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The National Catholic Broadcasting Council presents Let Us Reflect Together 40 Days of Lent Retreat from the Cross to Hope. Day 30, Entering the Passion with Mark, between Betrayal and Mercy, with Cardinal Thomas Collins.

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In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's just let our hearts be still. Ask the Lord's forgiveness for those things which are barriers. Let's ask the Lord to help us form a pathway to our hearts. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me as sinner. Away with all those distractions, those things that clutter up our minds and hearts. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were at table eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. And he said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. In ancient times and even today, when you break bread with someone, you don't expect to be stabbed in the back by them, betrayed by them. The traitor is right there. How close he was. The Lord chose the twelve apostles. He spent a night in prayer, praying before he chose them by name. He called them out of his many disciples. And yet one of them, even so highly favored, to be called to be an apostle, a foundation of the whole church, was caught aside by his own, we don't know what. Greed, jealousy. We don't know what. We see just before this passage when Judas was bribed by the authorities, for 30 pieces of silver he betrayed the Lord. One of you, one of the twelve. Think how we have been favored in baptism, confirmation, in the sacraments we have received. So richly blessed. We must be loyal to our Lord. We are with him at table in the most sublime way. Every time we are called together here for the holy sacrifice of the Mass. And out there where we live, we must not betray Him, but must be faithful to Him. Let our lives out there be faithful to the Lord whom we meet here. It is our blessed Lord Himself. And in one of his evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were sitting at table eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, one of you, one of you will betray me. One who is eating with me. You can almost imagine him saying, One of you, one of you who is eating with me. Not Herod or someone like that. One of you will betray me. We could almost see his tears begin to fall at that. One he had trusted so much. So we pray the Lord to help us to be faithful to him. And they began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, Is it I? He said to them, It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes, it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born to betray the Lord. And at the end of this, we'll see Peter, the leader of the apostles, deny the Lord. He says, I won't do it, but is it I? And you know, we could have two great saints, Saint Judas and Saint Peter. One betrayed him, one denied him, and if only Judas had listened to this little warning, the Lord is saying, Judas, you know. I don't think this is quite in ancient, in one of the ancient manuscripts, but in a modern idiom, our Lord is saying to Judas, Hello, are you going to, please, Judas, don't do it. He's saying it. How often does the Lord alert us when we're drifting away? You know, he speaks to us in our hearts, please, one of you who dips his hand in the dish, one of you who comes who is so blessed, stay close to me. Don't betray me. And so he offers that little warning of hope to Judas. And you know, we never know. Later on we'll hear of the death of Judas. And we all, people might assume, well, of course, he's not Saint Judas, where no one's ever gone so far as to say he repented. But you know, there's a famous old saying upon which I hope we can all depend. Twixt the stirrup and the ground, salvation may be found. And what it means is a guy's riding along on a horse, maybe a very wicked fellow, and he falls off, and before he hits the ground, he says, Forgive me, Lord. That's enough. The Lord pulls him in. We canonize saints, but no one's ever, I don't know what you call, demonized Judas or something. We don't know. We don't know. But we do know the tragedy of it, though. Better that he had not been born if he betrays and does not repent. So let's ask the Lords, especially as we're thinking of the Lenten season, a time for us all, to say, Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening, and above all, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. And when it was evening, he came with the twelve, and as they were at table eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. And they began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, Is it I? He said to them, It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed, it would have been better for that man if he had not been born. And all of us in our little ways, we betray our Lord day by day, not maybe as spectacularly as Judas. And yet he reaches out to us and calls us to repent. To come once more, come to me, you labor or burden, come. And so let's just, especially as we're thinking of this Lenten time, which is rapidly upon us, say, Lord, forgive me my sins. Always we fall a thousand times, and a thousand or one times he lifts us up. And as we're just about to hear of the Eucharist, the next verses, let's think of the great saving grace of the sacrament of confession. Where we can come with all of our little betrayals that cheapen our lives and make us so empty. We can come and receive the love of our Lord who always wants to lift us up and help us to become saints. Let's ask the Lord's forgiveness and thank him for his mercy in our lives.

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Join us tomorrow for Day 31. Entering the Passion with Mark, the covenant that holds us with Cardinal Thomas Collins. For more information, please email us at info at ncbc.ca, visit our website at daily tvmass.com, or call our office toll free at one eight eight eight three eight three six two seven seven.