Choose a topic from Part 2A:
1. Malice is badly disposed reason. It is commonly calledbad will. A sin committed through malice or bad will is a kind ofcold-blooded sin. From the standpoint of the disposition of reasontowards sin, there are three types of sin: (a) sins of negligence;for example, sins that come from culpable ignorance; (b) sins ofpassion; (c) sins of malice.
2. There is malice in a sin committed through habit. For ahabit is not compelling; the victim of habit is free to reject itsinfluence. So long as a person knowingly allows a sinful habit tocontinue, and does not take effective measures to banish it, heshows malice or bad will.
3. Yet a man may sin, and sin with malice, without havingthe habit of such a sin.
4. Malice makes a sin more grievous than it would be if itwere committed under the stress of passion. For malice shows acoldly purposive will to sin, despite the clear judgment of reasonwhich is at the will's service. But passion surges hotly upon aperson and blurs the judgment that precedes the act of will.
"The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you."
Thomas á Kempis
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"For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God?"
Thomas á Kempis
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"When the devil has failed in making a man fall, he puts forward all his energies to create distrust between the penitent and the confessor, and so by little and little he gains his end at last."
St Philip Neri
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