THE WORD
Eph 1, 15-23 / Lk 12,8-12
[Jesus said to his disciples,] “I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
IN OTHER WORDS
Whoever acknowledges Him will be acknowledged before the angels, but whoever denies Him will be denied before the angels of God. “But the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”
How to reconcile this Lukan passage? Jesus, Savior of the world, is most merciful, and yet , both OT and NT, state categorically: “Out of my sight, you condemned, into the everlasting re prepared for the devil and his angels!” On the other hand the Lord is no less to the point in proclaiming without limit his enduring mercy and love. When does one sin against the Spirit and is not forgiven “either in this age or in the age to come?” (Mt 12, 32). How does one forfeit salvation without the
Lord rejecting and explicitly condemning him to eternal life? God is dead says Nietzsche. F R de Lamennais, the gifted theologian, died unreconciled with the Church. Judas, in betraying the Lord, abandons Him as his Saviour. If to Nietzsche God is dead then He cannot give life. ln rejecting reconciliation with the Church de Lamennais severs relationship with the Body of Christ His Church.
Death must beget an uncertainty of dread facing the Just Judge. The burden of accounting rests on us. As children of God each one of us is endowed with the gift of freedom capable of saying yes or no to God. Sin and guilt are ours as grace and justice are God’s. We turn down Jesus’ invitation because we refuse to heed the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Repentance is absolutely necessary to forgiveness unless we deliberately persist in sin. Love and mercy are the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Christ’s mission is completed by the mission of the Holy Spirit. Let us honor St. Teresa of Avila, a favorite saint among Filipinos, with two quotations, “Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and that there is one glory which is eternal. lf you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.” “Let nothing disturb you, nothing dismay you. All things are passing God never changes. Patient endurance attains all things....God alone suffices.”
- Fr. Antolin V. Uy, SVD | DWSTagaytay
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
