One of the more difficult passages in scripture, according to St. Augustine, is the passage in today's Gospel where Jesus says that that "one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven." (Lk 12: 8-12). How can that be? How can there be a sin that God cannot forgive? Maybe the answer to the question, and the point of Jesus' remark, has to do with the nature of forgiveness. God doesn't unilaterally forgive sin. For God to do that would override our free will and impose something on us that we have not desired. No, forgiveness involves a relationship, a mutual decision-- we seek it and God grants it. It is clear, I think, that God will forgive any sin for which we seek forgiveness. So the problem with the matter of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit must be that the nature of the sin precludes us from asking for forgiveness. In other words, when we determine to speak ill of the Holy Spirit (which is what blasphemy is) we are essentially denying the Spirit's existence. As theologians tell us, the Holy Spirit is the personification of the love between the Father and the Son. So when we deny the existence of the Spirit, we're denying the working of God's love in the world. That love, which we experience as mercy, forms the basis for our asking for forgiveness. If we don't credit God's love and mercy, there is no point in asking God for forgiveness, since only in God's love and mercy do we receive it. OK, that's a lot, and the theologians among you will surely find ways that I have got it wrong. Maybe the take-away is this: if you're seeking forgiveness, you don't have to worry about this whole problem. Whatever you have done, the fact that you want God's love and mercy shows that, at some level, you acknowledge the Holy Spirit-- you can't possibly have blasphemed the Spirit. Take comfort in the fact that, whatever you have done, God will forgive you if you only seek God's forgiveness. Oh, and going to confession (the Sacrament of Reconciliation) wouldn't hurt either-- it is a much-more valuable experience than a lot of people think.