MARY, OUR MOTHER

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #537

Then Judas, who betrayed him, seeing that he was condemned, repenting himself, brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and ancients, Saying: "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood." But they said: "What is that to us? Look thou to it." And casting down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed and went and hanged himself with an halter. (Matt. 27:3-5)

THE REPENTANCE, CONFESSION, AND DESPAIR OF JUDAS: When Judas perceived the consequence of his treachery, his conscience reproached him with the awful thought: "I am guilty of the murder of my God!" And then Satan, who had taken possession of his heart by reason of his obduracy, drove him to despair. Before the deed was done, he induced Judas to sin, blinding him so that he did not perceive the heinousness of his crime, nor consider its consequences; but once the sin had been committed, he showed its full horror to the wretched sinner, and whispered to him as he had once whispered to Cain, that his sin was too great to be forgiven. Judas might have obtained pardon even then, had he possessed the proper dispositions. It is true that "he repented himself," and that he made a really good resolution of amendment, for at no price would he have committed the sin again. He confessed his guilt by the words: "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood;" and he made what satisfaction he could, for he gave back the blood-money, and tried to get the sentence of death reversed--but, for all this, he was wanting in true penance. Now, what did he lack? The sorrow of Judas was wanting in hope, and such a sorrow does not lead back to God, but rather leads to despair and to an eternal separation from God. Judas' sin in betraying our Lord was a terribly grievous one; and yet the worst sin he committed was that of despairing of the grace and mercy of God. His first sin might have found forgiveness, but there exists no forgiveness for the sin of despair; for he who despairs of God's pardon denies the infinite mercy of God, and cannot therefore benefit by it. To despair of God's mercy is one of the sins against the Holy Ghost, and it is said of these sins that they will not be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come. Furthermore, Judas' confession of his sin availed him nothing. If, full of confidence in his Savior, the God of love and mercy, he had thrown himself at His feet, confessed his guilt to Him, and implored His forgiveness, he would have most surely obtained it; but, as it was, in his despair of God's mercy, he sought for consolation from men, and confessed his guilt merely to members of the Sanhedrim. When they rejected him contemptuously, and laid all the responsibility on him, his last comfort was torn from him, and the burden of his guilty life was so heavy, that he had not the courage to bear it any longer. He felt that he had nothing more to hope for from heaven, and could find no peace on earth, so he hanged himself between heaven and earth, and to the crime of deicide added that of suicide.

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]

(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)