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March 23, 2005

Betrayal Mt 26:14-25

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said,
"What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, "My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples." The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said,
"Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me." Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, "Surely it is not I, Lord?" He said in reply, "He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born." Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" He answered, "You have said so."

Betrayal...Jesus knew who would betray him and Judas denies that he is the one. Judas perhaps has decieved himself more than anyone else. His betrayal of the Son of Man for a mere thirty coins of silver ends in his own suicide. It is a dark side of the Passion story a sad unfulfilled, ruined life unable to return or turn back to God in the time of deepest despair at realization of the error of his acts. Judas ultimately betrayed himself more than anyone else. He was sadly aware of the evil of his acts after he performed them. Jesus talks of His appointed time being near. To me this is another affirmation of the role of Jesus as a prophet. The great lessons of the Bible are coming together in more intense and present forms as the Holy Week proceeds toward the end of the life on earth of Jesus. The journey has changed for me every year and yet it is the same every year. In the monastery there is an intensity and a purity in our prayer and life in this reflective and most sacred time of the year. Am I willing to sell my beliefs to the world for thirty coins or to remain a loyal believer? The question is presented to me in many forms throughout the day.

Woodpecker 3/20/05

Red Shouldered Hawk by the Lake 3/20/05

Bee photo 3/20/05

March 22, 2005

Called From Birth Is 49:1-6

Hear me, O islands, listen, O distant peoples. The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother's womb he gave me my name. He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, Yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God. For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb, That Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him; And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength! It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

"From my mother's womb he gave me my name." Called from birth to follow the ways of the Lord and to serve God. As the reading says there are times that in following the Lord it seems as if it is not to any benefit, then others when it is seen that there is a great reward for being faithful. It is a struggle to remain a light in the world at the times when I can not see the good coming from walking in God's ways. A part of the struggle is to accept that this is what is meant to be.