Spy Wednesday Meditation: Betrayal...

This morning's gospel tells of Judas' betrayal of Jesus. After selling the Master for thirty pieces of silver, Judas, "from that time on...looked for an opportunity to hand Him over."

Betrayal....

Mankind knows all about it. I just finished reading Left to Tell, the story of Immaculee Ilibagiza, survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. One of the most shocking aspects of the mass murder is that neighbors and friends became a bloodthirsty mob killing those they had lived side-by-side with in peace and friendship. Can you imagine picking up a machete and attacking your neighbors? And why? Because they belonged to the wrong tribe! Day after day the radio blared its dehumanizing message to "Kill the cockroaches"...

Kill them, kill them, kill them all;

kill them big and kill them small!

Kill the old and kill the young...

a baby snake is still a snake,

kill it too, let none escape!

Kill them, kill them, kill them all!

And so the bloodlust went on for months while neighbor murdered neighbor leaving bodies in the streets, looting and burning homes.

Could such a thing happen here? It already is. Every year we commit the equivalent of the Rwandan massacre when over a million babies in the womb are brutally killed. We don't call them "cockroaches" although some describe them as "parasites." We dehumanize them with a Latin term, "fetus," that means "young one."

Yes, the temptation to betrayal is as close as my own heart. It is only by staying close to Jesus that a soul can resist the world, the flesh, and the devil. Read Immaculee's story and weep for man's inhumnity to his fellow man. Then pray and work for peace beginning with peace in the womb!