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Message of the Day
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Be not miserable about what may happen tomorrow. The same everlasting God, who cares for you today, will care for you tomorrow.
- St. Francis de Sales
("Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment
at a time. . ." The Serenity Prayer.)
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Readings of the Day
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Is 50:4-9a; Psalm 69:8-10, 21-22,
31 and 33-34
Mt 26:14-25
One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
“What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?”
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread,
the disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?”
He said,
“Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,
‘The teacher says, "My appointed time draws near;
in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“
The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.
When it was evening,
he reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said,
“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
“Surely it is not I, Lord?”
He
said in reply,
“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.
The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the
Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have
said so.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“Then Judas, His betrayer, spoke: ‘Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’ ” —Matthew 26:25
The last word Judas spoke to Jesus was to call Him “Rabbi,” meaning “Teacher” (Mt 26:49). One of the first words spoken to the risen Christ was: “Rabbouni” (Jn 20:16). This is a variation of the word “Rabbi,” and it also means “Teacher.”
Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene, the first person to meet the risen Christ, both called Jesus by the same title. The difference
was that Mary Magdalene listened to her Teacher, while Judas did not. In other words, Mary Magdalene was docile, that is, teachable, and Judas wasn’t. Docility is the difference between love or betrayal, life or death, and heaven or hell.
For example, morning after morning the Lord will open your ears (Is 50:4). He will teach you “how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them” (Is 50:4). However, to
speak these rousing words, you will have to suffer. You may have to expose your back and face to “buffets and spitting” (Is 50:6). Naturally, you don’t want to suffer or even hear about suffering. Will you rebel (see Is 50:5) or be docile? If you are docile to the Rabbi’s teaching about the suffering of the cross (see Lk 9:23), you will meet the Rabbi risen from the dead. Be docile, or you’ll be Judas.
Prayer:
Rabbi, send me the Holy Spirit of docility.
Promise: “See, the Lord God is my Help.” —Is 50:9
Presentation Ministries
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Spiritual Reading
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Readings from Jesus Alive in Our Lives, by Philip St. Romain. Ave Maria Press, 1985. Contemplative Ministries, Inc. 2011. Part Three, Gift of the Spirit Chapter 3: The Coming of the
Spirit - Selected quotes
Receiving the Gift
. . . there seem to be two general modes for transmitting the Spirit. In both examples, there is a gathered community who has been grieving the
loss of Jesus, but who are in wonder over his resurrection. In the first mode, the Spirit is literally showered upon them without the mediation of laying on of hands or any other such method. What is being emphasized in these passages is the gratuitous nature of the gift—that it comes directly from God and cannot be confused with any kind of energetic dynamic on a human level. This is not simply an instance of Jesus’ followers getting caught up on a kind of nostalgic
enthusiasm; there is a Power who descends upon them and they are changed by the experience. There is also, in these outpourings, a definite experience noted by the recipients, a “before and after,” if you will. The Spirit’s presence is unmistakable in the experience it communicates and the effects that follow.
In the second mode—the transmission of the Spirit through the laying on
of hands—we can presume a period of catechesis and preparation in advance. Even though there were occurrences such as those described in Acts 10:44-48, they seem to have been the exception rather than the rule. Acts 8:14-17 gives us what is more likely to have been the ordinary course of events. Here we read of Samaritans who had received the preaching and who had been baptized, but who had not yet received the Spirit. In response to a request from the evangelizing
deacons, Peter and John “went down there, and prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he had not come down on any of them. . . Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”
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