BY FR. ROY CIMAGALA
GOD is so full mercy he always forgives our sins. There’s just one sin that is unforgivable. It is called the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Christ said so: “All sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” (Mk 3,28-29)
Christ spoke these words when after performing a miracle, those who witnessed it mocked him instead of believing in him. They went to the extent of saying a contradiction — that Christ managed to heal on a Sabbath a man with shrivelled hand by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of evil. “By the prince of demons, he casts out demons,” they said. (Mk 3,20)
This unforgivable sin is precisely the sin of the demons themselves who refuse to believe in God in spite of everything God would do to help them. In other words, one who commits this unforgivable sin, that is, who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, is like the demon himself.
Let us always remember that God always likes to forgive. Remember Christ asking for forgiveness for those who crucified him just moments before his death: “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23,24)
In this case, those who crucified him did not really know what they were doing. And, in fact, they were converted when after Christ died, they confessed that he was truly the Son of God. (cfr Mt 27,54; Mk 15,39) But in the case of those who saw the miracle on the Sabbath, they persisted in their disbelief.
We have to see to it that we avoid falling into committing this unforgivable sin. We may not understand everything in our life and that is why we commit sins, but let us not directly, formally and openly reject God in the face of the many good things and blessings that we also enjoy.
Let us make our sins an occasion to get closer to God, to understand better his will and ways, and even to attain sanctity. Sin, of course, does not cause sanctity. But if handled well, it can occasion the way to holiness. It can trigger a strong impulse toward developing a greater love for God and for others, which is what holiness is all about.
It’s really a matter of how we react to our sinfulness. If we are sorry for our sins and try to make up for them, then sanctity would be at our reach. God, always a loving father to us, will never deny his mercy. Neither will he deny his grace to make us as we ought to be — true image and likeness of his, and a good child of his.
In fact, if we go by the reasoning of St. Paul, God seems to have the habit of choosing the foolish things of the world, the weak, the lowly and the despised, in order to confound and shame the wise, the strong and the proud of this world. (cfr 1 Cor 1,27-28) Along this line, He can also choose a sinner to confound those who pride themselves in a worldly way as saints.
Let’s be quick to ask forgiveness the moment we realize we fall into sin. And when faced with a mystery that is hard, if not impossible, to understand or to cope despite all our efforts, let’s be humble enough to abandon ourselves in God’s hands, in God’s providence.
Instead of hardening in our disbelief in God because of our failure to understand things, let’s deepen our humility so that we rely more on God’s gift of faith than on our reason and on our other human powers.
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Fr. Roy Cimagala is the Chaplain of the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise, Talamban, Cebu City (roycimagala@gmail.com)/PN
