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Tuesday of Holy Week
• Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II
✝️ Today's Mass Readings
First Reading: Isaiah 49:1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15, 17
Gospel: John 13:21-33, 36-38
📖 The Gospel
At the Last Supper, Jesus is troubled in spirit and says plainly, "One of you will betray me." The
disciples look at each other. Peter signals to John, asking him who it is. Jesus
says, it is the one to whom I hand this morsel. He hands it to Judas. And
immediately Judas goes out. And it was night. Then Jesus turns to Peter, before
the cock crows, you will deny me three times.
🙏 Reflection
Two betrayals. One
dramatic, one desperate. Judas walks out into the night with a plan already
forming. Peter sits at the table full of confidence, Lord, I will lay down my
life for you, with absolutely no idea what the next few hours will cost him.
Here is the uncomfortable truth of Tuesday of
Holy Week. We are both of them. There are the things we have deliberately
chosen over God, walked out into the night with, and made arrangements around. And
there are the things we were absolutely certain we would never do, until the
pressure came and the fear came and we heard ourselves saying I do not know the
man.
Jesus knew both betrayals were coming. He
named them at the table. And He washed their feet anyway. He broke bread with
them anyway. He loved them anyway. That is the God you are following this week.
He already knows everything. He is not surprised. And He loves you anyway.
🌟 HOLY WEEK CHALLENGE - Honest
Inventory
This one is simple, and it might sting a little. Sit quietly for ten minutes today, no phone, no
noise. Ask yourself honestly, where am I, Judas, this week? Where am I, Peter?
What have I walked out into the night with? What have I denied without even
realizing it?
You don't have to fix it today. Just name it.
Bring it to confession before Easter if you can. Jesus named it at the table
before it happened. He can handle you naming it now.
📿 Rosary - The Sorrowful Mysteries
Focus: The Scourging
at the Pillar
Judas betrayed Him
for silver. Peter denied Him for safety. And Jesus took the scourging for both
of them. As you pray these beads today, hold both your Judas moments and your
Peter moments before the One who absorbed every consequence of them at the pillar.
🌹 Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady wept at
Fatima over the sins of humanity, not in condemnation but in the grief of a
mother who sees her children choosing the night over the light. She knows your
Judas moments and your Peter moments. She is not shocked. She is interceding.
Let her bring your honest inventory to her Son today.
🕊️ Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, You knew, and You loved anyway. Here is my honest inventory, the Judas parts and the
Peter parts. All of it. Have mercy on me. Amen.
©2026 James Dacey, Jr., OFS
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