Hi Juan,

Thanks for the question.

You said:
I have a doubt regarding this second paragraph. It talks about the things a pastor has to take into consideration to determine:

1. the gravity of each sin for each particular case set before him, and
2. the way he ought to deal with the issue.

These things are:

• affective immaturity

Affective is a fancy word for emotional. An affectively immature person is adolescent in their way of thinking and hasn't learned to understand the true role of sexuality and the importance of chastity. He has immature views of women and unrealistic expectations of how images of them can satisfy what he yearns for. An affectively immature person might rely on pornography for his masturbation, objectifying women in picture-perfect (and unrealistic) form.

You said:
I have a doubt regarding this second paragraph. It talks about the things a pastor has to take into consideration to determine:

1. the gravity of each sin for each particular case set before him, and
2. the way he ought to deal with the issue.

These things are:

• force of acquired habit

This means the person is addicted to masturbation to some extent.

For example, John masturbated several times a week since he was eleven years old, until college when he realized he needed to stop but when he tried, he could not. The habit was too much ingrained and he felt compelled to do it. Moral theology tells us that for a sin to be mortal, it must be freely chosen.

Compulsions and addictions are of their nature not free acts, thus lower culpability. Pastorally, it's important to be compassionate to, and patient with, those who struggle with addictions and compulsions. The right approach is to encourage the penitent to keep fighting and not give up, and not dwell too much on failures.

You said:
I have a doubt regarding this second paragraph. It talks about the things a pastor has to take into consideration to determine:

1. the gravity of each sin for each particular case set before him, and
2. the way he ought to deal with the issue.

These things are:

• conditions of anxiety

Anxiety — worry for example — can trigger a compulsion to masturbate or at least make one more inclined to it. Say John has a test coming up and he know he doesn't know the material. He begins to worry about it a lot; this causes an unusual urge to masturbate. Again, a compulsion would reduce culpability. The pastoral action would be to take it easy on the kid, especially if there is a track record of avoiding masturbation under normal circumstances.

Hope this helps,

Eric