The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity AD 2026

In today’s Epistle, Saint Paul warns us against the ignorance that comes from the blindness of the heart and alienates us from the life of God. This is not simply a lack of knowledge, but a darkness of heart that prevents us from recognizing and accepting the truth.

Traditional moral theology distinguishes between two kinds of ignorance: invincible and vincible. Invincible ignorance is ignorance that a person cannot overcome, even with reasonable diligence. Such ignorance excuses from personal sin insofar as the wrongful action arises from it. The action may still be objectively wrong, but the person is not morally guilty of what he could not reasonably have known. For example, someone who unknowingly purchases stolen property, without any reason to suspect that it was stolen, is not guilty of knowingly dealing in stolen goods.

Vincible ignorance, on the other hand, is ignorance that a person could and ought to overcome through reasonable effort. Such ignorance does not excuse from sin, for we all have a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially concerning God’s law, the duties arising from our vocation and state of life, and the spiritual and temporal welfare of others.

Saint Paul’s warning concerns ignorance that springs from the hardness of the heart—an unwillingness to know and accept the truth. But he also shows us the remedy: “The truth is in Jesus.” If we seek Him, accept His forgiveness, and allow His Spirit to enlighten and guide us, we can be renewed in the spirit of our mind and put on the new man, no longer walking in ignorance and the blindness of our hearts, but in the light of truth.