Blaspheming against the Spirit is mentioned in Mark 3:20-35 . This verse opened up for me last week. As I read and re-read it, I began to understand the message of unity hidden between the lines. What do you understand “blaspheming against the Spirit” to mean?

Blaspheming against the Spirit

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church there are a number of scenarios that are categorized as blaspheming against the Spirit. However, something different came to me as I read the verse last week. Blaspheming against the Spirit can be simply judging others and their state of grace. Think about that. If all of humanity is created in the image and likeness of God we all, regardless of circumstance, have been gifted with the Holy Spirit.

If that is true then it would seem to flow logically from that truth that when we judge the state of someone’s soul, we judge the Spirit. We blaspheme against the Spirit when we peg someone as evil or state with certainty that someone is going to hell for whatever reason. When we judge someone in this fashion we are in essence saying we can’t see God in them or that the gift they received through grace at baptism is not present when in fact, IT IS!

Let us never forget that our God is a loving and merciful God. If He judged us the way some of us judge others, we’d be in big trouble!

The will of God

In this verse, Jesus asks: “who are my mother and brothers? ………. Anyone who does the will of God.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 

The concluding prayer of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy states: Eternal God in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is love and mercy itself.

So what is the will of God? It’s that we rejoice, pray and give thanks always and in all circumstances and that we share His love and mercy with our brothers and sisters. His will is that we perceive everyone around us as our brother and sister. Jesus is telling us here that we will be perceived as his brother or sister if we do His will.

Commandments

It pretty much goes back to the Ten Commandments, which can be summarized as two commandments – love God and love your neighbor. Isn’t that what we’re hearing here? Rejoice always, pray constantly and give thanks – love God and show love and mercy to those around you – Love your neighbor.

The separation

I think we often get caught up in separating ourselves from one another. We take pride in our nationality, our religious group, our political party, among other things. However, when we do this, we tend to lose sight of what’s really important and what Jesus came to teach us.

When we exhibit national pride, we inevitably begin to exhibit traits of prejudice. As a religious group focused on separating ourselves from other denominations, we lose sight of the fact that Jesus loves everyone and preached inclusivity not exclusivity. Finally, as we see in our government today and the combative, uncompromising political climate, we tend to lose focus of the bigger picture – the betterment of our country – when we start focusing on separateness and possess an “us/them” mentality.

One Body

Jesus came to unite, not divide. He showed us what that looked like. Why are we so resistant to follow His lead? Why do we refuse to see God in “the other?” Take some time today to truly discern your shortcomings when it comes to wallowing in your separateness. We complain when others put us into a “box” but in our quest to stand out as individuals we often put ourselves into a box.

Put on a new set of eyes today. Practice seeing God in everyone. Focus on what the will of God is and DO IT. Remember, we are all parts of the Body of Christ. A body works best when all it’s parts not only work but work together as a whole. God bless you!

Give us this day our daily bread – part of the prayer Jesus gave us. What a treasure! He taught us how to pray. The Lord’s prayer includes it all – adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication. I once heard a priest explain it to children this way: it’s like a bacon sandwich with 5 slices of bacon – praise, hope, trust, forgiveness and goodness.

The Bacon

Praise – Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name

Hope – Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven

Trust – Give us this day our daily bread

Forgiveness – and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and

Goodness – lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen

What a concept

I thought that was an ingenious idea to have children remember what we are professing when we recite each part of the Our Father. I think of that story everyday as I pray the Lord’s prayer several times throughout the day.

Give us this day our daily bread stayed with me for some reason last weekend. I thought about my upcoming week and all the stresses that come with dealing with work and family obligations, along with illness and tough decision making. I prayed God would give me the strength I needed to deal with difficult moments and that He would give me the wisdom and understanding I need to show compassion to those who need it.

God provides

In that moment of prayer, I realized that that one line in the Lord’s prayer is so much more than asking He provide for our material needs. It’s also a request that He provide what we need spiritually. It could be the comfort of a hug, a kind word, something we see or read, even encouragement or sharing from someone to let us know we are not alone.

Thinking of those words in this way made me realize that God hears me and answers my prayer everyday. I say this because often I recognize a “theme” between my thoughts and my experiences each day. I often write about how amazed I am that everything I read and experience in one day guides me to one particular thought or theme. Wow!

The more I thought about the spiritual needs aspect of the prayer, the word bread came to mind. Jesus is the Bread of Life, nourishment for our souls. So we are, in effect, asking Him to give us daily nourishment for our souls in whatever way He sees fit and boy does He provide!

Our daily bread

Just the other day, I was chatting with my dad over the phone. He’s been, actually, we’ve both been a little stressed over his recent diagnosis of liver cancer. I often try to encourage him and tell him all will be well, but it’s quite difficult to stay focused when you know you have cancer and treatment has not begun.

The past three months since his diagnosis has been filled with appointments, recommendations, referrals and tons of testing with no definitive answer until a few days ago. In the midst of all of this, just last week another diagnosis.

Anyone who knows our family knows my dad has a great sense of humor and most of his children, including myself, have inherited that trait. Because dad loves to bust chops, his children thrive on busting his chops the most. We often get a kick out of making fun of his “isms.” As a matter of fact, one of my brothers is the dictionary keeper. Whenever my dad blurts out an “ism” we call this brother and say, “add that one to Papi’s “dictionary.”

God provides

As dad and I discussed his latest diagnosis, I could sense his stress level was through the roof. He almost sounded like he wanted to give up, like he just couldn’t take anymore and then……………. During our very serious conversation, I blurted out the wrong word – I misused a word and realized it a minute later. Well, we both laughed so hard we cried and before we said our good-byes, my dad said: Thanks for the laugh, it’s just what I needed today. I think we both laughed into the next day.

As I brushed my teeth the following day, I laughed thinking about my little “ism” episode and then it hit me………that was our daily bread. In that moment, God was giving us our daily bread! I went from laughing to crying as I became aware of how good God is to us and how much He cares for us.

What was your daily bread today? How did God provide for you today? Take notice of the smallest ways and you’ll be amazed at how much He cares! God bless you!