Jesus dines with his disciples at the Last Supper. Among the disciples he is dining with are two who will betray him later, and Jesus
knows it. The betrayals of Judas Iscariot and Peter are different, but they are still betrayals. Judas and Peter know Jesus. They know the miracles he performed and the healing he brought to those in distress; they have first-hand experience of how Jesus interacted with them. They responded voluntarily to his invitation and call to join him and become fishers of people. The saddest thing about betrayal is that it often does not come from enemies.
We are more forgiving of Peter’s betrayal than Judas’. One of the reasons we do this is that we relate more to Peter’s betrayal of denying knowing Jesus or fear of being associated with Jesus because
we do this more often in our lives. Like Peter, we deny knowing Jesus. We deny him in our thoughts, words and actions or lack thereof. Sometimes we betray Jesus by betraying ourselves, when we think less of ourselves and fail to see ourselves as God sees us, loved unconditionally no matter what state we are in or what we have done.
We are invited, as we begin Holy Week, to ask God for his strengthening power to help us to be able to boldly profess our faith, especially in those moments in our lives where doing so might be difficult or pose a danger to us.
Let us also ask for the grace to stay and pray with Jesus in his experience of suffering. Also, ask for the grace to face our sufferings and be honest about our vulnerabilities, especially when we betray ourselves and are not Christlike to those
around us.
