I know it's not good to speak ill of the dead or the pope but I'm intrigued by Pope Francis's attachment to Judas. John Zmirak has a fascinating three-parter on it here.
I wonder if there’s a similarity between Martin Luther and Francis. Both exhibit a temper, both ambitious, both merciless towards their enemies while merciful to their friends, both exponents at times of a wild, unchecked mercy.
Part of it may just be the garden variety temptation to loathe mystery. It’s very hard to understand this world, why things are, and we don’t like to simply accept something as unknown. We don’t like not having the answers so we provide them to ourselves, in this case whether Judas (and, by extension, everyone) is saved.
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Had interesting debate with someone who no longer gives money to charity. He said it’s a waste and it’s not sacrificial. Our time is far more sacrificial than our money at this point. Which is true. I argued that the reason we have the extra money is to give it away and that we live in this dollar bubble in which we think money is widely available when it isn’t many. He said that the poor in this country are poor for cultural reasons. I said then what about donating overseas? He agreed that is better since they are more deserving, but went back to the fact that it’s too easy for us to give money. I thought later of the line from Jesus: “I desire mercy not sacrifice” but sometimes it’s both - to sacrifice one’s time is an act of mercy. The sacrifice has to come out mercy rather than stand alone on its own. The act of alleviating suffering is not an end in itself but the means to the end, that is towards being Christ.
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