Santa Marta Surprises: Poor Judas Was Victim of the Judges of the "Letter of the Law"

It would have been better had he never been born.

Edit: according to Denziger-Bergoglio, there was some astonishment at Santa Marta over the suicide of Judas, that he his repentance led to the despair of suicide. It's an astonishing exegesis which even rises to challenge Jesus' own words.  Denziger-Bergoglio sarcastically suggests:

 It is a just an act of reparation for the murder of "poor Judas". For Denzinger-Bergoglio, after reading the homily today at Casa Santa Marta, published by L'Osservatore Romano, we propose to the Congregation for Divine Worship to declare Judas patron and protector of the Post-Synodal Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (for whoever wants to: cultidiv@ccdds.va and vpr-sacramenti@ccdds.va), towards a new concept of repentance and purpose of amendment that overcomes the outdated ideas, clinging to the ossified letter that the Catholic Church has supported for two millennia. And also ... let yourself be surprised by God!

Francis in Santa Marta: 'the teachers of the letter' and the closed heart - they use the word of God against the word of God. For them it is not for the people but for their prefabricated pattern.

By Armin Schwibach

Rome (kath.net/as) The first reading from Acts (Acts 6:8 to 15) was the focus of the sermon by Pope Francis at Mass in the chapel of the Vatican guest house "Domus Sanctae Marthae" on Monday for the third week of the Easter cycle. The teachers of the law charge Stephanus with slander, because "they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke" (v.10). They "incited men with the statement: We have heard how he railed against Moses and God. They stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, pressed upon him, grabbed him and dragged him to the council."(v 11-12).

Their hearts, said the Pope, were closed to the truth of God. It clinging solely to the truth of the law, more than that in the truth of the letter. So these people could find no other way than the lie, false witnesses and death.

Jesus gave them just criticized this attitude, because "their fathers had killed the prophets", and now they erected monuments just for those prophets. The answer of "teacher of the letter" was more cynical than hypocritical: "If we had lived at the time of our fathers, we would not have acted this way." And so they would now wash your hands and keep themselves clean. But "your heart is closed to the Word of God, it is closed to the truth, it is closed to the messenger of God who delivers the prophecy to bring it to the people of God":

"It hurts me when I read that portion from the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 27:3 to 10), as the Judas repents of his act, he goes to the chief priests to return the coins, and says, 'I have sinned'. They reply, 'What is that to us? That is your thing!' A heart locked before this poor, repentant man who did not know what he should do. 'That's your thing,' and he went away and hanged himself. And what did they do, as Judas goes away to hang himself? Do they talk and say, 'Well, that's a poor man'? No! Immediately it comes down to money: 'You must not put the money in the treasury; because there is blood on it'.... This rule, and this, and this, and this ... - The teacher of the letter!"

"For them a person's life is indifferent," said Francis continuing, "for them the repentance of Judas is indifferent: the Gospel says that he repented his act and he was then rejected. For them, only the prefabricated pattern of laws are important, and many words and many things that they have built themselves. And that is the hardness of their hearts. And that is the hardness of the heart, the folly of the heart of this people who, seeking evidence in light of the fact that they can not resist the truth of Stephen, condemn him with false witnesses." Stephan's end, like all prophets, he ends like Jesus.

And this repeats itself in the history of the Church:

"The story tells of many people who killed who have been convicted, even though they were innocent: condemned with the word of God, against the word of God. Think. There are the witch hunts or to the trial of Saint Joan of Arc, so many others who were burned, who were sentenced because they did not not meet with the word of God according to their judges. [Schwabach here omits that Holy Father said, "Even Judas".] This is the example of Jesus, who died on the Cross - because of his loyalty and obedience to the Word of the Father. But with how much tenderness did Jesus say to the disciples of Emmaus: You foolish men! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."(Lk 24,25) Today we want to pray to the Lord that he looks with the same tenderness in the small or large follies of our heart, that he caresses us that he says to us, you foolish men? How difficult is it for you yet!' and then begins to explain these things."