Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is a sin (James 4:17).
What Is The Sin Of Omission?
James the apostle, son of Alphaeus states that if a person fails to do the right thing that he or she knows they should have done, they sin. The sin is known as the ‘sin of omission’ and it is usually overlooked. The ‘sin of omission’ is a transgression that results from ignorance – the relinquishing of good deeds. When people ignore doing things God expects them to do, they are committing the sin of omission. For instance, when a person omits from their life the profession of faith in Jesus Christ, or when he or she omits from his or her life forgiving others, or if there is an omission of prayer in one`s life, then the person is committing a sin.
- Conversion requires convincing of sin; it includes the interior judgment of conscience, and this, being a proof of the action of the Spirit of truth in man’s inmost being, becomes at the same time the start of a new grant of grace and love: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Thus in this “convincing concerning sin” we discover a double gift: the gift of the truth of conscience and the gift of the certainty of redemption. The Spirit of truth is the Consoler (CCC 1848).
Omissions By Catholics
As Catholics, when we ignore among other things to care for God`s creation, to stand in solidarity with each other and with other people, and to stand up for the dignity of work and the rights of workers, we are committing the sin of omission. When we fail to put the needs of the vulnerable and poor first, when we do not exercise our rights and responsibilities properly, when we fail to take care of the community, the family and participate in society, and when we do not keep human life sacred and dignified we continue to sin. When a Catholic turns a blind eye to the Church`s social teachings, he or she is omitting a crucial part of their Catholic faith in their life, and that leads to the transgression of omission.
Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders (CCC 1860).
What The Sin Of Omission Does
Even though sins of omission are less dramatic as compared to sins of commission (mortal sin), a sin is a sin. These light omissions can silently and slowly corrode the foundation of one`s relationship with God.
Romans 8: 1-39 narrates how the sin of omission can separate a person from Jesus but the Spirit helps us in our weakness:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us?Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
“For thy sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
How To Avoid The Sin Of Omission
- For us to avoid committing sins of omission we have to know the good that God expects from us. We also have to understand the will of God in our lives. This is narrated in Acts 2: 36-47:
Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
- We also have to know what kind of gifts we possess. We also need to know how we can use them to the best of our ability. As it is written in The Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25: 14-30 :
For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’
But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”
On November 2020, for the World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis commented on this parable:
That is what the lazy servant in the parable thought: for lack of initiative and creativity, he yielded to needless fear and buried the talent he had received. The master actually calls him “wicked” (v. 26). And yet he did nothing wrong! But he did nothing good either. He preferred to sin by omission rather than to risk making a mistake. He was not faithful to God, who spends freely, and he made his offence even worse by returning the gift he had received.
Final Words
In everything we do, we should never forget to do good. We should not allow being separated from God.
5 thoughts on “Recognizing The Sin Of Omission”
As Christians we have a clear duty to attend to the needs of the vulnerable; the “least among us”. IMO this duty is compromised by the assumption that the almighty State, through its actions, somehow shares in God’s love for the poor. The State has its reasons, Christians have theirs. The ministry to the least among us, belongs to Christ and His followers. They should not make common cause with those who act out of their lust for poor rather than the Love of God.
Correction. Lust for “power” not “poor”.
Hello Chris C
Thank you for taking the time to read my article.
Thank you. What an important message and reminder. Thank you for writing it so well.
Hello Carmen
Thank you for reading the article. I’m happy that it made a positive impact on you.