In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 
This Wednesday of Holy Week is traditionally called Spy Wednesday. It’s Spy Wednesday because of the betrayal of Jesus by one of His disciples, Judas. The gospel continues the theme from yesterday when Judas had decided to betray Jesus. We heard in the gospel Satan entered him even before he carried out the action of betrayal. Satan entered Judas, meaning he opened himself up to Satan’s influence. He still had free will, but he chose rather to do his will, which was to betray our Savior.
The betrayal of Judas is a lesson for all of us to guard against. Here is one who was chosen by Jesus to be one of His closest associates, one who was chosen by Jesus to be among His twelve apostles. He witnessed the miracles of Jesus, he saw Jesus’ miracles firsthand, he heard our Lord’s words, and yet he chose to betray Him. There are many thoughts about why Judas betrayed Jesus. Was it because of his love for money? Ultimately, it was his not cooperating with the grace of God, God’s grace. He let evil fester in him and allowed that evil to overtake him.
It’s the same with us, that we must always be on guard, not to allow sin to fester in us, but to fly to confession when we fall into sin, and not let it fester in us. In this gospel today, we’re reminded that we too can become traitors when we choose sin over Jesus, when we choose our own will over the will of Jesus. We want to always be faithful to Jesus. We always want to stay close to Him. We always want to give witness to Him and never to flee from Him.
In a special way today, I also want to reflect upon the feast day of St. Bernadette Soubirous. April 16th is St. Bernadette’s feast day. She had the visions of Our Lady, of course. She saw Our Blessed Mother at Lourdes in France, and one of the first things Our Lady told Bernadette was, “I cannot promise you happiness in this world, but only in the next.” This means that we will never find happiness in this world. Our true happiness awaits us in heaven. Those words were a reminder that this is the time for us to suffer, this is the time for us to sacrifice.
When Bernadette was asked what her job was, she said, “Suffering is my job.” Suffering is my job. This is to help us that we may be steadfast in the difficulties and trials of life in staying faithful to Jesus. We want to console Jesus and to be always faithful to Him and to always give witness to Him as we prepare to share the Holy Sacred Triduum in these next few days. May Mary, our Mother, help us to be always faithful to Jesus, to always trust in His mercy.
This gospel is also a reminder for us to trust in the mercy of God. Jesus never stopped loving Judas. Jesus would have forgiven Judas, but Judas did not trust in God’s mercy, and ultimately he would despair and take his own life. It’s also a reminder to us that we must never despair, we must never despair of our sins, but to return to God with confidence that His mercy awaits for us to come back to Him. May Mary, our Mother of Mercy, help us to be always steadfast in following her Son and to always trust in His mercy for us.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.