Faith-Hope-Charity
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Our Owed Obedience (2087)
Our moral life is based upon our belief in God, to whom we owe an "obedience of faith" (Rom 1:5). Paul condemned the "ignorance of God" as the cause of moral deviations (Rom 1:18-32).
Sins against Faith (2088-2089)
We must protect faith by vigilance and reject everything opposed to it. The sins against faith are:
- Voluntary doubt - Refusing to hold as true what God revealed and the Church teaches. Doubt is involuntary when the person hesitates to believe or cannot overcome objections to faith.
- Incredulity - Neglect or outright refusal to assent to a revealed truth.
- Heresy - Denial of a truth that must be believed with divine and catholic faith.
- Apostasy - Total repudiation of the Catholic faith.
- Schism - Refusal to submit to the Pope or to accept communion with the Church.
Need for Hope (2090)
Because man cannot fully respond to God's love, he must hope that God will give him the capacity to live according to the commandments. Hope is the confident expectation of God's blessings of this life and of eternal life. Therefore, hope fears to offend God and incur punishment.
Sins against Hope (2091-2092)
Two sins against hope are:
- Despair - The person loses all hope of God's forgiveness or his help in getting to heaven. This is against God's goodness, justice, and mercy.
- Presumption is committed by someone who trusts in his own power to save himself; or who presumes on God's forgiveness without any need for repentance and good works.
Sins against Charity (2093-2094)
Sins against charity are:
- Indifference - Which does not think about God's love and even denies its power
- Ingratitude - Which refuses to acknowledge God's goodness
- Luke warmness - Which neglects to respond to God's love
- Spiritual sloth (acedia) - Which refuses to delight in God
- Hatred of God - Which presumes to curse God who forbids sin and inflicts punishment