All Sins Are Not Creat Equal!

All Sins Are Not Created Equal1 John 5:15-17 “ If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a deadly sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not deadly. There is sin that is deadly; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly."I was listening to Father Mike the other day, and he was talking about mortal sins vs. venial sins.  I have heard the distinction between the two before, and yet I felt like he described it really well in this particular podcast episode, which is #247 on the Catechism in a Year Podcast titled The Weight of Sin.  I recommend you listen to this episode if you want more information, as Father Mike explained it better than I can.  However, I am going to try to relay much of what he said and also share my takeaways from it.The Catholic Church believes there are two kinds of sin, venial sins, which are smaller in nature and do not sever your relationship with God, but they do wound it.  Then there are mortal sins, which do sever your relationship with God, and you must repent and go to confession to repair that relationship.  Father Mike gave an example that showed the difference between these two sins.  I thought it was a great example, so that I will share it with you.  Hearing this helped me to see the effect of our sins.  If you are an animal lover, you may not love this example.  Father Mike said to think of a bullfight.  The first thing that happens in a bullfight is that the picador comes out and uses barbs to limit the bull’s ability to fight the matador.  The picador inserts these barbs in places like the back of the neck so that the bull can’t lift his head up.  The point of these barbs is not to kill the bull. It is just to wound the bull.  It is to make the bull weaker so he won’t be able to put up as much of a fight when the matador comes out.  Our venial sins are like the picador, they do not kill our relationship, but they do wound it.  They also make it so we can’t fight the enemy as well.  The more venial sins we commit the more likely we are to commit mortal sins.  Our mortal sins are like the matador, they kill our relationship with the Lord. Our mortal sins make us turn away and cut ties with our Lord.  We can repair that relationship through repentance and confession.  My biggest takeaway from that example was that our venial sins make it more likely for us to commit mortal sins. I loved how he described the picador’s ability to limit the bull’s ability to fight back.  It really resonated with me that when we are committing venial sins, we may call them small sins, but they limit our ability to fight back against the enemy.  They limit our willpower.  They limit our strength.  We are left wounded, and so is our relationship with God.  Our venial sins might be small, but they can start to add up.St Augustin wrote, “While he is in the flesh, man can not help but have at least some light sins.  But do not dispose of these sins that we call light.  If you take them for light when you count them, tremble when you weigh them.  A number of light objects make a great mass.  A number of drops fill a river, and a number of grains make a heap.  What, then, is our hope, confession?” This quote is a great reminder that small things can add up. We might think our venial sins are not that important, and yet they can add up and become overwhelming if we let them. Confession is a great way to repair your relationship with the Lord.  I also learned a few things about confessions while listening to this episode.  Father Mike said when you are in confession, you want to give some detail about your sins, and yet you don’t want to go into the whole story of the sin.  He said we need to land somewhere in between very vague and too much detail.  There is a Nigerian priest who works with Father Mike, and he says, “Don’t