MARY, OUR MOTHER

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #237

"And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but to him that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven." (Luke 12:10)

IMPENITENCE, AND PRAYERS FOR IMPENITENT SINNERS: Our Lord says of sins against the Holy Ghost that they cannot be forgiven. This means that, when a man continually resists the grace of the Holy Ghost, he falls by degrees into a condition of soul not far removed from that of the fallen angels or devils. The devils are hardened in sin, in resistance to, and hatred of God: their perverted will is incapable of conversion, so that for them redemption is impossible. Now, so long as a man obstinately resists grace, it is obvious that he cannot receive pardon, for the simple reason that he refuses to have anything to do with the grace which would move him to contrition and penance. Such as one is like a drowning man who refuses to take hold of the helping hand which is held out to him. Because, however, the human will can be converted as long as a man remains on earth, God can give a sinner such an extraordinary measure of grace, that his resistance is broken down, and he is saved. We ought, therefore, never to despair of the conversion of a sinner, however obstinate in sin he may appear to be; and the more impenitent he is, the harder we ought to pray for him.

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]
(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)