Growing Up Catholic in a Small Texas Town:
Sin or Survival
A few weeks ago, our priest included a handout in the bulletin with instructions on how to make a good confession. It listed the Ten Commandments. Breaking one is a mortal sin. Everyone knows that. All this time, I thought I was safe because I took the meaning of the Big Ten literally. No killing, no stealing, no adultery, etc. But this list contained subcategories under each commandment. Subcategories? Really? Halfway through reading the list, depression set in. Being angry and resentful fell under the kill category. Being angry with God fell under taking the Lord’s name in vain. Gossip fell under bearing false witness. All along, I thought these were venial sins. Well, evidently it’s not. By the time I finished reading the list, I felt like the worst person in the world. I envisioned a humongous, dark mushroom cloud of iniquity rising up in the sky and darkening out the sun, preventing God from ever seeing me.
I started reflecting on my entire life, going all the way back to when I attended St. Mary’s School and later high school. There were times when I asked a friend if I could copy her answer to one of the hard homework questions. It wasn’t that I didn’t do my homework, but it always seemed that some questions were so confusing that the answers seemed unattainable. I certainly didn’t want to turn in my paper…
