Homily for Monday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time

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Before there was a Bible, there was a Church. Yes, even a church with presbyters. Our reading from Titus, a very early letter from St. Paul instructing Titus to appoint presbyters, or priests, testifies to this fact. From the earliest days of the Church, there was the reading of scripture and the presence of priests who both proclaimed the word, broke the bread just as Jesus had asked his disciples to do, and who worked to build the family of the new Church. There is no shame in our being the institutional Church. Paul, the great apostle, worked hard to build a family with structure that could sustain itself and be effective in proclaiming the Gospel.

The unforgivable sin described by Jesus is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Obviously, we lead others away from God by our sinful actions, but according to the words of the Gospel, such sins are forgivable. It is forgivable for us to tell our fellow Christians - do as I say, not as I do. What is not forgivable, however, is deliberately telling people that they cannot believe in God. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, who directs people toward truth and the knowledge of God, is deliberately leading someone away from faith that God is real, that He is love, that He is omnipotent, and that He is with us. Jesus came to reveal these eternal truths about God in the most humble and intimate of ways. To characterize Jesus as a master of deceit, as the scribes do in today's Gospel, is blasphemy against the one sent from God to give His life to reveal the truth of who God really is.