Betrayal ordained

Lois Schmidt's tirade of April 21 regarding The Judas Gospel is disappointing in its lack of Christian spirit.

During Lent and prior to hearing of the Judas Gospel I had been contemplating Judas's betrayal. In the Old Testament God's prophets had announced the birth, life, betrayal, torture, death and resurrection of Christ. In the epistles of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Christ tells his disciples that he shall be betrayed.

All had been ordained so that God's will would be done. God's will was done and Judas did betray.

I am a practicing Catholic and believe that the epistles are the Word of God, but still it bothers me that in them and through them to this day we revile Judas as the ultimate, despicable betrayer. In my ignorance I am under the impression that the Son of God was supposed to be betrayed, so someone had to betray Jesus for the prophecy to come true.

I feel it is sad that, unlike Peter, Judas did not repent or was so shamed or felt so lost for what he had done that he killed himself.

Could it also be that his betrayal so marked his soul that he felt beyond forgiveness?

A final point. The correspondent says that attacks against God are "...all the rage in our rotting society".

There is no such thing as a rotting society for this society is made up of human beings (albeit fallible), and we are all made in God's image.

He sent us his Son with a message of love and forgiveness and there is nothing "rotting" in that either. Each day that passes we see, if we look, acts of kindness, sacrifice, love, generosity, even in the darkest of moments, to keep his message as strong today as it was 2,000 years ago.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven."