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TODAY’S WORD…

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“Here comes my betrayer!”

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– Matthew 26:46 (NIV)

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REFLECTION…

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Jesus said this when He saw Judas approaching

on that fateful night in the Garden of Gethsemane.

“Here comes my betrayer!”

Oh how dreadful it is to even imagine hearing the Lord saying that about me!

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Here was Judas,

one of Jesus’ Twelve,

chosen and called by the Lord Himself.

He knew the Master well

and would have had very intimate and personal conversations with Him.

So what could have happened to his soul

that he would choose to betray the Lord for thirty pieces of silver?

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Judas may have been distant from Christ even though he was in His company.

On the surface he may have remained normal,

but he must have changed inside and become distant.

The split with his Master and the loss of his faith and vocation

must have taken place little by little,

as he found himself yielding in more and more to his weaknesses,

to what tempted him,

to what he must have decided was more important to him than Jesus.

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He had allowed his love for the Lord to grow cold,

and what remained was no more than a mere external appearance.

His life of loving surrender to God had become a farce;

more than once he would think

that it would have been better not to have followed the Lord at all.

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Judas forgot all about the miracles and the cures,

about the happy moments with His Master,

his friendship with the other apostles.

He became a man who lost his way

as he focused just on himself.

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He got out of touch,

and made himself capable of committing the madness

which, for us, can be so difficult to understand.

Yet we all run the risk of becoming like Judas

when we continually choose to be disloyal to God

and focus solely on what appears to give us instant gratification.

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We all run the risk of becoming like Judas,

if we do not persevere with doing the small everyday things of faith;

if we become obsessed with this life and disregard the hereafter;

if we do not have the humility to begin again when our weakness leads us astray.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Body of Christ, save me from my weak and faltering self.

Save me from betraying You, in thought, in word, or in deed.

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… … … … … … … … … … … …… …

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Note: The main source of today’s REFLECTION is the seven-volume work

“In Conversation with God” by Padre Francisco Fernández Carvajal.