What You Are Going to Do, Do Quickly
A heaviness weighed on my spirit as I looked around at my closest friends. The time had come to reveal the unthinkable. “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”
Shock and confusion swept across their faces as they began murmuring among themselves, shooting suspicious glances. Did they still not grasp what was unfolding around us? These beloved disciples seemed as spiritually blind as the rest.
John leaned in close, his expression silently urging me to identify the betrayer. Our eyes met, a thousand unspoken words passing between us. I saw him recoil in horror as I offered the dipped bread to Judas.
In that suspended moment, our gazes locked, and I laid my soul bare, pleading one last time for him to turn back from this destructive path. But Judas remains unmoved, his mask of indifference unyielding as he accepts the bread and slips away into the night. The others, oblivious to his departure, are still unaware of the betrayal lurking in their midst.
My heart broke seeing the stricken look on John’s face as he now bore the weight of revelation. A cautioning look and he understood – silence until the appointed time. Ever the leader, Peter quickly steered the discussion elsewhere, fixating on his desire to follow me no matter the cost. But I firmly rebuked him – this path of suffering was not yet for him to walk.
As the gravity of the moment hangs heavy, I know our time together grows short. There is so much more they must grasp before the impending battle. “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him…”
I poured out the purposes, the imminent glorification, trying to prepare their uncomprehending souls for what lay ahead. The shadow of the cross looms large, casting darkness over the path ahead. “My dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. You cannot come where I am going.” Their stricken faces pleaded for clarity, but the harsh truth could not be softened.
Peter’s impulsive protest only strengthened my resolve. “You cannot follow me now, but you will follow later…Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”
Words alone cannot fully prepare these uncomprehending men for the suffering that awaits. Every prophecy, every sign has led us to this moment—the inevitable confrontation with the wages of sin. Let the darkness converge; I am prepared. (Media Team)
The text above is an adaptation of the Gospel reading for Tuesday of Holy Week. For the actual scripture, please refer to the Catholic Daily Missal. This adaptation is intended purely as an aid for reflection.