1. Ignorance is an indirect sin.
Ignorance is a sin, an indirect sin; in that it is a kind of a sin whereby a person is prevented to have a knowledge that he needs to do what he has to do.
Ignorance of the ‘way to salvation’ prevents a soul from saving his soul. Most people are ignorant that ignorance is a sin so they are not sorry for being so, they do not avoid being so, they do not confess being so…….so they often die with this mortal sin and end up straight in hell.
In my fifty years as a priest nobody has ever confess to me that he was ignorant on how to go to heaven. Yet that is a serious sin against Faith.
2. Love of self is a direct sins.
St. Augustine gives a good definition of sin; aversion from God, conversion towards creatures. Holiness would be defined the other way around; aversion from creatures, conversion towards God.
What makes an act a sin is its aversion from God and not its conversion towards creatures. Take this example; if love of parents is a result of aversion from God then love of parents is a sin (he who loves parents more than Me is not worthy of Me). What makes it a sin is not the love of parents but the fact that it was a consequence of aversion from God. Love of parents does not have to be a consequence of aversion from God. Love of parents or conversion towards parents and conversion towards God is possible if parents are loved in the right way.
3. Conversion towards God.
Conversion towards God is to love God with all one’s mind, heart, and strength. With everything in man directed towards God, there is no room for creatures. So all creatures must be the object of aversion or hatred. Conversion towards God is using our whole mind and heart in knowing and loving God. The other side, aversion towards creatures means everything outside of God. This includes parents, brothers, sisters, land, the world, etc…Well Christ said; to be perfect we must go home and leave boats, nets, husband, home, etc…as the first condition for apostleship. So the two side of the coin is clear. Of course, the ‘self’ is among the creatures that must be the object of aversion or hatred.
4. Conversion towards creatures.
If conversion towards God is loving God with all one’s mind, heart and strength; conversion towards creature is loving creatures with all one’s mind, heart and strength. The word ‘conversion’ is another word for love, defined theologically.
So if we love God we would necessarily hate the world; and if we love the world we would necessarily hate God. Catholic theology have been using these terms in describing sin and virtue.
5. Love of God, love of neighbor and love of self defined.
Notice that the definition of these three terms are identical; which means that these three can be the object of love or conversion together while everything else can be the object of aversion.
Love of God is defined as obedience to all His Commands. Christ said; ‘If you love Me, keep My commandments. Love of self is defined as teaching oneself and obeying all the commands of Christ (who is the man who builds his house on rock; he who listens and acts upon My Words.). So, in effect, the person who obeys the commands of Christ loves himself in the right way. Love of neighbor is defined as teaching one’s neighbor the commands of Christ and how to obey them, which in effect, is teaching him how to love God.
Note that the definition of the three loves is the definition of ‘evangelization’……’teaching them My commands and how to obey them.’ So Scriptures was right when it teaches us to Love God first before we can love ourselves; because our love for ourselves should be liken to our love for God. And our love for our neighbor should be liken to our right love for oneself; thus ‘love your neighbor as you love yourself.’
Properly defined, love of neighbor and love of self is equivalent to love of God. So the three can be together as the object of our conversion towards God; because as defined, the three loves are, indeed, love of God with all one’s mind, heart and strength. This is the spiritual and Catholic definition of the three loves. Only saints know these definition and only saints put them into practice. When saints do this they sanctify the object of their loves.
6. The ‘love of self’ which according to St. Thomas of Aquinas is the source of all sin.
The wrong ‘love of self’ is the consequence of aversion towards God. People who love themselves hate God.
Love of self is the love among humans that comes from concupiscence and, therefore, is sinful. It is in the natural sphere and comes from the concupiscence of men. It is the love described in love songs and the love advertised during Valentine. This love is the source of all sins. And everybody in hell is there because of this ‘love of self.’
Love of self is conversion towards the self which is the result of aversion towards God. In other words, this is the kind of love that results from contempt of God. This contempt is what makes it a very serious sin.
Another way of defining this ‘love of self’ is this; it is saying ‘my will be done’ instead of saying ‘God’s Will be done.’ Contempt of God is when one says ‘my will be done and I don’t care what is God’s Will. So this love of self is akin to Lucifer’s ‘non serviam.’ It is identical, also, to Eve’s original sin, wherein she did what she liked with complete knowledge of what was the Will of God.
While love of God is obedience to His commands, ‘if you love Me, keep My commandments.’ love of self is obedience to my own will and disobedience to the commands of God.
Love of self is the motive for doing things. This motive comes from an erroneous intellect and blind free will. ‘I’ll do what I want, eat what I want, go where I want, say what I want, worship the god I want, join the religion I want, hear the Mass that I want……I want!, I want!, I want!, I want!……and I want everybody to submit to what I want. And if there is a God, he should do what I want.
St. Thomas describes ‘love of self’ as inordinate love for oneself; i.e. giving to oneself the love it does not deserve. Everybody in the world is like that. Head of states impose what they like on the population, like family planning. They do this because of the power, the adulation or the money they will receive which they love. Husbands marry the woman they like emotionally. That is doing what they like and that is a sin. Surely this is a marriage that will not last. ‘Do what you like’ is the philosophy of the French revolution, the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty, the drive behind the move for freedom and rights. They are all mortal sin that leads to hell.
It is the sin of the whole bureaucracy of the Vatican; running the Church the way they want instead of the way Christ wants it run. Introducing a new Protestant sect that they want rather than the old religion of Christ and the apostles. And punishing all bishops who follow the Will of God while promoting bishops and cardinals who are imposing their own personal, private wills.
Today, we have a whole scenario similar to heaven during the revolt of Lucifer, and a scenario in Paradise when Adam and Eve chose their own will over and above God’s Will. The whole world is in revolt against the Will of God by insisting on their own personal, sinful wills. It is the worship of the god called ‘original sin.’ And they don’t know what they are doing; and nobody else knows what is going on.
Just like the sin of ignorance; people are sinning with ignorance and going to hell without knowing they are sinning and without knowing they are going to hell. The same thing with the sin of ‘loving oneself.’ People are sinning with their great love for themselves, they are immensely enjoying their lives loving themselves, they are going straight to hell and they do not know it. This is what Pope Francis meant when he said; ‘our God is a God of surprises.’ Yes, we will really get surprised where He is sending us when we die. Really, what a surprise.
Enough for the meantime but just one last point. St. Augustine wrote; that if we pray not because it is the command of Christ, but because we emotionally love to pray, this is love of self and that act of prayer is a sin. Because it is doing your own will and not God’s Will. This is similar to the sin of Eve. Eve wanted to know good from evil; isn’t that good? Yes, but when she ate the fruit, her motive was not to know good from evil. She wanted to do what she liked; i.e. to know good and evil the way she liked and not the way God wants it learned.
This is the reason why all seminaries are a flop and are not producing priest who can help teach the way to heaven. Why? because for them the way to heaven is the way they want. They are not learning the way to heaven the way God wants it learned, through contemplation. Theology teachers do not know the way to heaven. They have never been there before. Only Christ came from there and went back there. He, alone, knows the way. So priests and seminarians should learn it from Him. How? Through contemplation. There is no other way. Christ said so to Peter; ‘It is not man who taught you this. But My Father in heaven.’ See? No theology professor can teach you this.
Conclusion
Taking a closer look on how all men love themselves, especially the Pope who runs the Vatican the way he wants, the bishops who run their diocese the way they want, priest who run their parishes the way they want, religious who interpret their holy rules the way they want and the laymen and all non-catholics who live the way they want……..almost with no exception.
From the Pope to the smallest child. Pope Francis is the exemplar. Most Catholics, from cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns, members of ecclesial communities, etc, are all the same. And that is their language. ‘Do it,’ i.e. your own will.
Pope Francis does not teach us to love God by obeying His commands. Look at his instructions on adultery. He does not tell us to love ourselves by obeying the commands of God; and he does not tell us to love our neighbor by teaching them to obey the 6th and 9th commandment of God. He, in fact, tells us to disobey the 6th and 9th commandment; in short to show contempt for God. That is mortal sin.
Instead he tells us to do what we want; if we want to abandon our former families, go ahead and the Vatican will even give you a cheap and speedy separation. If you want to migrate, go ahead and he will tell countries not to build walls. Liberty, freedom, go ahead and do what you want. What is God’s Will? Never mind. He is merciful, He will understand we are sad and lonely and so we can go and mess up other countries. Wasn’t that his message to the youth?
In fact Pope Francis is not teaching us to follow the teachings of Christ, whose very name he does not even mention anymore. He wants us to chose his Argentinian new Protestant sect that he likes, called church of mercy and compassion which he just copied from the theologian he likes who is not even a theologian, Cardinal Kasper (whose book on ‘Mercy’ is based on the heresy on grace by Martin Luther); and whose centenary is going to be celebrated by the protestants with the German bishops and Pope Francis participating. Well, we all like the same god and we are all brothers under the same father that we like. Now, wait a minute. We are not even third cousins and we do not have the same DNA. How can we be brothers with the same father. These speeches of Pope Francis is really confusing as he traces our ancestry.
These two sins, ‘ignorance’ and ‘love of self’ are a fantastic duo who compliment each other in perfect coordination in sending millions of soul to hell. Because we are ignorant of God’s Will we always end up doing our own will….then back to ignorance,….and we are ignorant that we are sinning grievously in loving ourselves exceedingly. We are all going straight to hell and we do not know it. Yet, we can know all these and do something about it. What is happening? Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI just couldn’t help staying quiet. Just last week he gave a lengthy interview with Fr. Servais, S.J. and taught us everything we have to do. He is acting like a true Pope. What happened with the other one?