José Mario O Mandía
“One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over” (Matthew 26:14—16) From that time on, Judas was preoccupied with only one thing: handing Jesus over to his haters. And Jesus knew this: “And while they were eating, he said, ‘Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me’” (Matthew 26:20-21). How much it must have pained our most loving and most forgiving Lord to reveal this sad reality: “One of you!” Not an enemy, not a rival, but one of his own. Yet the Master would still wash Judas’ feet and would let him participate in his paschal meal. He would give Judas an opportunity to repent and change his mind.
We know that Judas’ treason did not happen without any cause. It had been simmering deep in his heart. St John narrates to us an incident that sheds light on the traitor’s motives. When Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with “a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard” (John 12:3), Judas was upset: “the one who would betray him, said, ‘Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?’ He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions” (John 12:4-6). Judas started with petty theft, little innocent amounts that hurt no one. He was following Jesus but secretly reserving paltry sums for himself. He was letting the fire of love grow cold. He was starting to get comfortable. He was settling into lukewarmness.
What is lukewarmness or tepidity? It is the state of a soul that has “lost its first love” (cf Revelation 2:4). It’s very much like what that decades-old song says, “You don’t bring me flowers | You don’t sing me love songs | You hardly talk to me anymore | When you come through the door | At the end of the day.”
A lukewarm person maintains a respectable exterior while avoiding “exaggeration” in his spiritual commitments. He is a “decent” Christian. “I already know that you avoid mortal sins. You want to be saved! But you are not worried by that constant and deliberate falling into venial sins, even though in each case you feel God’s call to conquer yourself” (St Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, no. 327).
What are the signs of tepidity? Here are some of them: “You are lukewarm if you carry out lazily and reluctantly those things that have to do with our Lord; if deliberately or ‘shrewdly’ you look for some way of cutting down your duties; if you think only of yourself and of your comfort; if your conversations are idle and vain; if you do not abhor venial sin; if you act from human motives” (The Way, 331). A lukewarm person has stopped striving for excellence and has settled for mediocrity.
The problem with lukewarmness is that it tricks us into thinking that we are beyond the beginners’ stage of the spiritual life and have reached retirement age. It makes us believe that from a certain point onwards, there is no need to try too hard to be holy. But the case of Judas should remind us that little infidelities open the way to treason, just like viruses can cause widespread epidemics. “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark” (James 3:5).
What are we to do to avoid this spiritual trap? Since lukewarmness begins in little “insignificant” things, one way is to pay more attention to the little details in our daily responsibilities at home, at work, in church, or in society. Let us make sure to fulfill them in the best possible way we can, for the love of God and for the service of others.
Regular and frequent periods of prayer also help us to live constantly in God’s presence and inspire us to do every little task not for ourselves, but for Him and for others.
Furthermore, we will also need the help of the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Penance. In the Sacrament of Penance, Jesus washes our muddied feet. In the Eucharist, He, the Maker of all grace, gives us light and strength to start afresh.
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