Judas Iscariot had just carried out his nefarious plan. Not even Jesus’ merciful warnings could dissuade him from his deicidal infamy, and to the sinister sound of the clinking of his thirty coins, he wandered through the shadows of the night. For a short time, that filthy money would give him some satisfaction…
But Judas was not the only traitor wandering in the darkness.
Our Lord was on His way to Caiaphas’ house for the unjust trial that would lead to His death when He spotted one of His disciples, the first of them, Simon Peter, in the crowd. For a moment, their gazes met. At that moment, Peter felt himself guilty of the greatest atrocity he could have committed: having abandoned the Master when He most needed help. He had just denied Him publicly, three times, before a servant girl.
Judas denied Him out of greed; Peter, out of cowardice. “Unfaithful, deceitful, infamous traitor!” the infernal enemy shouted in the consciences of both. He wanted to lead them to an even greater crime.
A greater crime… than betraying the God-Man? Yes.
In an apparition to the Spanish nun Josefa Menéndez at the beginning of the 20th century, the Sacred Heart of Jesus complained precisely about this very grave sin, despair, which necessarily accompanies contempt for divine pardon: “After betraying Me in the Garden of Olives, Judas wandered about as a fugitive, unable to stifle the cries of his conscience accusing him of the most horrible sacrilege. When he heard the sentence of death pronounced against Me, he fell into the most terrible despair and hanged himself. Who can understand the intense and profound pain of my Heart when I saw that soul, which had spent so many days in the school of my love, plunge into eternal perdition… […] Judas, why do you not come and throw yourself at my feet so that I may forgive you, too? …”1
The distrust of God’s mercy wounded Jesus’ Heart more than the betrayal for which He suffered all the torments of the Passion! However, Judas voluntarily closed himself off forever to the Master’s love, sealing his despair with a horrifying suicide.
While the body of Iscariot hung from a fig tree, another criminal wept over his infidelity. Amid tears of sorrow, a grace moved Peter’s soul to true contrition. But, alas! The Master had already been crucified and buried… How could he ask Him for forgiveness? In that moment of anguish, perhaps the first Pope remembered Our Lady and hastened to her.
We can imagine the moving scene. The Blessed Virgin was in the company of St. John when there was a knock at the door. When the door was opened, Simon did not utter a single word. Nor was it necessary, for his tears spoke for themselves. Mary, seeing his sincere repentance, looked at him with unspeakable affection… and She too did not need to say anything. Everything was resolved.
“Contrary to the infamous Judas Iscariot – who hanged himself, begrimed by the mud of betrayal and obstinate pride – Peter experienced the unfathomable abyss of love that burned in the Heart of Mary. And he understood that in any circumstance, whether the state of his soul be good or bad, he would always find an ocean of mercy, goodness and affection there, provided he turned to her with a contrite and humbled spirit.”2 ◊
Notes
1 MENÉNDEZ, RSCJ, Josefa. Apelo ao amor. 3.ed. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Rio-São Paulo, 1963, p.417.
2 CLÁ DIAS, EP, João Scognamiglio. Mary Most Holy: The Paradise of God Revealed to Men. Houston: Heralds of the Gospel, 2019, v.II, p.504.
