Penance is necessary! Without it, we cannot turn away from sin. | Second Sunday of Advent

What are the top three sins that damn souls to hell?

Wrath is one of the top three. And none of us should be surprised by wrath; revenge, hatred of someone. We pray in the Our Father "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." If I'm simply unwilling to forgive anyone in my life, then I cannot be forgiven and I will go to hell. It's that simple.

Another is stealing. Stealing! A lot of people don't realize that. Significant acts of stealing are not easily forgiven because most people don't pay back the debt. If you've stolen $1000 and never paid that back in some way, shape, or form, you actually can't be forgiven because you're still benefitting from your sin. The Fathers say many souls go to hell - great numbers of souls - because they've never tried to pay back their debt. They've repented of it, but they've never paid it back.

But the number one sin, or sins, that keep souls out of heaven - and this should not be any surprise to anyone - are sexual sins. Sins of the flesh. From the beginning this has been so. Sins against the 6th and the 9th Commandments. I'll just do a quick recap to remind us what's in these categories.

There are the obvious things: adultery, fornication, pornography, homosexuality, masturbation, lust - that's just an act of the mind. Dirty jokes, immodest stories, immodest clothing, immodest actions. Impurity, it doesn't have to be anything particularly grave, just impure. And there are many, many more.

It's these sins in particular that are the number one sins, according to the Fathers and the Saints, that damn souls for eternity.

And that is so not because our Lord isn't merciful or willing to forgive - of course He is. He's given us the Sacraments. He's given us His Life and His Grace. They damn souls to hell first and foremost because those souls who are weak in these sins do not repent. They're not going to confession! Or they're not being honest in confession. How often does it happen that a soul is not forgiven because they have not made a good confession. They've glossed over some aspect of those sins because they're embarrassed or ashamed....

Humble repentance. That's the first and most important thing! If we're not doing that, then there's no hope. ...

So how do we overcome? How do we battle this?

 

Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; 2 Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8

 

The Mass may be viewed in its entirety on our youtube channel. Homily beings at 16:07