occasions of sin

Occasions of Sin n - External circumstances--whether of things or persons--which either because of their special nature or because of the frailty common to humanity or peculiar to some individual, incite or entice one to sin. (Maybe I'm stretching things a little here; is a 'term of the day' okay?)

We Catholic school students were warned to avoid the "near occasions of sin" such as we would encounter in our daily lives. What kinds of things? Playboy and similar magazines, bad companions, certain parts of town, erotic movies, and the very rare (in my teens) girls who were known to "go all the way" (and who were therefore in high demand; lacking as I did either a Varsity letter or a reputation as a tough guy, they were as far out of my adolescent grasp as the Magellanic clouds). Autobiographical note: My steady girlfriend, a young lady of Russian descent named Rosemary Z------, attended an institution called Queen of the Rosary Academy. How far do you think I got at the Route 110 drive-in? I respected her too much to even attempt to get past second base. I still think of her fondly from time to time; she was a bright spot in my otherwise dismal young adulthood.

Back to Os of S. I recently watched the first two episodes of the HBO series ROME. It was very well done in some respects:

1) It's depiction of crucifixion was right on target, but there may be such a thing as excessive verisimilitude.

2) Romans would engage in sexual activity with slaves present and give it no more thought than moderns would if there were a tank of tropical fish in the room. This point was brought out graphically.

3) A Roman patrician would order a subordinate to divorce a spouse and remarry, regardless of how that subordinate felt. A spectacular example would be Augustus's non-negotiable demand that his selected successor Tiberius divorce his current wife and marry the woman Augustus had picked for him. Tiberius bitterly resented it, but he complied.

4) A Roman paterfimilias (father of the family) had literal power of life and death over his wife and children. If the father died, the oldest son, not the wife, would be in charge. One example: When Constantine I learned that his wife Fausta and oldest son Crispus were enjoying a technically incestuous relationship, he had them poisoned. He was completely within his rights to do so, but his conscience gave him no rest. To atone for what he came to view as a sin (not a crime), he sent his mother Helena Augusta to Jerusalem to locate the Holy Sepulchre and, if possible, the True Cross (she succeeded, but that's another story; I have often said that if all the pieces of the True Cross in the monasteries, convents, churches, cathedrals, and palaces of Europe were put together, you'd have enough wood to build a shopping mall).

I had to abandon the series because, for me, it was an occasion of sin. Within ten minutes of the start of the first episode, I was treated to the sight of an attractive English actress (see above) engaged in (presumably) simulated sexual intercourse, with very little left to the imagination. I could see every square inch of her as she very persuasively feigned (?) transports of erotic ecstasy. I have often said, half-jokingly, that, where the Seven Deadly Sins are concerned, I'm pretty good on Greed and Envy, but I need to work harder on the others. Lust has always been a particular problem for me. I don't need encouragement.

One more thing about occasions of sin. A young woman recently told me that a friend of hers was getting divorced, and that the friend was understandably grief-stricken. It seems that her husband had been unfaithful, and that this husband was also a devotee of pornography. Exposure to the occasions of sin will often lead to sorrow and misery in this world, to say nothing of painful consequences in the next.

I got today's definition from the Catholic Encyclopedia . Just as I, a lapsing Catholic, have found much of value at the Evangelical Protestant CARM website, so EPs will find good and useful material at New Advent. I highly recommend both sites.

NB: Today's picture is not an entry in the Exquisite series. There's nothing exquisite about a skank.