” “"God is not a distant God, too far and too big to take care of our trifles". It was recalled today by Benedict XVI during the Missa in Coena Domini in the Basilica of Saint Giovanni in Laterano, as he explained that "since He is great, He can also take care of the small things" and since God’s love "is inexhaustible", it "really goes all the way through". Then, as he referred to Jesus’ sentence in John’s Gospel, “You are pure, but not everyone is”, Benedict XVI explained that the words "But not everyone is” contain "the obscure mystery of rejection, which becomes apparent in the affair of Judas and, just on Maundy Thursday, on the day Jesus donates Himself, it must make us reflect. The Lord’s love is limitless, but man can put a limit to it". The Pope said that what "makes man corrupt" is "the rejection of love, not wanting to be loved, not loving. It is the pride which thinks it needs no purification, that withdraws from God’s saving goodness. It is the pride which does not want to admit and recognise that we need cleansing". “In Judas he stated we see the nature of that rejection even more clearly. He assesses Jesus according to the categories of power and success: for him only power and success are real, love is meaningless. And he is greedy: money is more important than communion with Jesus, more important than God and His love. And so he also becomes a liar, a double-crosser and breaks with truth; one who lives in falsehood and thus loses connection with the supreme truth, with God. In this way, he hardens, he becomes incapable of conversion, of the trustful comeback of the prodigal son and throws away his destroyed life”. (to the continued)” ” ” ” ” “
