I have to admit that I've always struggled with the last two verses of today's Gospel: "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."  I had always thought and still think that God's tender mercy is infinite and can remove all our puny sins, even the worst of them.  And what, exactly, is this sin against the Holy Spirit that will never be forgiven?
 
A little over 15 years ago, I was granted new insight into and understanding of this passage. It had just been broadcast that six Jesuits who worked at our university in San Salvador had been executed.  I was in Milwaukee at the time, and we had a prayer service in Gesu Church several days after the murders.  The main homilist was the Lutheran Bishop from El Salvador, who happened to be in Milwaukee then. (I believe his last name was Gomez.)  He had known and worked with the Jesuits at La UCA, and he spoke tenderly, lovingly, and passionately about them.  I remember that he claimed that those Salvadorans and Americans who said the Jesuits were killed because of their connections with the Salvadoran rebels were commiting this unforgiveable sin against the Holy Spirit.  In his words, their lies about the Jesuits -- who actually were trying to put an end to killing and the war and  were pleading for peace -- were equivalent to the lies of the Scribes who were accusing Jesus of driving out devils by the power of Satan. Notice that Jesus responds to the scribes by simply pointing out how absurd were their accusations, but then goes on to warn them how much they are under the power of evil, almost beyond the divine  power Jesus himself came to share with us, the power to forgive. The action that achieved this forgiveness of sins is set forth in today's first reading from Hebrews: "..once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin  by his sacrifice" ... and he "will appear a second time, not to take away sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await it."
 
Let our prayer today then be a deeply grateful and consoling reflection on the triumph of Jesus over sin and death, a triumph that not only frees us from their power, but allows us to share Christ's mission of liberating all humans in the thralls of sin, thus guaranteeing us eternal joy. But let us also accept the warning issued by Jesus (and echoed by Bishop Gomez) to have no part with Satan, the Father of Lies, who continually tempts us to all forms of violence and to ascribing evil motives to others, both of which actions allow Satan to continue his work of destroying the image of divinity in our humanity.  Let us admire and try to follow the example of the great saint we celebrate today, Francis de Sales, whose compassion and kindness and radical optimism allowed him to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit in bringing sinners to repentance and forgiveness. For how easy it is for Satan to accomplish his purposes through the righteousness and self deceit of religious persons!