“A man may loathe a thing in the abstract for years, and find at last that all the time he has been guilty of it. To carry a thing under our cloak caressingly, hides from us its identity with something that stands before us on the public pillory. Of all who will one day stand in dismay and sickness of heart, with the consciousness that their very existence is a shame, those will fare the worst who have been consciously false to their fellows; who, pretending friendship, have used their neighbor to their own ends; and especially those who, pretending friendship, have divided friends. To such Dante has given the lowest hell. If there be one thing God hates, it must be treachery. Do not imagine Judas the only man of whom the Lord would say, ‘Better were it for that man if he had never been born!’ Did the Lord speak out of personal indignation, or did he utter a spiritual fact? Did he speak in anger at the treachery of his apostle, or in pity for the man that had better not have been born? Did the word spring from his knowledge of some fearful punishment awaiting Judas, or from his sense of the horror it was to be such a man? Beyond all things pitiful is it that a man should carry about with him the consciousness of being such a person—should know himself that false one! ‘O God,’ we think, ‘how terrible if it were I!’ Just so terrible is it that it should be Judas! Have I not done things with the same germ in them, a germ which, brought to it evil perfection, would have shown itself treachery? Except I love my neighbor as myself, I may one day betray him! Let us therefore be compassionate and humble, and hope for every man.'“

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Commentary

by Leah Morency

graphic credit: Mako Fujimura," Sacrificial Grace "

The Final Unmasking very directly teaches us to begin this look into our own sin and our own deceptive and treacherous ability now, not to wait, but to seek to know ourselves, and run to God, our merciful father, in repentance. Today's excerpt brings to my mind the song from U2 I'm sharing here.  Bono addresses the hypocrisy of the church, alluding to the cover of the "purple robes" used to hide the secret sins in the abuse of power.  When we pretend to be a friend of Christ, we are guilty as Judas.  All of us who claim the knowledge of Christ have been guilty of betraying our own light and life in the garbs of hypocrisy. The cost to others and ourselves is great, however, and Christ warns us of the great damage done, although his power is sufficient to redeem.  Sleep Like a Baby Tonight is an artist's engaging song and verse to reach under our cover, pull back the curtain, and shine light on our covered and hidden sin and how it works to destroy us from the inside out.      

 U2: Sleep Like A Baby Tonight                                                

Morning, your toast, your tea and sugar,
Read about the politician’s lover
Go through the day like knife through butter
Why don’t you  
You dress in the colours of forgiveness
Your eyes as red as Christmas
Purple robes are folded on the kitchen chair

You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
In your dreams, everything is alright
Tomorrow dawns like someone else’s suicide
You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight 

Dreams,
It’s a dirty business, dreaming
Where there is silence and not screaming
Where there’s no daylight, there’s no healing

You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
In your dreams, everything is alright
Tomorrow dawns like a suicide
But you’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight

Hope is where the door is
When the church is where the war is
Where no one can feel no one else’s pain

You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
In your dreams, everything is alright
Tomorrow dawns like a suicide
But you’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight
Sleep like a baby tonight
Like a bird, your dreams take flight
Like St Francis covered in light
You’re gonna sleep like a baby tonight