Nancy was talking to a friend this morning, Good Friday. She asked her friend, “Why was I betrayed by the people that I trusted.” Her friend told her that she had just read an article about the betrayal of Jesus in the words of Pope Benedict XVI.
“…According to the Pope Judas freely chose to betray Jesus: ‘an open rejection of God’s love.’ Judas according to Ratzinger “viewed Jesus in terms of power and success: his only real interests lied with his power and success, there was no love involved. He was a greedy man: money was more important than communing with Jesus; money came before God and His love.” According to the Pope it was due to these traits that led Judas to “turn liar, two-faced, indifferent to the truth,” “losing any sense of God,” “turning hard, incapable of converting, of being the prodigal son, hence throwing away a spent existence.” (AGI)
After her friend read the words of Pope Benedict XVI on the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, Nancy said, “we have received a powerful teaching on Good Friday.”
Note: Earlier in the week, a priest was speaking about the controversy about the gospel of Judas. He said from the pulpit, “The difference between us and Judas is that Judas never turned back to God.”
April 13, 2006 – (news article that was read)
VATICAN: POPE BANISHES JUDAS’ GOSPEL
(AGI) – Vatican, Apr 13 – The Vatican, by word of Pope Ratzinger, grants the recently surfaced Judas’ Gospel no credit with regards to its apocryphal claims that Judas betrayed Jesus in compliance with the latter’s own requests. According to the Pope Judas freely chose to betray Jesus: “an open rejection of God’s love”. Judas according to Ratzinger “viewed Jesus in terms of power and success: his only real interests lied with his power and success, there was no love involved. He was a greedy man: money was more important than communing with Jesus; money came before God and his love”. According to the Pope it was due to these traits that led Judas to “turn liar, two-faced, indifferent to the truth”, “losing any sense of God”, “turning hard, incapable of converting, of being the prodigal son, hence throwing away a spent existence”. (AGI) .
132030 APR 06
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