On this Saturday of the twenty-eighth week, the Church remembers Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch and martyr, and places before us a hard saying of Jesus. A quick reading hears in it a limit set to forgiveness. Our difficulty is that we meet it with eyes half closed. The Word of God leads us in three steps: a prayer for light, a psalm of wonder and a Gospel of insistence.
"But I say to you: Everyone who will have confessed me before men, the Son of man will also confess him before the Angels of God. But everyone who will have denied me before men, he will be denied before the Angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven of him. But of him who will have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven. And when they will lead you to the synagogues, and to magistrates and authorities, do not choose to be worried about how or what you will answer, or about what you might say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you, in the same hour, what you must say." (Lk 12:8-12)
The first reading, from the letter to the Ephesians, is a prayer before it is a teaching. Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, tells the faithful at Ephesus of his thanks, and asks the Father of glory to give them "a spirit of wisdom and of revelation". What he asks for is new sight, and so he prays that "the eyes of your heart be illuminated" (Eph 1:18), because faith begins as light received.
This light has a content, and Paul names it in three gifts: the hope of God's calling, the wealth of the glory he shares with the saints, and the power that raised Christ from the dead. That power now works in those who believe. So the Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father has lifted his disciples with him, since the Church is his body.
The psalm answers with wonder. The psalmist looks at the heavens and then asks "What is man, that you are mindful of him" (Ps 8:5). And yet the answer lies in what God has done for the small: he has crowned man "with glory and honor" and set him over the works of his hands. Such glory is the glory of children, shared by a Father who is mindful of us and entrusts us with his creation. That gift tells us he will not tire of us, as the Gospel is about to show.
In the Gospel according to Luke, the evangelist, Jesus speaks first of loyalty: "Everyone who will have confessed me before men, the Son of man will also confess him before the Angels of God." To confess him is to let our faith be seen, and he answers by acknowledging us before heaven. But then Jesus adds that a word spoken against the Son of man will be forgiven, while blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not. Heard in haste, this sounds like a door closing at the very point where mercy had just been promised.
But a closer look places the limit elsewhere. It comes not from the mercy of God, but from the human heart. God respects the freedom of his creatures: his pardon is offered constantly, patiently and with insistence. And yet a person can shut the eyes of the heart so tightly that no light finds a way in. What can God do then? He cannot force an opening, so he insists, as the light rises again each morning at the window.
In the first Christian communities, persecuted and few, believers needed words strong enough to keep them firm, and some of those words sound like threats. But the spirit of the Gospel invites us to hear in them the insistence of a Father who wants each of his children to receive his grace. This is why, for those dragged before synagogues and magistrates, the last verse is a promise: "the Holy Spirit will teach you, in the same hour, what you must say" (Lk 12:12). The saints let themselves be taught in that way, by the same power that Paul names.
In the spirituality of Bethlehem, the Child who will say Abba comes first as one who can be refused, and the stable shows that God accepted this from the first night. He came to be received freely, and he stays beside the heart that has closed itself, with the patience of a Father who has time. Thus Bethlehem is the insistence of the Father made visible, and it is gentle.
Today the Word of God invites us to ask for the eyes of the heart, and then to keep them open. We are asked not to measure the limits of mercy, but to stop setting our own, in our homes, our workplaces and our parishes. Where the Father keeps offering his light, a heart that stays open will see it, and that sight will bear fruit.
So let us receive the light as we receive the morning, with open eyes and a trusting heart, and let us open the door we had closed. Let us confess the name of Jesus where we stand, and let us leave to the Spirit the word of that hour. The Father insists, and his light is offered again each morning.
Scripture text: Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV), public domain.
Prayer of the Day
Lord Jesus, you came to Bethlehem as a child who could be refused, and you stayed close to every closed door. Illumine the eyes of our hearts, so that we may receive the light your Father never ceases to offer. On this day of Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch and martyr, give us grace to confess your name, and teach us in the same hour what we must say. Amen.
For Meditation
- Where have we read a word of Jesus too quickly and heard a threat, when the Father was insisting?
- Which door of our hearts have we closed to the light, and what would it cost us to leave it open?
- In our homes, our workplaces or our parishes, where are we asked to confess the name of Jesus, and can we trust the Spirit with the word of that hour?
