DAILY- HOMILY

JANUARY 26, 2009
MEMORIAL, STS. TIMOTHY AND TITUS, BISHOPS
MONDAY 3RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR I

2 TIMOTHY 1:1-8
Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the promise of
life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dear child: grace, mercy, and
peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to
God, whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, as I
remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. I yearn to see
you again, recalling your tears, so that I may be filled with joy, as
I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois
and in your mother Eunice and that I am confident lives also in you.
For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that
you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a
spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So
do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner
for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the
strength that comes from God.

MARK 3:22-30
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, "He is
possessed by Beelzebul," and "By the prince of demons he drives out
demons". Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, "How
can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up
against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of
him. But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
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. For
they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."

REFLECTION
For our reflection today, we concentrate on one verse: "Whoever
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, never have forgiveness." What
exactly is this unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit has two functions: to reveal God's truth to people and
to enable people to recognize that truth when they see it and hear it.
If a person refuses the guidance of the Holy Spirit long enough and
often enough, he will in the end become incapable of recognizing the
truth when he sees it. He can no longer recognize God's beauty and
goodness. He comes to a stage when his own evil seems to him good and
when God's good seems to him evil. He so often and consistently
disobeys God's will to a point that this sinful behavior becomes a way
of life with no qualms or conscience. That was the stage to which the
Scribes and Pharisees had come. That is why they could look at Jesus
and say that he was Beelzebul, the prince of devils, the all evil
one.

Why should a sin against the Holy Spirit be unforgivable? What
differentiates it from all other sins? When a person reaches that
stage, repentance becomes impossible. There is only one condition of
forgiveness and that is penitence. But if a person, by repeated
refusing God's guidance, has got his moral values inverted until evil
to him is good and good to him is evil, he is conscious of no sin, he
cannot repent and therefore he can never be forgiven.

So long as a person sees loveliness in Christ, so long as he hates his
sin even if he cannot leave it, there is still hope for repentance and
forgiveness. It is only when serious sin means nothing at all, when
Christ means nothing anymore, that's when a person has shut himself
out from the love of God and his kingdom. There is a dreadful warning
here. We must listen to God in all our days that our spiritual hearing
never becomes spiritual deafness.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Boy Afable
- Tomas
- Sophia Gonzalez
… for the personal intentions of Ryan V. and Edu O.
… for the eternal repose of the soul of Daniel Qui. Eternal rest grant
unto him and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he and all the
dearly departed rest in peace.
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Angelina Marasigan
- Wedding Anniversary: Cesar Jr & Kathleen Villalon
… for the healing and peace of all families

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers
and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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