Lent Retreat in Daily Living – Week 7

This is the seventh week of the Lenten Retreat in Daily Living I’m giving at UST and at St. Hubert’s. During this past week, the retreatants prayed with the Passion of Christ (Week 3 of the Spiritual Exercises). During our group meeting this week, which began (as each of our weekly sessions do) with a period during which the participants engage in small group sharing of their prayer experience during the prior week, I talked a little more about the experience of praying with the Passion, about “Tomb Day” in the Ignatian Exercises (their prayer for Holy Saturday) and about praying with the resurrected Jesus (which will be the last few days of their retreat experience this week.) Next week will be our final meeting, to wrap-up the retreat.

You can find the recording of the talk I gave this week at St. Thomas here. (The podcast runs for 14:46.) You can find here a copy of the prayer material for the seventh week of the retreat.

Judas and Betrayal

I was reflecting on Judas in preparation for a brief lunchtime reflection I’m giving tomorrow. As I re-read Matthew’s account of Jesus colloquy with Judas about his imminant act of betrayal, I realized that there is a temptation to view people like Judas as different from us, outside of us. We distance ourselves from Judas, congratulating ourselves (much like the Pharisee in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector) that we are not like him. Not like the one who betrayed the Lord.

At one level, fair enough. Doubtless none of us pursuing a spiritual path has committed a single act of betrayal that approaches the enormity of Judas’ act (which one commentator called “the most ignoble of sins, betraying his master and friend with a kiss”). But don’t we all at various times commit acts that betray Jesus? We don’t literally trade the life of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. But don’t we in various ways trade Jesus for things that are the equivalent of 30 pieces of silver (or less)? If we are honest, we have to admit that, like Paul, we all at times “do not do the things I want to do, but I do the things I do not want.” We commit all sorts of small betrayals

Rather than comfortably distancing ourselves from Judas, we would each do well to ask, what are my 30 pieces of silver? What are the things that tempt me to turn away from Jesus? To betray the truth of who I am and my relationship with Jesus?