29/03/2023
IN DEFENSE OF JUDAS:
Some people forget that Judas was chosen personally by Jesus to be one of the twelve pillars of the Church! (If we can ascribe infallibility to the Pope, why not to the Son of God?) They also forget that Judas eventually repented and in fact attempted to return the money to the Chief Priests before despair pushed him to take his life, according to the passion story of Matthew.
When the Gospels say "Satan had entered into Judas", they are actually being merciful. It amounts to saying that Judas was really not himself at that moment, that he was under the spell of evil when he did his act of betrayal.
In fact we shouldn't forget that at the first Eucharist Jesus broke bread and gave the first morsel to Judas! To say that that was not Eucharistic is to claim that Judas was beyond redemption! It is also to deny the power of God's mercy.
Have we forgotten that the Eucharist was really for him (and for the potential Judases that we all can turn into)? Thus the priest says, to preface the words of consecration at Mass, that it was "on the night he was betrayed" that Jesus took bread and w**e and offered them as his own body and blood, in anticipation of his act of self oblation on the cross on Good Friday.
The Eucharist is really about Jesus' conscious option to transform that night of betrayal into a night of forgiveness:
"It will be poured out for you and for many FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS." It was precisely at that moment that Jesus accepted the prospect of becoming the lamb for the new passover, by whose blood sins would be forgiven--Judas' included.
"By; Bishop Ambo David"!