Sin of omission

In Catholic teaching, an omission is a failure to do something one can and ought to do. If this happens deliberately and freely, it is considered a sin.

The degree of guilt incurred by an omission is measured, like that attaching to sins of commission, by the dignity of the virtue and the magnitude of the precept to which the omission is opposed, as well as the amount of deliberation.

A person may be guilty of a sin of omission if he fails to do something which he is able to do and which he ought to do because he has put himself into a state or situation whereby he is unable to complete the action. For example, if a person chooses to become inebriated and is therefore unable to perform a necessary task, that person is responsible for that failure, even though that person is physically unable to perform the task because he or she knowingly put themselves into a state (drunkenness) where accomplishing the task was impossible.

Paul the Apostle refers to this sin directly when he states "For I do not do the good I want ..." (Romans 7:19).

see Romans 7:7-25

James the brother of Jesus more exactly defines this sin when he states, "Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." (James 4:17)

see James 4, New King James Version see Deuteronomy 22:1-4 see Proverbs 3:27 see Proverbs 21:13 see 1 John 3:16-18

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." —Martin Luther King