Sin against the Holy Spirit

28th Week in Ordinary Time - Saturday (20 October 2018)

Ephesians 1:15-23

Luke 12:8-12

“Everyone who says a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

If God forgives us always, then why this statement? Is there any sin that will be not be forgiven by God? In fact, this verse doesn't talk about God's attitude but about ours: a stubborn refusal of God and his message. If we in our freedom block God from our lives, God can't do anything about it. God respects our freedom, He respects even our refusal of Him. Love is love only when it is free; love doesn't force itself on the other.

We in our stubbornness could lock ourselves into a situation where we shut out any openness to the truth. As long as we are in that situation, there is no possibility of reconciliation. Forgiveness is not just a unilateral move on God’s part—which is always guaranteed. It always involves our acceptance of this forgiveness, our willingness to be renewed. If this is missing, then there is no forcing from God's part. Only by using our freedom can we receive God's forgiveness which is always available. This is what we mean by the sin against the Holy Spirit. To sin against the Spirit is to close the door on reconciliation.

A mature spirituality involves changing ourselves and letting ourselves be changed by a mysterious encounter with grace, mercy, and forgiveness. This is the truth that will set us free. But we find it difficult to accept ourselves as already forgiven, and can remain stubborn and refuse God's love and grace. Maturity comes only with a certain amount of humility to allow God and others into our lives. It may be even a kind of humiliation for us who feel we are okay, we don't need others' help or God's help. Evil is not the shadow itself, according to Carl Jung, but the refusal to meet this shadow. The problem is not the sin, but the denial of it. The problem is not the sin, but refusing to accept God's mercy.

Heaven therefore is now and forever for those who are willing to keep changing, even for "the bad" whom God forever entices into a state of communion, a letting go in love. Heaven is for those who can allow God's mercy into their lives again and again, and even change again and again.

God doesn't wait for us to ask forgiveness, but He readily forgives and loves us endlessly. He forgives us promptly, even before we ask for pardon. But do we accept this incredible forgiving love of God?

It is said that two-thirds of Jesus' message is directly or indirectly about forgiveness. In other words, Jesus is time and again saying it is radically okay. You can trust yourself because God trusts you, you can forgive yourself because God forgives you, you can accept yourself because God accepts you. Nothing will be wasted; all has been forgiven; nothing will be used against you. In fact, God will even use your sins to transform you.

As the medieval mystic Lady Julian of Norwich says, "Sin shall not be a shame to humans, but a glory. The mark of sin shall be turned to honour." If that's not the "good news," what else could it be? What else could be good except that kind of freedom, that kind of spaciousness, that kind of embrace from God that says your life matters? Your journey matters, and God's covenanted love towards you is always unconditional. If you accept this good news, the universe suddenly becomes a very safe place.