(Daily Reading: Mt 26:14-25)
The betrayal of God, at the price of unjust mammon! How often does that happen?
How often do people sell themselves for mammon, for their honor, their disorderly lust, their power…
Thirty pieces of silver they gave to Judas and knew that blood was on this money. But it was not only the blood of a man, which would be bad enough! No, it was the blood of the Son of God; that blood which saves them. It was the blood of the Lamb, which was given away for the world. They paid the traitor.
And this one? “Alas for that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!” (Mt 26:24)
What a terrible end and what a far-reaching word of the Lord!
Thirty pieces of silver.
Do we know the fear of sometimes denying or even betraying Jesus? Could it be that in the depths of our hearts betrayal or denial can dwell, and that under certain circumstances it comes out?
We must never be too sure! Shadows also live in us, which must be redeemed by the Lord. Once a priest said that people should reject sin right into the unconscious.
What can protect us from denial or betrayal?
It is the pure heart of the Virgin Mary, to which one can take refuge, the intimacy of St. John with his Lord, it is the sincere effort to perceive his heart’s emotions and to carry everything to God that is dark, self-centred, proud and vain. We may open our misery to the Lord, we may beg him never to deny or betray him! Every false self-assurance must be overcome: Only in the Lord Himself and in His power will we be able to pass the hardest tests and not succumb to our inner corruption through external seduction.
The Lord allows temptations in order to strengthen His own. Perhaps He will first allow smaller tests of our faithfulness, so that we will be prepared for the greater ones to come.
Let us, with God’s help during this Lent, clear out everything that carries the spiritual smell of denial and betrayal in us, and let us deepen our love for Jesus every day! Then we should be armed in the Lord even beyond our good will and efforts.