Saturday, October 19, 2013
28th Week in Ordinary
Time 1st Reading:
Rom 4: 13, 16- 18
Gospel: Lk 12:8-12
Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before people, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But the one who denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.
There will be pardon for the one who criticizes the Son of Man, but there will be no pardon for the one who slanders the Holy Spirit.
When you are brought before the synagogues, governors and rulers, don’t worry about how you will defend yourself or what to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you have to say.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The statement that sins against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven comes to us as a shock. We have to construe this difficult Gospel passage in a way that is consistent with God’s boundless mercy. One way is to look at this passage in the light of the Holy Spirit as fruit of the love between the Father and the Son. A common reason why a person refuses to ask for forgiveness is the lack of faith in His love. This amounts to denying the Holy Spirit since the Holy Spirit is the primary fruit of that love. A hardline stance cannot be forgiven because much as God would like to forgive anyone, He cannot impose Himself upon any person who refuses to submit to the power of his love.
Another way to construe this difficult Gospel passage is by way of revisiting the mechanics of repentance. No repentance is possible without inspiration from the Holy Spirit. By implication, any person who does not believe in the Holy Spirit (more so if he slanders or blasphemes against Him) cannot come to true sorrow for sins and will never come to repentance. To say that one can come to repentance without inspiration from the Holy Spirit is a bold denial of the role of grace in every person’s conversion. Without God’s grace any attempt to rise from sin becomes prelude to another fall.
While we may not be among those who categorically deny the power of God to forgive or the role of the Holy Spirit in conversion, we may still be guilty of some sins against the Holy Spirit is we procrastinate. Some of us adopt the so-called “twenty-minutes–before – takeoff” strategy to secure themselves in the next life.
The game plan is to enjoy everything that the devil can offer in this lifetime and feign repentance by confessing all sins at deathbed. This too is a mockery of the Holy Spirit upon whose power alone repentance can happen. No forgiveness is available under this scheme. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website:www.frdan.org.
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