Whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness

28 JANUARY (Mk 3,22-30)

There have been opposition from the wicked and envious against the men of God throughout the course of the centuries-old history. All the prophets were persecuted. The Lord saved Moses bringing down to hell, still alive, his denigrators.

Korah, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, (and Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, son of Pallu, son of Reuben) took two hundred and fifty Israelites who were leaders in the community, members of the council and men of note. They stood before Moses, and held an assembly against Moses and Aaron, to whom they said, “Enough from you! The whole community, all of them, are holy; the Lord is in their midst. Why then should you set yourselves over the Lord’s congregation?” When Moses heard this, he fell prostrate. Then he said to Korah and to all his band, “May the Lord make known tomorrow morning who belongs to him and who is the holy one and whom he will have draw near to him! Whom he chooses, he will have draw near him. Do this: take your censers (Korah and all his band) and put fire in them and place incense in them before the Lord tomorrow. He whom the Lord then chooses is the holy one. Enough from you Levites!” Moses also said to Korah, “Listen to me, you Levites! Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has singled you out from the community of Israel, to have you draw near him for the service of the Lord’s Dwelling and to stand before the community to minister for them? He has allowed you and your kinsmen, the descendants of Levi, to approach him, and yet you now seek the priesthood too. It is therefore against the Lord that you and all your band are conspiring. For what has Aaron done that you should grumble against him?”

Moses said, “This is how you shall know that it was the Lord who sent me to do all I have done, and that it was not I who planned it: if these men die an ordinary death, merely suffering the fate common to all mankind, then it was not the Lord who sent me. But if the Lord does something entirely new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them alive down into the nether world, with all belonging to them, then you will know that these men have defied the Lord.” No sooner had he finished saying all this than the ground beneath them split open, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their families (and all of Korah’s men) and all their possessions. They went down alive to the nether world with all belonging to them; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the community. But all the Israelites near them fled at their shrieks, saying, “The earth might swallow us too!” So they withdrew from the space around the Dwelling (of Korah, Dathan and Abiram). And fire from the Lord came forth which consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.(Cf. Num 16,1-35).

However, never had been such a thing heard: that it was the devil to do the good through the work of the Envoy of God, of his Messiah; that the Holy One of God was an ally of his enemy. Attributing the works of God to the devil is a sin against the Holy Spirit and it is not forgivable either on earth and or in eternity. Who were to commit it, let him knows that he is already damned while he is still in his flesh. He is one who already in time belongs forever to the devil. He is his eternal property. Such is the gravity of this horrible sin. With it all limits of evil have been surpassed.

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, 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.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

The Church in her Catechisms has defined what these sins are: “Despair for salvation. Presumption of salvation without merit, Holding the known truth. Envy of the grace of another person. Obstinacy in sin. Final impenitence.” It is the sin of those who destroy and annihilate the source of truth and grace. It is the sin of who, in a hot desert, poisons, destroys and annihilates the one and only source of water. It is death. Who destroys the source of grace will remain forever without grace.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints help us not to fall into it.