Today’s Gospel reading from Matthew speaks to the betrayal of Judas, as John’s did yesterday. Judas, like all the other apostles, is at the table when Jesus breaks the bread and offers the cup as He institutes the Holy Eucharist. Judas receives the Body and Blood of Jesus like every other apostle. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, who had over a long number of years visions of Jesus where He dictated to her His life, says of the moment that Judas received the Body and Blood of Christ, that he immediately left the upper room and did so without a prayer or thanksgiving. She goes onto say that during the whole meal, she saw a little red demon sitting at Juda’s feet. This demon rose up often to touch Judas’ heart. When Judas left and got outside the door, she saw three devils pressing around him, one entering his mouth, one urging him on, and one running in front of him lighting the way in the near pitch blackness of night as they impossibly hurried him along before he could reconsider what he was doing as they rushed him to make his deal for his thirty pieces of silver. As Paul notes in Colossians 1:16-17, our battle is a spiritual one against both visible and invisible foes, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. While it is important to know what we are facing, it is more important to rest in God. This is what contemplative prayer and the practice of the Presence of God is all about - letting God imprint your mind, heart, and soul with His Divine Presence, rather than letting the demons imprint their spirit of evil in you.
 
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” James 4:8. As Jesus tells our two visionaries from England in God Calling, “…this is the law of the spiritual life. You must turn to Me before you are conscious of My nearness. It is in that turning to Me that you cultivate in every circumstance holiness, whether a glad turning of thankfulness or a turning of weak appeal.” The practice of the Presence of God is just such a recognition of the Divine Presence that is ever with you and brings confidence, comfort, joy, and a sweetness into life. Judas unfortunately never gets it because he is focused on money and what he wants. He receives the Body and Blood of Jesus at his first communion unworthily, and he eats only his condemnation. Contemplation transfigures the soul, and by extension, the mind and heart in a mysterious grace-filled way. God’s graces strip our mind and heart of any attachment that is not of God. This stripping process must begin here on earth in order to make our own paschal journey to the next an easier process. Today give some thought about the sorts of temporal concerns that are distracting you from God. Place them at the foot of the cross, surrendering them to Jesus. If there are issues from them that you think will remain to vex you, ponder them in your heart, turning them over and looking at them from the perspective of what you think Lord is trying to teach you from the thorns that remain in your side?
 
Lenten Action
If you are a regular practitioner of contemplative prayer, spend a few minutes before you begin your contemplative time in prayer pondering in your heart what is keeping you from a fuller union with Jesus. Surrender those things as you enter your normal time in contemplative prayer. 
 
If you are new to meditation and contemplative prayer, in your quiet place ponder in your heart what is keeping you from a fuller union with Jesus and say a prayer surrendering these things to God. God to you quiet place and pray the Jesus prayer focusing your attention being with God.   
 
Today is not a Fast day, but if you have a mind to abstain from a favorite food or drink, please do so as a means of strengthening your will power. Remember not to watch TV, or use your computer or your phone to access social media, computer games, or other unnecessary apps.”