Scriptures for
meditation: Matthew 26:49-50
He went ahead of
them and came to Jesus to kiss him. And when he had come, he went right up to
him and said, “Rabbi, hail Rabbi” and he kissed him. Jesus said to him,
“Friend, why have you come?”
St. Thomas More
tells us: (Christ) receives (Judas’) advances, listens to his greetings,
does not refuse his kiss; and though aware of his abominable treachery, He nevertheless
acted for a while as if He were completely ignorant of everything. Why did He
do this? Was it to teach us to feign and dissemble and with polite cunning to
turn the deception back upon the deceiver? Hardly, but rather to teach us to
bear patiently and gently all injuries and snares treacherously set for us; not
to smolder with anger, not to seek revenge, not to give vent to our feelings by
hurling back insults, not to find an empty pleasure in tripping up an enemy
through some clever trick, but rather to set ourselves against deceitful injury
with genuine courage, to conquer evil with good.
Psalm 86: I have
not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners
The proud have risen against me; ruthless men seek my
life: to you they pay no heed. But you, God of mercy and compassion, slow to
anger, O Lord, abounding in love and truth, turn and take pity on me.
My thoughts: St.
Thomas More points out so clearly that every act of Jesus’ life is directed as
a life lesson to us. Here we find Him betrayed by a friend, someone who had
spent three years with Him, watching Him cure the sick, heal the brokenhearted,
and feed the multitudes. Yet for power and money, Judas sells His friend out.
Most of us would say that Jesus would be justified in smoldering with anger;
yet His reaction is anything but that. He looks lovingly at Judas, and gives
him time to realize what he is about to do. In our lives as well, the high road
is the one we must take, as Christ did, to conquer evil with good, and to make
every effort to help our enemies correct their ways. St. Thomas More is right.
We must spend time this Lenten Season curbing our tongues and opening our hearts.
Our Prayer to God:
Today, let us begin to watch how many times we have the urge to top people
with the last word, the smartest comeback or the embarrassing remark. If we are
not pleased with what we find during this inventory session, then it is time to
study St. Thomas More’s remarks, and adopt them as our life lesson for this
week of Lent.
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