Dear Clement:

I would not say that most sins are grave. Most are venial. Venial sins can be forgiven by asking God's forgiveness in a simple way, receiving the Eucharist, and/or doing good works.

Grave sin, however, must be brought to the Sacrament of Confession because in mortal sin the connection with God is not merely damaged as it is with venial sin, but severed completely. Thus, since it take an act of the Sacraments to come into God's friendship in the first place (i.e. Baptism), another sacramental act of the Church must be performed to reconcile the fallen person to God, his Church, and to His people.

We must always remember that there is no such thing as "stumbling" into hell. A person goes to hell with both eyes wide open.

Whenever we gravely sin we can say a Perfect Act of Contrition right on the spot, within minutes of our sin, and we are forgiven and restored to a State of Grace. This Perfect Act of Contrition, however, requires a promise of bringing that same sin to the formal Sacrament of Confession at the earliest opportunity. We may not receive the Eucharist until we formally confess in the Sacrament. If one refuses to followup the Perfect Act of Contrition with a formal Confession in the Sacrament then he commits yet another grave sin and risks his soul.

So what happens when, for example, one gravely sins on Monday at 3pm. He says a Perfect Act of Contrition at 3:05pm, but never gets to confession on Saturday because he is run over by a bus on Wednesday and killed. If all his sins have been forgiven through Perfect Acts of Contrition, then even though he never made it to the Sacrament of Confession on Saturday, he is still in a State of Grace and heaven-bound.

God knows one's heart. If a person sins today at 3pm and dies at 15 seconds after the hour before having a chance to make a Perfect Act of Contrition, that person's soul is in the hands of the Perfect and Merciful Heavenly Judge. We can be assured that God will judge such a person's heart with precise perfection and God will act accordingly. No one, but no one, goes to hell by some mere technicality or by mistake. God knows the heart.

Is it possible for a good Christian who has loved God all his life to go to hell? Yes, it is possible. A person can live a good and holy life all his life and then for some reason decide to reject and abandon God in the last moments of life (assuming that the person is sane and able to exercise unimpaired positive volition). God does not force us into His heaven. If we truly do not wish to go to heaven, or if we do not want God's grace and thus reject it, He will not force it.

The other way around is also possible. A person can live an evil life and then at his death bed repent and cry out to God for forgiveness. God will grant it and that man will be heaven-bound (even though his whole life up to that last minute was evil).

Our eternal destiny is determined by the state of our soul at the moment of death. God is not so cruel, however, to leave us with no means to assure that we will reach the end of our lives here on earth in His friendship. The best and surest way to remain in God's friendship all the way to our death is by valid baptism and also a confirmed Catholic, living the life of a good and devout Catholic is suppose to do, participating in the Sacraments and the sacramental life, all the way to death. That is why our Lord gave us the Church and her Sacraments. The Church and her Sacraments give us the power and energy to remain in God's friendship.

Those who are not Catholic have means within their respective denominations to help keep them on the path to heaven (to finish the race, as St. Paul put it), but that race is made easier and surer by the Sacraments of the Church that Jesus personally founded and intended all His followers to be a visible part.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary