II. The Definition of Sin

Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.”1

Sin is an offense against God: “Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight.”2 Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become “like gods”3, knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus “love of oneself even to contempt of God.”4 In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.5

It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning, and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate’s cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas’ betrayal—so bitter to Jesus, Peter’s denial and the disciples’ flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world,6 the sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.