Friday, October 16, 2015

28th Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 17-10-15

Romans 1:13, 16-18 / Luke 12:9-12

The term blasphemy may be generally defined as anything from defiant irreverence to intentional sacrilegious acts .

Hence, it can mean acts like cursing God or wilfully degrading things relating to God.

It can also be attributing some evil to God, or denying Him some good that should attributed to Him.

Yet, we believe that God is love and forgiveness and He will forgive us even if we had committed the most heinous sin.

So what did Jesus mean when He said that "he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven"?

The purpose of this phrase was to strengthen the disciples in the face of persecution and to deter them from falling into apostasy (giving up the faith) out of cowardice or doubt.

It was also meant as an admonition - a sin can only be unforgivable if repentance is impossible.

So in other words, it is not whether God will forgive; it is a question of whether we want to repent or not.

Because along with repentance is also the trust in God's love and mercy and forgiveness.

To be able to declare that is to stand before others and witness to God and all that He has done for us.