The Worst Sin

There is much talk amongst devout Catholics about sin and its affects. It is important for us as Catholics and as Christians to know and understand sin and what it has done to humankind in a negative sense, but what are those sins we should be most afraid of in offending God? Just what are they?

What is the worst of sin

There are many sins which both offend God and offend those who practice the faith. There are sins against ourselves, sins again others, and worst of all sins against the holy spirit. Scripture states that “whoever blasphemies against the holy spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31). This would be mean whoever would speak against or go against the third person of the holy trinity. This is a refusal of God’s mercy. God has given us the gift of the paschal mystery which is his own life, death, resurrection, and ascension. He has given us all. When we refuse this gift, this is what it means to blasphemy the holy spirit. Based on the teachings of the Church, only the Lord knows exactly what the greatest sins against him are, but it points to a refusal to follow him and to accept his mercy in full for all he has done for us and in following him.

How can we avoid further offending Him?

The greatest compliment to any one person is to imitate them. When we as Catholics imitate his life, in every aspect we are loving him. He was sacrificial, loving, forgiving, and merciful. In addition to the worst sin being blasphemy against the holy spirit, it is in not acting as he does. When we are judgmental, selfish, unforgiving, and unkind, and refusing to be like him, we are committing the worst sin against our Lord.

Pro-active not reactive

As Catholic Christians who love our faith, unfortunately we can become like a police officer looking for all the sins of others 24/7. We become deeply offended when we see people “not following the rules of the faith” and we react. Being pro-active and not reactive simply means we stop being on the lookout for others mistakes and sins and start looking in the mirror instead. We focus on truly becoming a good and faithful person to God and to others and stop obsessing about all the terrible things in the world and in the Church. This is being pro-active and not reactive. We can only control and pray about the kind of Christians we are and not that of every other person. We are only in charge of our own selves, but we can pray for others.

Moving forward

Change happens first within us with his help and guidance. The Church and the world will not change without our becoming a saint day by day. Saints change the world because they have a profound love of the Lord, and it shows. Let us move forward to become saints and stop offending God by becoming Church police officers of the faith. We can only change ourselves through prayer and through his spirit. Sainthood happens when we become sacrificial lovers of Christ and of all, not when we obsess about all the bad things happening in the world today. Let us pray for conversion of others, but most importantly for ourselves. May God be with us.