On
the part of the Lord shone forth his ineffable mercy and equity, since those
words of David were fulfilled in an eminent manner: “With them that hated peace I was peaceable; when I spoke to them they
fought against Me without cause” (Ps. 119, 7). So completely did the Lord fulfil
this prophecy, that when, in answer to the kiss of Judas, He said: “Friend, whereto art thou come ?”
 |
| the kiss of betrayal |
 |
| And Jesus said "you betray the son of man with a kiss? |
He
sent into the heart of the traitorous disciple a new and most clear light, by
which Judas saw the atrocious malice of his treason, the punishment to follow,
if he should not make it good by true penitence, and the merciful pardon still
to be obtained from the divine clemency. What Judas clearly read in those few
words of Christ was: “Friend, take heed
lest thou cause thy perdition and abuse my meekness by this treason. If thou
seek my friendship, I will not refuse it to thee on account of this deed, as
soon as thou art sorry for thy sin. Consider well thy temerity in delivering Me
by false friendship and under cover of a false peace and a kiss of reverence
and love. Remember the benefits thou hast received of my charity, and that I am
the Son of the Virgin, by whom thou hast been so often favoured and rejoiced
with motherly advice and counsel during thy apostolate. Even if it were only
for her sake, thou should not commit such a treason as to sell and deliver her
Son. In no wise does her loving meekness deserve such an outrageous wrong, for
She has never been unkind to thee. But although thou hast now committed this
wrong, do not despise her intercession, for She alone will be powerful with Me
and for her sake I offer thee pardon and life, since She has many times
besought Me to do so. I assure thee, that We love thee; for thou art yet in
life, where there is hope and where we will not deny thee our friendship, if
thou seek it. But if thou refuse it, thou wilt merit our abhorrence and eternal
chastisement and pain.” The seed of the divine words took no root in the
heart of that unhappy reprobate. It was harder than adamant and more inhuman
than that of a wild beast. Resisting the divine clemency he finally fell into
despair,
The
signal of the kiss having been given by Judas, the Lord with his disciples and
the soldiers, who had come to capture Him, came face to face, forming two
squadrons the most opposed and hostile that ever the world saw. For on the one
side was Christ our Lord, true God and man, as the Captain of all the just,
supported by his eleven Apostles the chieftains and champions of his Church
with innumerable hosts of angelic spirits full of adoring wonder at this
spectacle. On the other side were Judas, the originator of the treason, filled
with hypocrisy and hatred, and many Jews and gentiles, bent on venting their
malice with the greatest cruelty. Surrounding these were Lucifer and a
multitude of demons, inciting and assisting Judas and his helpers boldly to lay
their sacrilegious hands upon their Creator. With unfathomable love for
suffering and great force and authority the Lord then spoke to the soldiers,
saying: “Whom seek ye ?” (John 18,
45). They answered: “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus said to them: “I am He.” By
these inestimably precious and blessed words Christ declared Himself as our
Redeemer and Saviour; for only by his offering Himself freely to redeem us by
his Passion and Death, could our hope of eternal life ever rest on firm
foundation.
His
enemies could not understand or fathom the true meaning of these words: I am
He. But his most blessed Mother and the angels understood them, as did also, to
a great extent, the Apostles. It was as if He had said: “I am who I am” (Exod. 3, 14), as I have said to my prophet
Moses; for I am of Myself. As the Lord spoke with divine power, his enemies
could not resist and when his words struck their ears, they all fell backwards
to the ground (John 18, 6). This happened not only to the soldiers, but to the
dogs, which they had brought with them, and to the horses on which some of them
rode: all of them fell to the ground and remained motionless like stones.
 |
| When Jesus said I am He,They all fell to the ground |
Lucifer and his demons were hurled down with them, deprived of motion and
suffering new confusion and torture. Thus they remained for some seven or eight
minutes, showing no more signs of life than if they had died. O word of a God,
so mysterious in meaning and more than invincible in power! Let not the wise
glory before Thee in their wisdom and astuteness; nor the powerful in their valour
(Jer. 9, 23); let the vanity and arrogance of the children of Babylon be
humbled, since one word from the mouth of the Lord, spoken with so much
meekness and humility, confounds, destroys and annihilates all the pride and
power of man and hell. Let us children of the Church also learn, that the
victories of Christ are gained by confessing the truth, by giving place unto
wrath (Rom. 12, 19), by showing meekness and humility of heart (Matth. 11, 29),
by overcoming and being overcome with dovelike simplicity, by the peacefulness
and resignment of sheep free from resistance of furious and ravenous wolves.
Sadly
our divine Lord contemplated the picture of eternal damnation exhibited in them
and listened to the prayer of his most holy Mother to let them rise, for upon
her intercession his divine will had made that dependent. When it was time for
them to come to themselves, He prayed to the eternal Father, saying:
“My Father and eternal God, in my hands
Thou hast placed all things (John 13, 3), and hast consigned to Me the
Redemption required by thy justice. I wish to satisfy it and give Myself over
to death with all my heart, in order to merit for my brethren participation in
thy treasures and the eternal happiness held out to them.” By this expression of his efficacious will
the Lord gave permission to that whole miserable band of men, demons and
animals to arise and be restored to the same condition as before their falling
down. A second time the Saviour said to them: “Whom seek ye?” and they again answered: “Jesus of Nazareth.” The Lord answered most meekly: “I have
already told you, that I am He. If therefore you seek Me, let these go their
way” (John 18, 8). With these words He gave permission to the servants and the
soldiers to take Him prisoner and execute their designs, which, without their
understanding it, meant nothing else than to draw upon his divine Person all
our sorrows and infirmities (Is. 53, 4).
