All in one great day...

For Judas...

I have a velvet pouch
empty now by grace –
by the miracle of our “Easter duty.”
Often, it has been quite heavy
with the silvery weight of my sins.

Poor Judas,
without hope -
lost in the isolation of shame.
How many more remain there?

How many, too,
fail to count their coins,
think themselves blameless -
in no way complicit
in the sin of the world?

I pray for them all this day
as we read of the traitor’s greed.
I, too, have accepted the payment.
I, too, have kissed his cheek and walked away.

But this same Jesus,
whom I have betrayed,
has reconciled me to the Father.
No tree awaits my despair,
no field of blood my lifeless body.

Have mercy, O God,
on all who have abandoned you to suffering –
in the poor,
the homeless,
the victims of violence,
or slavery.

Have mercy on those -
who have taken pleasure in your failures,
rejoiced in your pain,
lost themselves in envy and resentment.

Give them all the courage
to empty their purse
before your great mercy
and, in the letting go of filthy coins,
know the power and peace of Christ.

Vicki Ix, OSB
April 4, 2012