I could vividly read the concerned expression on his face as he asked, “Father, surely there’s a grey area in this?”
“Now we’re talking colors!” I kidded him to lighten up the intense atmosphere.
“Seriously Father, does it have to be black and white?”
“Actually, there are what we can call ‘grey areas’,” I clarified.
He showed some sign of relief.
“But…!”
Jason tensed up as he heard the ‘but’.
“It’s more of ‘case to case’ rather than just confining moral concerns within shades which only reveal one’s poor desire to justify oneself.”
“I see your point, Father,” he agreed.
“Speaking of shades, I’m now just reminded about the novel –now an over-hyped movie– Fifty Shades of Grey.”
“I can’t imagine how some try to project immorality into the screen hoping to make something abnormally repugnant into something conventionally acceptable,” he said.
“A novel is only a novel, but what is more disappointing is the fact that people choose to live their lives according to shades.”
“What do you mean, Father?”
“When people, which may very well include you and myself, sadly tweak their spiritual lives to their own advantage.”
“Advantage…?” he asked.
“They make choices according to shades. Varying grades of sin according to their gravity or disorder.”
“Shades…?” Jason seemed more confused.
“It’s the attitude of thinking that as long as one doesn’t sin ‘BIG-TIME’ then it’s alright to sin.”
“But that’s not right!” He caught on.
“Precisely! We’re so fond of putting colors into sin, as if a lighter shade would make something sinful no longer a sin.”
“Are you saying, Father, that we don’t have any allowance to sin?”
“Nope! The fact that we are sinners, that is, prone to sin due to the effects of original sin, isn’t some sort of an allowance or license to sin. Rather, our awareness of being capable of sin ought to make us seek all the means and the most sincere intentions to avoid whatever could separate us from God.”
“So you’re saying….”
“I think it’s best explained by St. Theresa of Avila’s advice to her nuns:
“From any sin, however small, committed with full knowledge, may God deliver us, especially since we are sinning against so great a Sovereign and realizing that He is watching us! That seems to me to be a sin committed of premeditated malice; it is as though one were to say: ‘Lord, although this displeases You, I shall do it. I know that You see it and I know that You would not have me do it; but, though I understand this, I would rather follow my own whim and desire than Your will.’ (Way of Perfection, Ch. 41)”
“Ouch! That is one powerful spiritual punch, Father!” Jason concluded.
“Indeed, and her words are further reinforced by St. Josemaría when in The Way, “How little love of God you have when you yield without a fight because it is not a grave sin! (No. 328)”
“So how do I explain to my friends that we can’t just comfortably fall into the famous adage that we are only human?”
“It’s true that we are only human, but it’s never an excuse to sin. We fall, and fall we must but not out of malice or calculations craftily constricted to one’s selfish desires to test the limits of how far one can go without sinning seriously. This mentality clearly betrays a lack of love for God and others.”
“So what can one do to stay clear of this spiritual short-sightedness?”
“Listen to what I clipped from Baur’s wonderful masterpiece, In Silence with God. He says:
“Sin is always and in all its forms an offense to God. If we wish to live for God we must have no part in sin at all. We must make any sacrifice rather than lay ourselves open to conscious trespass. This means applying unshakable willpower to withdraw from all situations that might lead to temptation.
Our program is clear and definite. Every intentional venial sin must be ruled out. Furthermore, an equal vigilance must be extended to the semi-voluntary venial sins in order to repress and starve them.
The means to this end have been given to us. We only need to use them. Here they are again: prayer, right principles in regard to small things and venial sins, devout and constant reception of the sacrament of penance, watchfulness, and, above all, love. For this is ‘the culmination of the law.’” (Rom 13: 10).
Let us examine ourselves. What does venial sin mean to me? What has been my opinion of it in the past? What has been my attitude toward it in the practical affairs of daily life? What must I do or leave undone? What can I improve?
The fundamental truth is that the ruin of countless souls can be traced to venial sin that was not taken seriously.”
“Checkmate!”
“[MOAN!!!] Not again! Father, can we play another game?”
“Can you suggest any?” I grinned.
“One with other squares than black and white?”
“Chinese checkers?” I gave him a puzzling look.