It would be better for that man if he had never been born

HOLY WEDNESDAY 8 APRIL (Mt 26,14-25)

The Psalm reveals that after the Angels of God, there does not exist a creature more beautiful than man in the world: “O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!” (Ps 8,2-10). If we add to this revelation what comes to us from Sirach, then we will truly understand the wonderful work that God has done: “The Lord from the earth created man, and in his own image he made him. Limited days of life he gives him and makes him return to earth again. He endows man with a strength of his own, and with power over all things else on earth. He puts the fear of him in all flesh, and gives him rule over beasts and birds. He forms men’s tongues and eyes and ears, and imparts to them an understanding heart. With wisdom and knowledge he fills them; good and evil he shows them. He looks with favor upon their hearts, and shows them his glorious works, That they may describe the wonders of his deeds and praise his holy name. He has set before them knowledge, a law of life as their inheritance; An everlasting covenant he has made with them, his commandments he has revealed to them. His majestic glory their eyes beheld, his glorious voice their ears heard. He says to them, “Avoid all evil”; each of them he gives precepts about his fellow men. Their ways are ever known to him, they cannot be hidden from his eyes. Over every nation he places a ruler, but the Lord’s own portion is Israel” (Sir 17,1-14). Of Judah Jesus he says: “Better for that man if he had never been born!”. It is a heavy word. It must be understood in its full truth.

Then 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. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘” The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.”

Can Jesus say of a man: “Better for him if he had never been born”? He can say it if this has failed his life, has fallen into the sin against the Holy Spirit, he and has ended up in eternal perdition. If man is the most beautiful visible creature made by the Lord, the birth of Judas brings beauty to all the work of God. However, if Judas is damned for his sin, then, only then is his non-birth preferable. This does not only apply to Judas, but to every other man who fails his earthly existence and ends up in perdition. Only damnation justifies Jesus’ phrase. No earthly pain could ever justify it, because every pain is offered to the Father and becomes grace of salvation and redemption. By alerting Judas, Jesus warned every man. The Martyrs and the Confessors of the faith have well understood this warning of Jesus and have sacrificed their life to him, knowing that they would have received it rich of glory in the eternal beatitude. But today, who believes in his damnation anymore? Yet it is real!

Mother of God, Angels and Saints give us a true faith in the mystery of eternal damnation.