Jesus answered, “I shall dip a piece of bread in the dish, and he to whom I give it, is the one.” So Jesus dipped the bread in the dish and gave it to Judas Iscariot,
the son of Simon. As Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus then said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
None of the others, reclining at the table, understood why Jesus had said this to Judas. As Judas had the common purse,
they may have thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or, “Give something to the poor.”
Judas left as soon as he had eaten the bread. It was night.
When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. God will glorify him,
and he will glorify him very soon.
My children, I am with you for only a little while; you will look for me, but as I already told the Jews, now I tell you:
where I am going you cannot come.
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but afterward you will.”
Peter said, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I am ready to give my life for you.” “To give your life for me?” Jesus asked Peter.
“Truly I tell you, the cock will not crow, before you have denied me three times.”
REFLECTION:
St. Augustine says that “God cares for us as if we were the only one in his care.” That is how important each one of us is to Him.
When he was baptized by John in the Jordan, and again at his Transfiguration, Jesus receives the ultimate affirmation from his heavenly Father.
He was God’s Son, the “beloved”, the one in whom the father is “pleased”.
It was that affirmation and his being so deeply anchored in it that allowed Jesus to keep his gaze on the mission that was before him.
Nothing could sway him, nothing could move him, nothing could distract him. It was his being rooted in the Father’s affirmation that allowed him to do the Father’s will,
to the very end.
Are there things about myself that I do not like, things about me that I wish were different? Do I sometimes wish I were somebody else?
Do I not show enough appreciation and love for myself, the way God loves and appreciates me? Bring to the Lord, in your prayer, those things that you still have not accepted about yourself,
and ask for the grace to accept, embrace, and be grateful for them – because they too are God’s gifts. They may be challenging ones,
but they are his gifts nonetheless.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020