“You have succeeded in life when all you really WANT is only what you really NEED.”

“The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, excerpt from the novel The Brothers Karamazov

Gospel Text: (MT 26:14-25)

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,

went to the chief priests and said,

"What are you willing to give me

if I hand him over to you?"

They paid him thirty pieces of silver,

and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,

the disciples approached Jesus and said,

"Where do you want us to prepare

for you to eat the Passover?"

He said,

"Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,

'The teacher says, My appointed time draws near;

in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.'"

The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,

and prepared the Passover.

When it was evening,

he reclined at table with the Twelve.

And while they were eating, he said,

"Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."

Deeply distressed at this,

they began to say to him one after another,

"Surely it is not I, Lord?"

He said in reply,

"He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me

is the one who will betray me.

The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,

but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would be better for that man if he had never been born."

Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,

"Surely it is not I, Rabbi?"

He answered, "You have said so."

In the Gospel reading we listen to the betrayal of Jesus by one his chosen apostle, Judas lscariot. For thirty pieces of silver Judas agreed to hand Jesus over to the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews: "from then on he kept looking for the best way to hand him over to them."

We also hear Jesus telling his disciples at the Passover meal that one of them would betray him. Judas even had the gall to ask Jesus, "You do not mean me, Master, do you?" And Jesus confirmed his betrayal, "You have said it."

The betrayal of Judas was very painful for Jesus, coming from one of his trusted chosen ones.

We, too, betray Our Lord when we sin, when we do not follow his commands, when we prefer the world's values to the Gospel values he preached.