Once when I was a young adult, I told my father that I wanted to be self-sufficient. He responded rather harshly: "That is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that will not be forgiven in this life or the next." Needless to say, I was taken aback. But after reflecting on his response, I came to appreciate the wisdom of his words.
At the heart of Catholic theology is the concept that God is love and that he created us out of love in order to share his love with us. As human beings, we are fundamentally incomplete on our own. We have an inner hunger that nothing and no one in the created realm can fully satisfy. The deep spiritual hunger that is in all of us can only be satisfied by God's infinite, eternal love. Only when we accept God's love for us and give ourselves in love to him can we find true peace and fulfillment.
The rejection of God's love for us is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that will not receive forgiveness. But one might object, if God truly loves us, why would he not forgive this sin? The answer is that God's forgiveness is always there for us. God is willing to forgive everything. But the question is, will we accept his forgiveness? God will not force his forgiveness upon us. If we choose not to accept his love, we lock him out of our hearts ourselves.
In the Gospel reading for today, we see that the scribes from Jerusalem accuse Jesus of being possessed by demons and that he is casting out demons with the help of the prince of demons. By doing so, the scribes are fundamentally rejecting the eternal love of God that Jesus is offering them. In our culture too, anti-Christian forces often depict Christianity as a source of evil, instead of the conduit of the infinite love of God, which is the fundamental fulfillment of the deepest yearnings of the human heart. The people who do so are very tragically depriving themselves of the source of their own ultimate fulfillment, joy, and peace.
But as I suggested above, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit isn't always so explicit. The idea that we can be sufficient on our own, without God, is in and of itself a rejection of God's love. The American work ethic and pioneering spirit has encouraged a sense of self-reliance, the idea of being a self-made man, who can pull himself up by his own bootstraps. Such an attitude may work economically, though most cultures in the world do not have that outlook.
But whatever the economic implications might be, the idea of spiritual self-reliance is a major trap. American professionals, especially in the Pacific Northwest, and especially men, can be very susceptible to this spiritual trap. The temptation is to think: "Okay, God, you wait over there, while I figure things out and get things right, and then we can meet." But we can never figure things out and we can never get things right on our own, without the help of God's grace. We need to invite God into every aspect of our lives, into our struggles and successes, into our brokenness and healing. We need to seek his will in all things, so that we can be fully aligned with his plan for us and thereby be fully open to his love in every aspect of our lives.
Seeking to do the will of God is the prominent theme of the second part of this Sunday's Gospel reading relating to the family of Jesus. But before we delve into that topic more, we should touch on one question of biblical interpretation. How should we understand the references to the brothers and sisters of Jesus in light of the Catholic teaching affirming the perpetual virginity of Mary, the Mother of God? From the earliest times, the Church has taught that the Blessed Virgin Mary had no children other than Jesus. References to the bothers and sisters of Jesus are references to his cousins, as the same word could be used to describe both cousins and siblings.
But what about Jesus apparently rejecting his relatives, including the Virgin Mary? How are we to understand that? Throughout human history, family ties have been of paramount importance in social advancement. As the fame of Jesus spreads throughout the land, the crowds would be inclined to attribute special status to the relatives of Jesus, simply because they are his relatives.
But, as we can see in various passages throughout the Gospels, Jesus has no patience for any aspect of social climbing. The only thing that matters is the depth of our devotion to God, how wiling we are to do the will of God in our lives. Even with regard to his own relatives, Jesus makes clear that what matters is not that they are his relatives, but that they are willing to do the will of God.
Having said that, we know that the greatest example of a human being, other than the human nature of Christ, embracing the will of God is that of the Virgin Mary, his mother. Throughout her entire life, the Virgin Mary submitted herself completely to the will of God, always living in perfect harmony with God's grace. Thus, to follow Christ and to open our lives to God's infinite love, we should first and foremost look to the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and the spiritual mother of all Christians.
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The readings for Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B are:
Gn 3:9-15
Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
2 Cor 4:13—5:1
Mk 3:20-35
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
Photo Credit: Holy Spirit window in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2012.