CAPG's Blog 

The Wednesday of Holy Week is popularly known as Spy Wednesday. On this day Judas played the spy and signed the traitor's contract for thirty pieces of silver. The Maine Catholic Historical Magazine, Volume 2, 1914.



Judas Goes to Find the Jews (Judas va trouver les Juifs) - James Tissot

Sermons de Saint Jean Marie Vianney:

• On the Prayer of a Sinner Who Does Not Wish to Abandon Sin: If Judas—Judas the traitor—instead of giving way to despair, had earnestly prayed to God to forgive his sin, the Lord would have absolved him of his fault.  From the French Sermons of the Venerable Jean Marie Vianney, 1883 Vol. 1, 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany, p. 194.
• On Hope: If Judas had thrown himself at the feet of Jesus Christ to beg Him for forgiveness, Jesus Christ would have remitted his sin just as He did for Saint Peter. From the French Sermons of the Venerable Jean Marie Vianney, 1883 Vol. 2, IV Sunday after Pentecost, p. 216 .
• On Absolution: Jesus Christ Himself - God though He was, and Master of Grace - granted forgiveness only to true penitents: He received the Good Thief, whose conversion was sincere, but He rejected the wicked one because of his impenitence. He forgave Saint Peter, whose repentance He knew to be genuine, but He abandoned Judas, whose penitence was false.  From the French Sermons of the Venerable Servant of God, Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, 1883 Volume 3, XIII Sunday after Pentecost, p. 90.

Tissot: Judas Leaves the Cenacle

Judas Returns the money, Jacques Tissot

Delay of conversion: "Ah, my friend! I wish I could lead you to the very brink of despair, so that—struck by the dreadful state in which you find yourself—you might at least seize the means that the good Lord still offers you today to escape it.

-But, you might say, surely there are those who have converted at the hour of death—the Good Thief, after all, converted at that very moment.
The Good Thief, my brethren—to begin with, he had never known God. As soon as he came to know Him, he gave himself over to Him; and indeed, he is the only example Holy Scripture offers us, lest we fall utterly into despair in such a moment. 

-"But surely there are many others who have converted, even though they lived for a long time in sin."
My friend, take great care—I believe you are mistaken. You might tell me that many have repented, but to be *converted*—that is quite another matter. That is precisely what you will do, and indeed what you have already done during your illnesses: for you summoned a priest simply because you were vexed at suffering from your ailment. Well then! For all your repentance, were you truly converted by it? In all likelihood, you became only the more hardened.

Alas, my brethren! All this mere repentance signifies but very little. Saul truly repented, for he wept over his sins; yet he is damned. Cain truly repented, for he let out dreadful cries of anguish for having slain his brother; nevertheless, he is in hell. Judas truly repented, for he went to return his money, and his sorrow was so great that he went and hanged himself. 

If you now ask where all this repentance led them, I will tell you... to hell. I will always return to my conclusion: if you live in sin, and die in it, you will be damned; but I hope that this will not be the case—that you will not come to such an end." 

Source: From the French Sermons du bienheureux Jean-Marie Vianney By Jean-Marie Vianney. IV Sunday of Lent, 1909, p389-390 published By Bishop Etienne Delaroche et Dom Marie Augustin Delaroche.

Tissot, Judas hangs himself, Jacques Tissot