In today's Gospel, John 12: 1-11, Mary and Martha invited Jesus to dinner--possibly in gratitude that He raised their brother Lazarus from the dead. Martha served, Lazarus reclined at table with them and Mary lavishly anointed Jesus' feet with expensive perfumed oil prior to the meal, I assume. Judas Iscariot, one of the invited guests, strongly objects to Mary's use of expensive oil to anoint Jesus' feet: "'Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor?' He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus [rebukes Judas, saying] 'Leave her alone.'"
Corruption, deception, thievery are evils that anyone of us, in any lifestyle or in any vocation is capable of falling into as we follow Jesus! For Judas, the choices that he had been making all along led to a tragic end. We do not all of a sudden commit grave sins. Such are preceded by lesser evils, but evils none the less. They weaken our resolve and our efforts to do good. Spiritual muscles, like physical muscles, if unused, atrophy!
What are we doing to strengthen our spiritual "muscles"? Daily prayer, reflection upon the Scriptures, attendance at weekly and, if possible, daily liturgy, faithfulness to our vows--religious, priestly or marriage vows--in how we choose to love others for their own sake and for God's sake are important ways to become strong spiritually! Allowing ourselves to do as little as possible, being slovenly in how we meet our responsibilities, cheating here and there, telling "white"lies, making choices that we know are wrong but "no one will know," seeing what we can get away with without being caught or confronted, is much like what Judas did with the money bag: the results could be disastrous, or certainly not pretty!
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