I Accept
Tuesday of Holy Week
Read this Gospel passage aloud to the family
John 13:21-33,36-38- Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor. So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.
When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter said to him, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”
(Parent) Reread this part a few times aloud
“When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”
(Parent) Read this meditation aloud to the family
When does Jesus say, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him”? He says it at the beginning of His Passion, when He is betrayed. Jesus is glorified, and God in Him, in His suffering, His weakness, and His Death. Here we expect only to see misery, never glory. How could Jesus show His infinite glory here? Yet moment by moment, situation by situation, exactly amidst these things, Christ’s victory, His power, His abounding Life begin to be revealed. He willingly accepts His betrayal; He accepts His arrest; He accepts His denial; He accepts His beatings; He accepts His crowning with thorns; He accepts His sentence; He accepts His Cross; He accepts His falls; He accepts His nails; He accepts His insults; He accepts His Death. And thus begins His glory. “And when the Centurion…saw that He thus breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly, this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:54).
As a family, pray a portion of the Rosary together (very short if children are young) reflecting on the Scripture passage above. (Optional: allow a brief time for discussion or questions from children concerning their thoughts and prayer.)
Reminder for Parents: Pier is just meant to be a jumping off point. The real goal is that you pray & eventually use the fruits of your personal prayer as the content of your family’s prayer. Duc in altum.
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