Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Dealing with BETRAYAL - Tuesday in Holy Week




Over at the Catholic Spirituality Centre is a great meditation by Father William Goh on the first part of today's Gospel - John 13:21-33: 

"While at supper with his disciples, Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, ‘I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, wondering which he meant. The disciple Jesus loved was reclining next to Jesus; Simon Peter signed to him and said, ‘Ask who it is he means’, so leaning back on Jesus’ breast he said, ‘Who is it, Lord?’ ‘It is the one’ replied Jesus ‘to whom I give the piece of bread that I shall dip in the dish.’ He dipped the piece of bread and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. At that instant, after Judas had taken the bread, Satan entered him. Jesus then said, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.’ None of the others at table understood the reason he said this. Since Judas had charge of the common fund, some of them thought Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’, or telling him to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out. Night had fallen." 


One of the most painful experiences of life is to be betrayed by those whom we love dearly and deeply. The deeper the trust and love, the more pain we suffer. This is true in all relationships, whether of close friends, among colleagues and particularly in marriage. Once betrayal is discovered, it is extremely difficult to repair the relationship, for trust has been broken. Without trust, no relationship can ever blossom, since no communication is possible. The intimacy of love is dependent solely on trust. A relationship cannot thrive as there is no fertile ground to germinate the seed of love when one lives in constant suspicion of the other party. That is why, although we know from experience that setbacks, disappointments, frustrations in relationships happen in life, we must still choose to trust again, otherwise we are doomed to loneliness.

Go HERE to read the entire article.


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