Let's talk about life and death; or, more importantly, let's talk about grace and sin. If we allow the grace of God to work in our lives, we can turn our back on sin and defeat it. If we choose to ignore God's grace and go it alone, sin will defeat us.

Here's the Church's teaching on sin: all sin is not equal; there is venial and mortal sin; and mortal sin destroys charity in our heart and causes us to turn our back on God. Saint John, in his first epistle (1 Jn 5:16-17), clearly shows this. "If any one sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly (mortal), he should pray to God and He will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly (mortal). There is such a thing as deadly (mortal) sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly (mortal)."

The Our Sunday Visitor Catholic Dictionary defines venial and moral sin as follows. "Venial sin is disobedience to God involving light moral matter or done without adequate knowledge, freedom, or full consent of the will. Mortal sin is the deliberate, conscious, free transgression of a moral law that involves serious matter, resulting in the separation from God."

Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church teach that if you die in a conscious, unconfessed, and unrepentant state of mortal sin, you will go to hell. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1857-1860) states that for a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be present: the sin must involve grave matter and be committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent. Grave matter is breaking one of the Commandments.

While the Church teaches that venial sin does not condemn us to hell, listen to what CCC 1863 says about it, "Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul's progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin."

Our salvation comes from the grace of God. CCC 1996 defines grace as the free and undeserved gift that God gives us to become his adopted children and to achieve eternal salvation. Through grace God pours His love and very life into our souls. Only God's grace can defeat sin. I love Saint Paul's words in Rom 5:20b, "Despite the increase of sin, grace has far surpassed it." Grace has the power to repair the effects of sin on our soul. If we open our hearts to God's love---open our entire being to the grace with which He constantly bombards us---we have the recipe for defeating sin.

There are two forms of grace: actual and sanctifying. God gives all men and woman actual grace on an ongoing basis. It is the grace given prior to us taking action. It elevates our faculties to do and behave in a way that is pleasing to God. Sanctifying grace is the "habitual" life of God first given to us at Baptism and reinforced when we receive the other sacraments, when we pray, and when we turn God's actual grace into charitable works. "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me," says Saint Paul in Phil. 4:13. If through our free will we accept the grace of God, we are able to love others and fulfill God's plan for us.

Sanctifying grace lives in the soul and makes it holy. It fills the soul with supernatural life. While actual grace doesn't live in the soul, it is encouragement from God. It's God kicking us in the pants. Actual grace moves the will and intellect to seek out sanctifying grace. Without sanctifying grace we cannot live in heaven. A soul filled with sanctifying grace is perfectly clean and able to be in the presence of God. Mt 5:48 tells us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, and Rev 21:27 tells us that nothing unclean will enter heaven.

If we were transported to the moon only dressed in clothes, our body would instantly die; but, if we were transported to the moon with the appropriate life support clothes and equipment, we would not die. Likewise, in its natural state our soul is not equipped to live in heaven in the presence of God; but, if our soul is filled with sanctifying grace, supernatural life, we are fit, perfectly clean, in absolute union with God, and able to live in heaven.

Mortal sin destroys supernatural life in the soul, and we're reduced to the natural life again. We cannot regain supernatural life on our own. We are totally dependent on God because no natural act can merit a supernatural reward. We must be open to receiving actual grace from God to recapture our lost supernatural life.

Mortal sin is forgiven through the Sacrament of Penance and a perfect act of contrition. Venial sin is remitted through the Sacrament of Penance, Holy Communion, and acts of charity and penance. All sin is forgiven through the grace of God.

Saint Paul speaks of the power of grace in Rom 5:20-21. "Despite the increase of sin, grace has far surpassed it, so that, as sin reigned through death, grace may reign by way of justice leading to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Our challenge in life is to avoid sin. We will fail in that challenge unless we are open to the grace of God and allow it to consume our entire being.

For more insight read CCC paragraphs 1854-64, 1874, 1996-2005, 2021-2024. Also, pull out your "Catholic" Bible and reference Rom 3:24; 5:5; 6:19-23; 11:21-22; 2 Cor 12:7-10; Eph 2:8-10; 3:16-19; Gal 5:4-6; Tit 3:4-7; Heb 4:14-16; 1 Jn 3:1-3.