EIGHT MEDITATION FOR LENT
And Judas, coming to Jesus said: "Hail, Rabbi." And he kissed him. And Jesus said to him: "Friend, whereto art thou come?" "Judas, dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?" (Matt: 26:48-50; Luke 22:48)
It is very hard to bear when an ungrateful person adds hypocrisy to malice, when he tries to deceive us by an exterior show of friendship, when in public he makes use of familiarity and marks of friendship to destroy us. My Divine Savior, what must be Thy sentiments at seeing this great number of Christians whom Thou dost invite so cordially to Thy banquet, whom Thou dost admit with so much love to Thy table! Thou dost thereby give them a testimony of Thy extreme love; on their part, they perform an act which is in itself a visible mark of the tender love which they have for Thee; but to how many of them couldst Thou not say: "Friend, whereto art thou come? Dost thou betray Me with a kiss?"
To how many impure souls hast Thou delivered Thyself? To how many hearts sullied by a thousand vices? How many sacrileges have been committed under this false appearance of piety? And shall I be always insensible to all this?
[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]
It is very hard to bear when an ungrateful person adds hypocrisy to malice, when he tries to deceive us by an exterior show of friendship, when in public he makes use of familiarity and marks of friendship to destroy us. My Divine Savior, what must be Thy sentiments at seeing this great number of Christians whom Thou dost invite so cordially to Thy banquet, whom Thou dost admit with so much love to Thy table! Thou dost thereby give them a testimony of Thy extreme love; on their part, they perform an act which is in itself a visible mark of the tender love which they have for Thee; but to how many of them couldst Thou not say: "Friend, whereto art thou come? Dost thou betray Me with a kiss?"
To how many impure souls hast Thou delivered Thyself? To how many hearts sullied by a thousand vices? How many sacrileges have been committed under this false appearance of piety? And shall I be always insensible to all this?
[From 'The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus' by Fr. John Croiset, SJ]
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