Editor’s note: It will be the last »Ask Father Mike Column”, as the Diocese of Duluth restructures its offices and suspends production of the Northern Cross, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Duluth.

Q) I heard that Jesus said that there is a sin that cannot be forgiven. What is this sin? Why can’t God forgive him?

A) Thank you for this question. If there is anything that could strike fear into the heart of a believer, it is the idea that we might do something that God could not handle. Or the idea that a person could sin against God in such a way that they could not and would not forgive him. Is this what Jesus meant when he said: “I tell you, all sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Mt 12:31)?

The first thing we must remember is the fact that there is no sin so serious that God cannot handle it. It is essential that we understand: God is infinite. God’s mercy is infinite. God’s love for humanity (and more specifically, His love for you personally) is infinite. There is no end to this. God does not struggle to forgive us. The power of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection has the power to redeem the whole world. When Jesus became one of us through the Incarnation, God united his divinity with humanity. When he offered himself to the Father on the cross, his trusting obedience defeated everything that has the power to overcome us: sin, death, and suffering.

For this reason, we know that there is absolutely no sin that God is unwilling to forgive. Stay with this truth for a moment: There is no sin that God is unwilling to forgive. He demonstrated in Christ that He wants all of us to be reconciled to Him, no matter how much we have rejected Him and no matter what we have done. There is no sin that disqualifies us from the love of God.

Not only that, but since God is infinite, His sacrifice for us is also infinite. However serious a sin may be, that sin is always finite: there is a limit. But God’s love and power are limitless. There is no sin that God cannot deal with. There is no sin that God will not or cannot forgive.

So what is Jesus talking about when he says that “blasphemy against the (Holy) Spirit will not be forgiven”? What does this mean? What is this particular sin?

The ancient Catholic understanding of this teaching is: There is no sin against the Holy Spirit. It could actually be anything. It does not depend on the tragedy or horror of sin. A sin against the Holy Spirit is any sin that we do not allow God to forgive.

That’s it. Simply put: God is willing and able to forgive absolutely all sins of which we are guilty. He loves you and he has taken upon himself all the sins of the world to such a degree that they can all be forgiven – except for the sin we will not give God permission to forgive. If we harden our hearts toward the Lord to the point of refusing to allow His love to enter our hearts, then God will not force His way.

I always like to describe sin in these terms. Sin is not simply breaking a rule, and sin is not “making a mistake.” Sin is when we tell God through our actions, “God, I know what you want. I don’t care. I want what I want. We use our free will to place ourselves beyond God’s reach. Not that God cannot reach us, but He will not violate our free will. If we refuse to put ourselves at his mercy, he will not force us. If we refuse to allow Him to forgive us, He will not undo our refusal.

This is one of the reasons why pride is the deadliest of all sins. If a person falls into any type of sin (even repeated and deadly sins) but continues to choose humility and hope, he will always be forgiven by the Lord. But if a person lacks humility and hope, then even a small sin could be enough to keep him from receiving mercy. In his book “The Screwtape Letters,” author CS Lewis taught the spiritual life from the perspective of a senior demon/tempter teaching a junior demon how to lead a soul to hell. As for the seriousness of sin, he says, it’s like this: “Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.” »

If I hold on to my sin, whatever it may be, rather than turning my sins and my heart over to the Lord, the end result is the same: I die saying, “God, I know what you want (for me). forgive), but I want what I want (hold myself to a higher standard than even you ask me). This is why pride and despair must be overcome by humility and hope.

If you want to avoid this sin against the Holy Spirit, my invitation is to constantly ask God to soften your heart. We can be hard-hearted in three ways: we can harden our hearts toward God, toward others, and toward ourselves. We harden our hearts toward God when we persist in our sin and do not allow the Source of truth to tell us right from wrong. We harden our hearts toward others when we choose to give in to resentment and unforgiveness. And we harden our hearts when we don’t allow God to give us grace.

Father Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.