MEDITATION ON OUR LORD'S PASSION: And Forthwith Coming To Jesus, He Said: Hail, Rabbi. And He Kissed Him
Kiss of Judas
1300-50
And forthwith coming to Jesus, he said: Hail, Rabbi. And he kissed him. Mt.xxvi.
Here admire the goodness of Christ, who admitted him to kiss him, whom he knew to be a traitor. Neither do thou flatter thy self, if thou best called into Religion, or by Gods permission exalted to divine mysteries, Ecclesiastical offices, or Holy functions & dignities; because Christ doth suffer thee, as he suffered the kiss of Judas. It seemeth that the Apostles used to kiss Christ, when they came from any strange place: For otherwise Judas would not have dared to do it, & Christ objected unto the Pharisee, saying (thou hast not given me a kiss.) Here thou mayest learn the facility of Christ in admitting sinners, and his great desire to be with the sons of men. Come therefore with great confidence, for he will never reject thee, who admitted a traitor.
Secondly do all things sincerely, for he betray Christ with a kiss, which under pretence of holiness deceiveth his neighbors; and he which receiveth the body of our Lord in the Eucharist, with an unclean heart, is guilty of the body & blood of our Lord, which he putteth into the fowl sink of his naughty conscience.
Fr. Francis Costerus S.J. 1616
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