By Father Anthony F. Raso
IF I REVEALED my mother’s age in the pages of The Tablet, I might never be able to go home again – maybe. Let’s just say that since I will be 67 years old this coming Tuesday, my mother is now well over 39 years of age and we’ll leave it at that. She is not among those who might be termed “liberal Catholics,” but now and then, she is still capable of making pronouncements that are somewhat on the unusual side.
In both the first reading and the Gospel this weekend, a dim and negative view is taken of Judas Iscariot. In Acts, Peter reminds the crowd gathered together that Judas had betrayed Jesus and it was time for someone to “take his office.” In the Gospel, Jesus says that not one of the Apostles was lost – with the melancholy exception of Judas who was “destined to be lost.”
It is therefore clear that Judas’ great failure to be loyal has removed him from the light of the history of the Church. But not according to my mother! In her book, Judas very probably went to Heaven – at least eventually. He was Jesus’ friend. He was the treasurer of the Apostles. Jesus loved him as a special partner in His mission, and so even in death, Judas was saved by his friend Jesus. As he hung from that tree, he probably said, “God help me!” and he was saved. Luke doesnt say this in Acts; John doesn’t say this in his Gospel; but Romilda Raso says this in Bloomfield, N.J. End of argument. She has spoken.
Furthermore, she may very well be right.
Jesus was the personification of mercy, forgiveness and understanding. Would He not understand what was troubling poor Judas? Peter turned out to be a wonderful leader for the infant Church. In that first reading, doesn’t he seem to be relatively light in his judgment of Judas in the spirit of his Lord Jesus? John is pretty gentle in speaking of Judas in his quote of Jesus in the Gospel today. Can we not conclude that this gentleness was very much in the spirit of the Jesus Whom he knew so well?
Understanding Jesus
I hope that the conversation between my mother, Luke and John takes place a long time from now (after all, she is just a bit over 39 or so), but she’ll be giving them something to think about when that day comes. And maybe she’s onto something. If we understand Jesus as we should, we must understand how completely loving He was, and still is.
“For as the Heavens are high above the earth,” the psalmist sings today, “so surpassing is His kindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He put our transgressions from us.” This is the Father in Heaven that Jesus proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount, during His hours on the Cross, on the day of His Resurrection and straight through to the day of His Ascension.
He is overwhelming in His love, and in return has only one demand of us: As John reminds us in our second reading today: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another.”
This is the love Jesus is proclaiming to His Apostles in the Gospel today: He asks the Father to bless the Apostles, to keep them together and to maintain them in their love for one another as children of the same family. They will be staying in this world to continue His work but He says, “And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”
Jesus is just not “about” condemnation and asks that His Apostles not forget His true message in the years to come, as Judas forgot it for one tragic week and we must not forget, as Peter forgot it for one tragic night.
Choice Between Saints
However, it is that same Peter who stands up today in the midst of his friends in the first reading and makes sure that the Church which has been entrusted into his care will remain strong and true to Christ. Two men, equally excellent and promising, are proposed to take the position of the 12th apostle. Of the two future saints named Joseph and Matthias, the choice goes to Matthias. There was no “lesser of two evils” at work here, but a choice between saints.
That is what the Church should be now, and that is exactly the message of Peter and John – and Jesus – today. The Church needs saints – not just in Heaven “someday,” but also on Earth – today and now. We must be those saints, and we can be those saints if we love God and love one another.
“Loving one another” will mean forgiving one another when others let us down, even if they give up on themselves.
So, is my mother right about Judas? Did Jesus forgive even him when he let Him down and then gave up on himself? The New Testament doesn’t tell us, but my mother does! And I rather suspect that when I finally get to Heaven, I’ll find my mother standing just inside the Gates with a friend, a Jewish guy from 2,000 years ago.
“I told you so,” she’ll say, as mothers often, and accurately, do.
Readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 1: 15-17, 20A, 20C-26 Psalm 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20 1 John 4: 11-16
John 17: 11B-19
Father Anthony F. Raso is the parochial vicar at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Dyker Heights.