The Despair of Judas

Commentary of the day :

Saint Catherine of Sienna (1347-1380), Dominican Tertiary, Doctor of the Church, Co-patroness of Europe
Dialogue, 37

[“Judas… began to regret his action deeply. He took the thirty pieces of silver back to the chief priests and elders and said, ‘I did wrong to deliver up an innocent man!’ They retorted: ‘What is that to us? It is your affair!’ So Judas flung the money into the temple and left. He went off and hanged himself.” (Mt 27:3-5) God said to Saint Catherine:] In this world and in the other, the unforgivable sin is that of the person who, despising my mercy, did not want to be forgiven. That is why I consider it to be the most serious, and that is why Judas’ despair made me sadder and was more painful for my son than his betrayal. Thus, people will be condemned for the false judgment that makes them believe their sin is greater than my mercy… They are condemned for their injustice when they weep over their lot more than over how they have offended me. For that is when they are unjust. They do not give me what belongs to me, and they do not give themselves what belongs to them. To me, love is owed, sorrow over one’s fault and contrition; they must offer these to me because of their offenses, but they do the opposite. They only have love and compassion for themselves, since they only know how to lament over the punishment that awaits them. So you see that they are committing an injustice, and that is why they find themselves doubly punished for having despised my mercy.

First Reading: Isaiah 50,4-9
Psalms: Psalms 69(68),8-10.21-23.31.33-34
Gospel: Matthew 26,14-25

Commentary courtesy of DailyGospel.org, for Wednesday, April 12, 2006. Readings are from the Catholic liturgical calendar, links via the New American Bible online via the USCCB.