Pay Attention to the Details

Pay attention to the details—to the daily sinful habits, the little venial sins, intentional or unintentional, and those irksome imperfections that present obstacles to you. They may not cut you off from God’s sanctifying grace but they will impede your spiritual progress. They’ll stunt your spiritual growth.

The Daily Details Matter

Paying attention to the details of our interior life opens us up to growth opportunities. Progress in the spiritual life–seizing growth opportunities–requires God’s grace—without Him, we can do nothing (cf. John 15:5). And we must cooperate with His grace. Cooperation includes a regimen of daily mental prayer. It requires at least weekly, even more frequently, if possible, Mass and reception of the Eucharist, as well as frequent confession. Progressing spiritually means we’re moving further away from sin, and, therefore, closer to God.

Stay Out of Mortal Sin

We begin moving away from sin in an initial conversion or reversion when we renounce all mortal sin and strive to avoid it. In other words, we turn back to God by turning away from mortal sin:

“Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.” (CCC 1855)

Mortal sin cuts us off from God. There’s no divine life, no sanctifying grace, in a soul that’s in the state of mortal sin. It should go without saying that if you find yourself in mortal sin, head to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance, Confession) as soon as possible.

Venial Sins Cramp Your Spiritual Growth

Moving away from mortal sin is not enough, though! All sin is an infinite offense because it is a wrong done to our infinite God. That’s why we need to uproot the patterns of sin in our lives, even the venial sins. We need to overcome tendencies toward venial sins, whether they’re intentional or partly intentional (“semi-deliberate” as Fr. John Baur, OSB labels them in Frequent Confession). As well, we all have what’s known as imperfections and these present barriers in our progress toward greater sanctity. We must pay attention to the details—those seemingly “little” sins and imperfections.

Avoid Venial Sins and Imperfections

We should avoid all sin purely out of love for God. That’s the best motive—charity toward God. But even considering a less noble motive, one of self-interest, there are plenty of reasons to avoid even venial sins.

Sin makes us stupid. As stated more eloquently by Bishop Athanasius Schneider in Credo,

It dims the light of our intellect and weakens the strength of our will…renders our works less pleasing to God. It robs us of degrees of grace…disposes and leads to mortal sin…brings punishments in this life…consigns us to the pains of purgatory in the next.

We cannot advance in the spiritual life if we do not address our sins and imperfections. We must pay attention to the details.

Pay Attention to the Details, Including Imperfections

In addition to the elimination of sins, growth in union with God requires attention to imperfections. In Divine Intimacy, Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen describes imperfections as:

…the omission of some good act to which we are not obliged by any law, but one which charity invites us to do so…Another form of imperfection is found in a certain lack of completeness in an act which is substantially good, which is done, for example, with some reluctance, or without putting into it all the good will and fervor of spirit of which we are capable…

In other words, you may have completed an act in a quantitatively acceptable way, but not in a qualitatively good manner. Father Baur explains this as a case where you may have executed the exterior act on time in the right way but with improper intentions or motives.

Even though imperfections are not sins per se, you will benefit from taking them to confession. The presence of intentional imperfections would indicate a higher regard for your will than for God’s. Imperfections are wasted opportunities to do good. They deprive us of graces and stunt our spiritual growth. If we don’t pay attention to the details of both our sins and our imperfections, we’re going to stagnate spiritually.

Pull Out These Sinful Habits by Their Roots

Pay attention to the details of sins and imperfections–this requires more than constantly taking them to confession. That’s something akin to cutting off noxious weeds at ground level. Don’t just mow down the sinful weeds in your life. Pull them up by the roots!

This means you need to dig a little deeper. Identify where those sins are coming from. What patterns of sins and imperfections do you continue to battle against? Why do they continue to show up? What circumstances seem to precede or accompany them? Do certain people or activities in your life seem to be associated with them? Take it to prayer, and ask the Lord to shed light on these and similar questions, to help you find the answers.

Identify Your Root Sin

Consider identifying your root sin, and with the help of a spiritual director, identify offsetting virtues to practice. Root sins are not the capital sins or vices, but give rise to them. They represent tendencies, as a result of original sin, to look for happiness and fulfillment outside of God.

Fr. John Bartunek, LC explains that classical theology has identified three root sins: pride, vanity and sensuality. Through a review of some common manifestations he provides, you can begin to identify your own root sin.

Replace Vicious Habits with Virtuous Habits

After identifying your root sin, work at practicing a virtue that offsets it and the actual sins or imperfections it leads you to commit. For example, let’s say you have a habit of judging others and being critical of them. This commonly comes from the root sin of pride.

What can you do to overcome this bad habit and replace it with a virtuous habit? Consider a “both-and” approach. What might you do, both to curb sinful behavior and to practice virtue in its place? The answer will vary from person to person based on your own circumstances.

From a practical perspective, eliminate the sinful behavior; stop the negative thinking in its tracks. When you catch yourself heading down that trail, reject, rebuke and renounce it in Jesus’ name. Immediately tell Him you’re sorry. Note it during your daily examen; take it to confession.

As well, work on building a good habit–practicing virtue to counter the judgmental, critical tendency you’ve identified. Pray that the Holy Spirit stirs up the gift of wisdom in you, to help you see, understand and love others with His heart and love. When you feel the urge to criticize, remind yourself that he or she, too, was made in the image and likeness of God. Look for something good, some good qualities, in that person.

Take A Proactive Approach

Be proactive. Even before the temptation to judge occurs, look for the good in others. Head that negativity off at the pass. Psychologists claim we have a built-in negativity bias, seeing the negative side of things and people. In my experience, I’ve seen that you will find what you’re looking for. If you want to find shortcomings in others, you certainly will. But, if you’re looking for evidence that they’re made in God’s image and likeness—if you’re looking for something good in them–you’ll find that as well. Choose what you wish to chase.

Get to Confession Frequently

Conduct a particular examen at least once a day to track your progress. Use the information from this tracking process to prepare for confession as to that particular sin. And get to confession frequently. Pay attention to the details of the small things, the venial sins, the imperfections and bad habits in your life.

Take them to the Sacrament of Penance (Confession) often. The Sacrament of Penance increases grace in us and gives us the strength and the grace to avoid the sins we’ve confessed. All of us should be going to confession at least once a month. Even more often is better. Given the precarious nature of national and global conditions, we all ought to be in a continual state of grace and prayed up for any unexpected situations.

Pay attention to the details that are holding you back from spiritual growth. If some disruption in daily life (and in sacramental availability) were to occur, in what condition would your soul be? We are only here for a brief time. Let’s stay prayed up and in grace, and make the most of our time here, on our path toward greater union with God.

While he guards himself at every moment from sins and vices of thought or tongue, of hand or foot, of self-will or bodily desire, let him recall that he is always seen by God (Rule of St. Benedict, 7:12-13).