Our Catholic Church is in a battle for survival
Can you name one person whom God sent to Hell?
As soon as we begin to line up those whom we are certain that God sent to hell, then we have taken the part of God in deciding which one of his creatures he had enough with and kept them out of heaven with no opportunity to accept their repentance.
God sends no one to hell! The decision is theirs and many are making that choice. God predestines no one to go to hell, for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistice liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance.” (CCC 1037).
“Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss. (CCC 1864).
How often, I may ask, will the temptations regarding my weakness continue to besiege me and make me feel like a fool every time I succumb to what entices my desires? One positive answer lies in the fact that the closer any of us gets to God and his mercy on us we know that in spite of our advocacy towards the grace God gives to us there will always be a demon somewhere that wants to convince our sinning will pull the mercy of God away from us.
This sin against the Holy Spirit is not a selection of which person of the Holy Trinity we decide to sin against; it is the fact that God chooses to bring his mercy upon any of his human creatures who simply ask for forgiveness; believing that if we are truly sorry for offending him with deep feelings of remorse as in the Act of Contrition; “O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended you and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell; But most of all because they offend you, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life, Amen.”
This is not a memorization we must use to gain absolution in confession; it is a profession of our faith that we understand God absolutely can and will forgive us. That is the premise of belief that will guarantee our forgiveness and lead us into eternal bliss with Almighty God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
It is truly our task to accept the mercy Christ handed to each of us from the Cross at Calvary, praise him for his Resurrection from the dead, and guarantee our resurrection as well. This is the faith that will not sin against the Holy Spirit.
Those who will not accept this Truth will find their way to hell; not for a sin of the flesh but for the sin that calls out to God, “You cannot forgive me?” “You will not want me in your heaven because I am not worthy?” “I would rather die with my sin because you won’t accept me.”
Satan, through his demons, will always be ready to throw guilt trips upon us each time we fail and find sinful pleasure, the long awaited satisfaction to life. However, with each failure we commit there is God, through his Son’s Passion, and presented to us by his Holy Spirit, waiting for our repentance; and forgiveness overshadows each moment of sinning.
Ralph B. Hathaway