Lenten reflection: March 4
Lucy Watson
Writer, Editor, and Researcher -- At the Intersection of Ideas, Information, and Words
"Our Lord had treated Judas as one of His most familiar friends. He had shown marks of the closest intimacy. He had made him the purse-keeper of Himself and His followers. He had given him the power of working miracles. He had admitted him to a knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. He had sent him out to preach and had made him one of His own special representatives so that the Master was judged by the content of His servant... What desolation is in the sense of ingratitude!... And now, O my God, though in Heaven, dost Thou not feel my ingratitude toward Thee?" ~ John Henry Cardinal Newman
I'd never considered the fact that Judas was there all along -- from the beginning. He is not just the backstabber at the end of the story -- when he betrayed the Master, he betrayed everything that he had been part of in Christ's three years of ministry. One wonders if in his terrible regret and remorse -- too little, too late -- he thought back over the years he spent with Jesus, years now about to be ended on the Cross.
Newman writes of the hand that struck Christ when He was beaten and mocked, and he sees in it his own hand striking His Lord: "Thou wilt say, 'It is impossible; I could not do so.' Yes, thou hast done so. When thou didst sin willfully, then thou hast done so."
I wonder... when we look at the suffering Christ -- do we see forgiveness alone, or do we also see our guilt? Do we not also understand why we need forgiveness and how great, how undeserved, a gift it is? And why does it seem that we are reluctant to look upon the suffering Christ?
I've written on this subject quite a few times -- this rush we're in to blow past the suffering and death of Christ and get to the happy ending: "It's Friday -- but Sunday's coming!"
But how can we fully enter into the sufferings of Christ unless we look at Him in the garden, at the pillar, in the Praetorium, on the road to Golgotha, and finally, on the Cross?
Perhaps this is a fanciful thought, but just as He asked His disciples to tarry with Him in Gethsemane, I believe He wants us to tarry with Him in reflection on His final hours. We were bought with a price -- it's important not only to remember but to reflect how high it was. Gratitude cannot be complete without that reflection.
#lent #catholic