her bosom, nor smother it with kisses, because its flesh is one mass of filthy scabs,’ but she will not cast it off from her… Only when absolutely cold and dead, she tearfully submits to be separated from it.” (Vaughan, Venial Sin, ch. i)
The diminution of fervour might produce such supernatural torpor in the soul that it would be disarmed in the presence of a grave temptation and succumb to it.
Venial sin leads the soul into mortal sin:—
Positively. By committing a venial sin, says St Thomas, aliquis ordo praetermittitur. The will becomes accustomed to yield. The judgement grows hazy: the windows of the soul get dark and dusty. Faith is weakened and a fatal indifference spreads about the heart. This is especially true on all occasions when the matter being grievous, one only doubts whether full consent was given. In other words, venial sin blunts the conscience, brings on insensibility, and clouds the presence of God.
Negatively. Venial sin withdraws the soul from the special influence of God’s love. We all stand in need of actual grace. The soul that habitually commits venial sins will not get such grace, because it will not pray for it.
4. The punishment of venial sin
According to St Thomas, the torments of Purgatory exceed every evil of this life, even the sufferings of Christ our Lord, just as the glory of the Saints surpasses every good of the present life. (Cf. Summa, III, Q. iii, p. 46, a, 6 ad 3)
St Catherine of Genoa says:
“They (the souls) suffer such extreme pain that no tongue can tell it, nor mind conceive the least portion of it, unless by special grace of God.” (Treatise on Purgatory by St Catherine of Genoa, Chap. ii)
And again:
“No tongue can tell nor mind conceive, what Purgatory really imports. I see that, as regards the pain, it is equal to that of Hell, and nevertheless I perceive that the soul which perceives the very least blemish accepts the pain as a mercy and counts the suffering as nothing compared to that bar which sunders it from its Love. And it seems to me that the greatest pain endured by the souls in Purgatory arises from their seeing in themselves something displeasing to God, and committed willingly against such goodness as His.” (Id. Chap. Vii)
Truly, then, after mortal sin, venial sin is the greatest evil!
Forgive me O Jesus!
Suggestions for the Colloquy
1. O Jesus, Thou hast loved me so much! Thou hast created me. To save me Thou becamest man and wast crucified. To unite me to Thee Thou hast instituted the Sacraments and, particularly, the Blessed Eucharist—Thou hast given me Thy Church. What have I done for Thee, O my loving Jesus? A life of constant fervour and of generous service should had been the proper answer to Thy tender and loving mercies. Instead of that I have been negligent and remiss in Thy service—mean and niggardly with Thee—and have many times deliberately acted against Thy Holy Will and displeased Thy Sacred Heart. If I had treated the last of my friends, even once, as I have repeatedly treated Thee, I would hide my face for shame. And Thou, O Jesus, art my only sure Friend—my Father—nay, the loving Bridegroom of my poor soul.
2. Have pity on me, O my Jesus, have pity on me! Here I stand before Thee like a leper wholly disfigured,—like a wretch covered with festering ulcers. Thou canst make me clean. Give me to feel more and more the malice of my sins—the ingratitude which even a single deliberate venial sin implies—the wound it inflicts on Thy Heart.
3. O Jesus, may Thy Sacred Heart be my help in time of temptation! The sight of Thy love for me will surely prevent me from even beginning to deliberate about committing a venial sin. O Jesus, let me not be separated from Thee! Give me to abhor and detest every deliberate venial sin more than any temporal evil—as the greatest enemy of Thee and of my soul, after mortal sin.
Meditation for Day 15
It is in mental prayer that that much of the preparation will be achieved – and meditation is a means of entering mental prayer. See our guide to meditation for two ways to use the below texts.
Venial Sin
In this preparation for the consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary, we could keep Our Lady in mind throughout our meditation. We could consider how she views venial sins; the compassion she has on our weakness, and the zeal she has for helping us root out not only deliberate venial sins, but also the half-deliberate ones.
The Preparation
Prayer. The usual Preparatory Prayer.
First Prelude. The first Prelude is to see myself in the sight of God like the man full of leprosy that approached Christ our Lord crying: “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.”
Second Prelude. The second Prelude is to ask light and grace to know and feel the malice of my sins and to detest and abhor them.
The Points for Meditation
First Point. Consider first those venial sins that cling to us almost inevitably in our daily lives, to which we do not give proper consent. We are like soldiers in battle who cannot help being wounded and bloodied by the fight. We must work to reduce them, taking the means discussd by Fr Ambruzzi. They should prompt us to greater humility and trust in God.
Second Point. Consider the multitude of deliberate venial sins which we may commit; that, after mortal sin, nothing – not even the worst temporal suffering – is more evil than a venial sin. Consider the ingratitude that it represents towards God, and towards the Blessed Virgin who prays for us at every moment to avoid offending God in this way.
Third Point. Consider the effects of venial sin on the soul, as discussed by Fr Ambruzzi. It diminishes fervour, produces spiritual numbness and leads to mortal sin.
Fourth Point. The punishment due to venial sin. Venial sin must be expiated in Purgatory, the pains of which exceed even the sufferings of Christ in his Passion.
One could consider these points in reference to oneself: How far have we been conscious of this in our daily lives so far, what practical conclusions should we draw from these truths, how far have we lived up to them so far, what must we do to live up to them in the future, etc.
One could consider the acts of virtue we can make in response to these truths – Acts of faith, humility, hope/confidence, thanksgiving, contrition and love – talking all the while to God, the Blessed Virgin, our Guardian Angels, etc.
The Colloquy
Colloquy: Speak to Christ our Lord about your own venial sins - both those of weakness and those committed deliberately. Ask for the grace to wage uncompromising war against deliberate venial sin, and for the strength to reduce even those sins of weakness. Beg for a deeper hatred of all sin and a more tender love for Him whom you have offended.
One could also use the Triple Colloquy previous discussed:
In addition, Fr Ambruzzi offers some suggestions for the colloquy above. However, it is important to speak frankly to God in our own words, rather than simply reading somebody else’s.
If one feels moved to speak to God before meditating on all the points, one should certainly do so. The same applies if one feels moved to simply rest in God, rather than engaging in discursive meditation. These impulses should be followed over any particular method of meditation.
The End
End the meditation with a vocal prayer – such as the Our Father, the Anima Christi.
Reflect on how well we have prayed, and how well we have followed our chosen method.
Select a spiritual nosegay from your meditation to keep with you for the rest of the day.
See you tomorrow. Hit subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it or any of our other material:
For more on the St Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion and Total Consecration, for which we are preparing, see here:
The theological basis of ‘True Devotion’ and the Consecration to Mary (Garrigou-Lagrange)
The fruits of ‘True Devotion’ and Consecration to Mary (Garrigou-Lagrange)
For more on the importance of not getting bogged down with methods, and on allowing God to act, see here:
For more on Week 0, and the vocal prayers that are are suggested for each day, see here:
‘Week 0’ of St Louis de Montfort’s Total Consecration preparation (Prayers, practices and reading)
Get the book here:
True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary (St Louis de Montfort)
HELP KEEP THE WM REVIEW ONLINE WITH WM+!
As we expand The WM Review we would like to keep providing free articles for everyone.
Our work takes a lot of time and effort to produce. If you have benefitted from it please do consider supporting us financially.
A subscription gets you access to our exclusive WM+ material, and helps ensure that we can keep writing and sharing free material for all.
You can see what readers are saying over at our Testimonials page.
(We make our WM+ material freely available to clergy, priests and seminarians upon request. Please subscribe and reply to the email if this applies to you.)
Subscribe to WM+ now to make sure you always receive our material. Thank you!
If you are enjoying this preparation for Total Consecration, why not get it in mug form?
We also have our best-selling Co-Redemptrix mugs:
Follow on Twitter, YouTube and Telegram:
Twitter (The WM Review)
Sound effects credits:
Sound Effect Mind Mist from Pixabay
Sound Effect by freesound_community from Pixabay
Sound Effect by Jurij from Pixabay
Sound Effect by Universfield from Pixabay
