St. Teresa of Avila on Venial Sin

"St. Teresa in Ecstasy"  Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 - 1680)

In case you thought one venial sin was not a big deal, consider what St. Teresa of Avila, mystic and Doctor of the Church, wrote on that subject:

May it please His Majesty that we fear Him whom we ought to fear, and understand that one venial sin can do us more harm than all hell together; for that is the truth.  The evil spirits keep us in terror, because we expose ourselves to the assaults of terror by our attachments to honours, possessions, and pleasures.  For the the evil spirits, uniting themselves with us, - we become our own enemies when we love and seek what we ought to hate, - do us great harm. We ourselves put weapons into their hands, that they may assail us; those very weapons with which we should defend ourselves,  It is a great pity.  But if, for the love of God we hated all this, and embraced the cross, and set about His service in earnest, Satan would fly away before such realities, as from the plague,  He is the friend of lies, and a lie himself.  He will have nothing to do with those who walk in the truth.  When he sees the understanding of any one obscured he simply helps to pluck out his eyes; if he sees any one already blind, seeking peace in vanities, - for all the things of this world are so utterly vanity, that they seem to be but the playthings of a child, - he sees at once that such a one is a child, and ventures to wrestle him - not once but often.

from "The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila," by herself

"On the danger to which tepidity exposes the soul" (part 2)

"Temptation of St. Anthony," Hieronymous Bosch

The following is taken from a sermon for Passion Sunday by our Lenten guide, St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church:

[D]eliberate and habitual venial sins not only deprive us of strength to resist temptations, but also of the special helps without which we fall into grievous sins.  . . .  It is certain that of ourselves we have not sufficient strength to resist the temptations of the Devil, of the flesh, and of the world.  It is God that prevents our enemies from assailing us with temptations by which we would be conquered.  Hence Jesus Christ has taught us the following prayer:  And lead us not into temptation.  He teaches us to pray that God may deliver us from the temptations to which we would yield, and thus lose his grace.  Now, venial sins, when they are deliberate and habitual, deprive us of the special helps of God which are necessary for preservation in his grace.  I say necessary because the Council of Trent anathematizes those who assert that we can persevere in grace without a special help from God.  . . .  Thus with the ordinary assistance of God, we cannot avoid falling into some mortal sin: a special aid is necessary.  But this special aid God will justly withhold from tepid souls who are regardless of committing, with full deliberation, many venial sins.  Thus these unhappy souls shall not persevere in grace.

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us.

"On the danger to which tepidity exposes the soul"

 Altarpiece, Marienburg Monastery

The following is taken from a sermon for Passion Sunday by our Lenten guide, St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church:

"A tepid soul is one that frequently falls into fully deliberate venial sins, - such as deliberate lies, deliberate acts of impatience, deliberate imprecations, and the like.  These faults may be easily avoided by those who are resolved to suffer death, rather than commit a deliberate venial offence against God.  St Teresa used to say, that one venial sin does us more harm than all the devils in Hell.  Hence she would say to her nuns: "My children, from deliberate sin, however venial it may be, may the Lord deliver you." . . . But some of you will say: Venial sins, however great they may be, do not deprive the soul of the grace of God: even though I commit them, I will be saved; and for me it is enough to obtain eternal life.  You say, that, for you, it is enough to be saved.  Remember that St. Augustine says, that, where you have said, "It is enough", there you have perished. . .  [T]he habit of light faults leads the soul insensibly to mortal sins.  . . . [T]he fall of many souls into mortal sin follows from habitual venial sins; for, these render the soul so weak, that, when a strong temptation assails her, she has not strength to resist it, and she falls."

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us.