Theological Foundations new file

82 Theological Foundations When we meditate on Christ’s Passion, we are filled with sorrow because, on the one hand, it shows the noble character of virtue but, on the other, reveals the wickedness of sin. Jesus knows that one of His dis- ciples will betray Him and it deeply hurts His soul. It is already at the beginning of His Passion that we encounter the terrible mystery of wickedness. We observe how desire leads to betrayal and how “cheap” God is to people. Just as Father Papczynski did, Father Matulaitis- Matulewicz, too, teaches and asks questions as he ponders the particular episodes of Christ’s Passion. As he discusses Judas’s betrayal, he asks: “And you, yourself, have you not sold God?” 87 When the henchmen rush at Jesus in Gethsemane and tie Him up, it is their dark hour. Such hours do sometimes occur in the life of the Church and in the human soul. Judas wanted to leave this darkness and he began his repentance well, because he confessed his sin and returned the money he had received. But he lacked hope. He should have turned to the Savior and asked for His forgiveness. In our day, Judas still lives among us and asks what he will get; he will betray God and his own con- science; he will renounce Christ at the price of material gain, sensual pleasure, greed and selfishness. He has a lot of followers because so many breathe Judas’s betrayal. One will spy on his friend to betray his secret, another spreads intrigues. ... Yet another says one thing to your face, only to contradict it when you are not there. But God who does not condemn a sinner easily, admonishes, evokes remorse and warns. Judas should have thrown himself at his Master’s feet, he should have demanded that Pilate show clemency for Jesus; and when Jesus was on Calvary, Judas should have approached the crucified Savior with tears in his eyes. 88 As Blessed George meditates upon the scene when Jesus was hit in the face during the questioning before the high priest, he recalls the experiences of the Fathers of the Church who shivered in horror at a mere reference to this event. They wondered why, at that moment, the earth did not fall apart, the sun did not stop shining, and the world did not return to the state of nothingness. When Father Matulaitis-