Bringing you the
"Good News" of Jesus Christ
and His Church While PROMOTING CATHOLIC
Apologetic Support groups loyal to the Holy Father and Church's
magisterium
I was wondering if you could tell me what
the Catholic Church teaches regarding how
efficacious a person's prayer is when he or
she is in a state of mortal sin?
How much
power or merit do those prayers have?
Thank you for the service that you provide.
God bless,
Brian
{
How
efficacious is a person's prayer when he or
she is in a state of mortal sin? }
Paul
replied:
Dear Brian,
That's a good question and one I
ponder about from time to time. The
first thing that comes to mind is
that in these instances, when one
may be in mortal sin, the prayer of
sorrow and repentance is very efficacious.
God hopes that we pray contritely
for His Mercy.
If you are referring
to petition or intercessory prayer
that's a little less clear. We pray
to saints because they are in union
with God and their closeness to the
divine Majesty is powerful for us.
A person in mortal sin is cut off
from his relationship with God so
you would think the opposite would
be true for his petitions. However,
after a sincere act of contrition
with the intention of going to the
sacrament of Confession perhaps his
prayers regain their potential power.
Paul
Mike
replied:
Hi, Brian —
I've similarly pondered this question,
mainly after I have had a [serious|mortal]
fall in my life before getting to
the sacrament of Confession on Saturday.
There may have been times where I
did, indeed, commit a mortal sin,
but there may be other times where
one of those three key elements was
lacking:
grave matter
full knowledge, and
deliberate consent
As the Catechism states:
IV. The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin.
.
. 1860Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.
Although a person's voluntary and
free character of the offense may
be diminished, we can never objectively
know whether our prayer is as efficacious
as if we had not committed this sin.
In most, if not all, cases, it's
probably not, unless, as my colleague Paul
suggested, one makes a perfect act
of contrition, something that
can be very hard to do because it
has to be sincere, with the intention
of going to Confession.
Hope this helps,
Mike
Please report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey
