la madre del cordero - holy wednesday

Today in the gospel we see how Judas betrayed our Lord for 30 pieces of silver.  When a slave is killed accidentally, the master is compensated with 30 pieces of silver. It is cheap.  In fact 30 pieces of silver is the same price paid to Zechariah who acted as a shepherd and he called it sarcastically a handsome price. It is cheap.  And this is what precisely what the gospel is reminding us of – how cheap can we become when it comes to money.  It shows us what people will do for money.  And it is not only Judas.

In the language used by priests we call money this la madre del cordero.  It is an idiomatic expression which means what exactly Judas would do for money.  The cordero will always follows its madre, it mother wherever it goes – sunod-sunod.  It means that we put money in the equation, when money determines my happiness and therefore my decisions in life and in my minsitry; when we allow it to control our choice of action whether in accepting a new parish or in accepting a schedule for mass or blessing, or in doing our parish work or even in determining our adherence to parish policies, nga kon makabayad makahatag kita ligwa, pero kon indi, indi man.

When you become priests in the future be reminded of the 30 pieces of silver which was all that was paid to make Judas betray his master.  La Madre del Cordero ang inang-inang nga ginasunodsunod.