Daily Retreat 01/22/07
2007 Jan 22 Mon/ Vincent of Saragossa, d, mt
Heb 9: 15. 24-28/ Ps 97(98): 1. 2-3ab. 3cd-4. 5-6/ Mk 3: 22-30
From today’s readings: “Christ is mediator of a new covenant.... Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous deeds.... Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
The Unforgivable Sin
The Lord’s mention of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as the unforgivable sin is disturbing to many people. Some, in fact, are obsessed by the fear of inadvertently committing that unforgivable sin, and thereby forfeiting salvation.
Jesus, however, came to call sinners, and He preached throughout His public life of the mercy of God. His brief mention of the unforgivable sin was surely thus not intended to eclipse all that Jesus did and taught about the forgiveness of sins.
As always, reading the words of Jesus in context leads to better understanding. The scribes accused Jesus of being in league with Satan, and because they were maintaining that His Spirit was evil, they were thereby blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
As the first reading recalls, however, Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant. God’s covenantal blessings, including the forgiveness of sins, come through Jesus and His Holy Spirit. So, when a person explicitly shuns Jesus and His Spirit as intrinsically evil, the person is tragically spurning the very source of forgiveness, like a child who rejects a saving antidote by refusing to take his medicine because he fears the medicine itself will poison him.
Thus, it is impossible to inadvertently commit the unforgivable sin, and even if a person had grievously sinned by initially scorning the Holy Spirit as evil, by turning in repentance to God for His forgiveness as provided in the New Covenant, the sinner would demonstrate that he had not committed the unforgivable sin of blaspheming irrevocably against the Holy Spirit.
Heb 9: 15. 24-28/ Ps 97(98): 1. 2-3ab. 3cd-4. 5-6/ Mk 3: 22-30
From today’s readings: “Christ is mediator of a new covenant.... Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous deeds.... Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
The Unforgivable Sin
The Lord’s mention of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as the unforgivable sin is disturbing to many people. Some, in fact, are obsessed by the fear of inadvertently committing that unforgivable sin, and thereby forfeiting salvation.
Jesus, however, came to call sinners, and He preached throughout His public life of the mercy of God. His brief mention of the unforgivable sin was surely thus not intended to eclipse all that Jesus did and taught about the forgiveness of sins.
As always, reading the words of Jesus in context leads to better understanding. The scribes accused Jesus of being in league with Satan, and because they were maintaining that His Spirit was evil, they were thereby blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
As the first reading recalls, however, Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant. God’s covenantal blessings, including the forgiveness of sins, come through Jesus and His Holy Spirit. So, when a person explicitly shuns Jesus and His Spirit as intrinsically evil, the person is tragically spurning the very source of forgiveness, like a child who rejects a saving antidote by refusing to take his medicine because he fears the medicine itself will poison him.
Thus, it is impossible to inadvertently commit the unforgivable sin, and even if a person had grievously sinned by initially scorning the Holy Spirit as evil, by turning in repentance to God for His forgiveness as provided in the New Covenant, the sinner would demonstrate that he had not committed the unforgivable sin of blaspheming irrevocably against the Holy Spirit.
posted by FrPitstick | 1/19/2007
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