[00:00] In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, today, this last Wednesday, this last day of Lent is traditionally called Spy Wednesday, in that we read of Jesus, of Judas rather, of Judas' betrayal of Jesus and plotting with the chief priests to hand Jesus over to

[00:31] betray Jesus. And the Gospel yesterday, we saw how Satan entered Judas when he had confirmed his intention to betray Jesus and he left and it was dark, that it is always dark when we leave Jesus, when we turn away from Him. The Gospel today brings us to reflect upon some interesting points in that no one was expecting Judas, no one thought that he was

[01:06] the one, there was nothing that indicated that the other apostles knew without any doubt, "Oh, it's Judas, we know who it is." No one knew who it was, in fact, they were asking, "Surely it is not I, Lord." They did not, they were not aware of who it was who was going to betray Him. And so it's just an indication how important it is for us to guard our heart and to have that firm resolve and intention of fidelity and faithfulness to Jesus and to walk with Him

[01:38] with love and faith and devotion. And it seems as if Jesus was prodding the conscience of Judas, trying to get him once more to be aware of the seriousness of the action he was about to undertake, and trying to get him to reflect upon his intentions and his actions when He said, "One of you is going to betray Me," and when Judas responds, "Surely

[02:12] it is not I, Rabbi." Jesus says, "You have said so," trying to get Judas to recognize how serious his actions are and what he's going to do, an attempt to get Judas to reflect upon what he's doing. And yet Judas goes on and will betray our Lord. And in Judas, of course, despairs of God's mercy, despairs of the mercy of the Lord, and will ultimately betray himself. And so the Gospel is just a reminder to us that we want to be faithful

[02:48] to Jesus. And of course, we betray Jesus when we choose sin, when we choose sin over Jesus and we choose to turn our backs on Him by our sins. And so we want to be faithful to Jesus. We want to trust, we trust in His mercy, but we want to make our efforts daily to renew our intention never to do anything that would offend our Lord or would betray

[03:20] Him by our thoughts, words, or actions. The betrayal of Judas has been reflected upon by many scholars and many scholars believe the point that Judas turns away from Jesus is from the discourse that Jesus gave on the bread of life. In John chapter 6, "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in you," and "you have no life in you." And then

[03:56] the Gospel continues that many found this teaching hard and many left Jesus. And Jesus continues in this Gospel, "But there are some of you that do not believe," for Jesus knew from the first who those were who did not believe, for Jesus knew from the first who those were who did not believe and then and who it was that would betray Him. It's interesting that that line is put in the discourse on the Eucharist and who it was who would betray Him, meaning that it seems it was Judas's

[04:30] rejection of the Eucharist, Judas rejecting the teaching of the Eucharist and not accepting Jesus' discourse on the Holy Eucharist and His flesh being real food and His blood being real drink. And so it's, it's just a, again, a reminder to us how great the gift of faith is in the Eucharist, that it is Jesus in His body, blood, soul, and divinity. And there have been many who do not accept this teaching or recognize the truth of this teaching.

[05:06] And so it's just also an opportunity for us today to be renewed in our love, our faith and devotion in the real presence of Christ. The greatest gift, of course, we will see, we will reflect upon tomorrow on Holy Thursday in the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the institution of the priesthood. Today, of course, is the last day of Lent. Tomorrow begins the Sacred Triduum. We don't have Mass here in the morning and you can find the schedule for the Sacred Triduum on the door for the next three days for the Holy Thursday, Good

[05:39] Friday, and the Easter Vigil. But this day is an opportunity for us to once again, just reflect on our desire to be ever more faithful in following Jesus, to make that resolution that we never want to do anything to offend Him and that we want to follow Him faithfully. And we ask our Blessed Mother today in a special way to help us to prepare our hearts to walk with Jesus these next days in His suffering, His passion, that we may truly reflect

[06:12] upon His actions and His intense love for each of us in giving His life for us on the cross that we might with ever greater sincerity desire to be faithful and loving and following Him. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.