If you had not noticed, it is Holy Week. And, not only Holy Week, but the last day before Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter -- known as the Easter Triduum. In today's liturgy we hear of Judas. We all remember him as the traitor of the twelve. He was the man of whom Jesus spoke that it would be "better for him had he never been born." About 10 years ago I read Dante's Inferno. Dante and Virgil go to the lowest of Hell, the 9th circle. Dante becomes aware of a great shape in the distance, hidden by fog. Right under his feet he notices sinners completely covered in ice, sometimes several feet deep, contorted into various positions. These souls constitute the most evil of all sinners -- the Traitors to their Benefactors. Dante and Virgil advance toward the giant mist-shrouded shape and see that it is Lucifer.
He stands on the icy lake, his torso rising above the surface. Dante sees that Lucifer has three horrible faces, one looking straight ahead and the others looking back over his shoulders. Beneath each frozen head rises a set of wings, which wave back and forth, creating the icy winds that keep the circle frozen. Each of Lucifer's mouths holds a sinner -- all Traitors to a Benefactor. Two of them, Brutus and Cassius murdered Caesar in the Senate and appear with their heads out. Judas Iscariot is lodged headfirst, only his twitching legs protrude. The mouths chew their victims, constantly tearing the traitors to pieces, but never killing them. Such is that which betrayal does in its own fashion, is it not? It is perhaps the most chilling poem I have ever read. (Yes, I know, a terrible pun..., but it did scare me as I was reading it late at night.) It was, however, not the betrayal that cost Judas his soul to be given to Lucifer. After all, even St. Peter denied Christ three times. Most of the apostles fled on Good Friday. Even the sin of betrayal of Christ could have been forgiven. What could not be forgiven was Judas' despair and loss of hope, that is, the feeling that he could never have been forgiven by God.
