Sins against the Holy Spirit are unforgiveable because they are against the graces of God's Mercy and Forgiveness. God honors our free will. He cannot and will not force our love or free will. Actually our free will is one of the ways we are created in God's image and likeness.
When I asked Fr. Bohdan Kosicki if God could forgive Adolf Hitler, Father said in a letter to me: "God's Mercy is greater than all the sins of the world!"
But if then God is all forgiving and merciful, would he not forgive even those unforgiveable sins against the Holy Spirit? Good question, God would forgive even those sins IF we repent of them and trust in God's mercy as our final act of the will. But the person who IS sinning against the Holy Spirit IS by his/her sin saying to God: "I do not want your forgiveness." If one dies with that free choice, then that person will have eternity to regret it in being totally separated from God forever! But we hope that as Judas was hanging himself, he turned to God for forgiveness before his last breath.
How are sins against the Holy Spirit manifested? How many are there?
Let me count them for you:
1) Despair - a great sin against the Holy Spirit - is giving up hope in God's goodness and mercy and making God into our own small image and likenss. Thus the despairing person makes God as too small to forgive him because the person does cannot forgive him/herself. Judas felt guilt because the devil -- after tempting Judas -- makes Judas feel overwhelming guilty so as not to have time to have sorrow for sin. Judas had guilt but not repentance. Jesus would have forgiven Judas immediatly if he came to Jesus in repentance. But that takes sorrow for sin and humility to ask for forgiveness. The devil is in despair and knows how to share his despairing feelings to get a person to commit suicide. St. Peter's sin was no less than Judas'; but Peter had compunction and sorrow and cried..and asked for forgiveness. For his penance, Jesus asked him to give a public act of Love three times. That was merciful...
2) Resistance and refusal to believe in a revealed truth: That God is a loving God and exists and loves us personally is resisted and refused belief by atheists. But if they repent - as many do - they will be forgiven. But if an atheists continues till death to not believe in and trust in and love God, he will have eternty to think about that great mistake and sin!
3) Refusal to admit a miracle that one sees in the lives of others:
When the Pharasees saw Jesus heal a man of blindness, they became upset and said he should not heal on the sabbath. They did the same for the man who was healed of lameness. They found fault in Jesus and try to make his act of the love - the Love of God - into a sin. Chosen blindness to an obvious miracle is a sin against the Holy Spirit. One atheists criticized Mother Teresa of Calcutta and called her "that short Abanian" and tried to put her down instead of seeing all the good she was doing that were modern miracles of charity.
4) Presumption is when a person says: "God is good and forgiving, so I can go on sinning and repent on my death bed." Well, God gives the grace of repentance when He gives it. We cannot schedule when God should give His graces. Presumption is like a man who has a most devoted wife who loves him so much and unconditionally; but he takes advantage of that and uses her love for him as an occasion to be unfaithful. She sees him go out at night all specially dressed; but he consoles himself that she will forgive him....The same if with God: We should not use His Mercy and Love to sin against Him..with reliance that we will repent later and be forgiven later. To use God's love and mercy to offend God is using God for one's own pleasure.
5) Envy of the spiritual goods of others. There was nun (superior of ther order) who would not let Bernadette Soubrous' (St. Bernadette) memoirs/spiritual writings to be published or known till 10 years after that that envious nun died. Envy is feeling that someone elses graces take away from our own: which is a delusion. We all have our graces from God to get to heaven and do His will.
6) Attributing God's work to the devil. When Jesus cast out a devil from a boy, the Pharasees said: "By the prince of devils you cast out devils!" Jesus said it was by the "finger of God" that the devil was case out. And Jesus seeing that they had attributed his good work to the devil instead of the Holy Spirit, said: "You will die in your sins!" because they had attributed to the devil what He did with the Holy Spirit.
7) Final unrepentance. When Errol Flynn on his death bed was offered a priest to pray with him, bless and obsolve him of his sins, he refused and said: "Give me my wine, women and song!" There are many who say: "I would rather burn in hell than forgive that person who offended me!"
But there was a man who almost did the same thing. He was a sailor who had been hurt on deck from enemy fire. The priest came to his side and told him that he only had a few moments to live and would he like to go to confession. The sailor said: "Father, I have three girl friends. They all know it. I am intimate with all three at the same time. I am simply not sorry.
The priest knowing that this was the last opportunity to bring this person to heaven, made a loving jesture and said: "Well, now, are you "sorry" that you are NOT sorry?" The sailor said: "Yes, I am sorry for not being sorry." With that the priest gave the man absolution and then the sailor died.
You might wish to read about John Wayne in my blog: "God shoe-string catch of John Wayne." But Maureen Ohara brought that about. And God sent her; and she played her best role in converting John Wayne to become Catholic just 3 day before he died. He had not even been baptized; but he became so becasue Maureen Ohara...was the angel God sent to him to bring him to heaven.
May the Holy Spirit show us where we are sinning against Him in our lives -- before it is too late..
Peace and love,
Pio
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