WOULD YOU DENY JESUS?

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Would you deny Jesus! "You too were with Jesus the Galilean!" When meditating on Christ's Passion, we read about Peter's denial of Jesus three times after he swore loyalty to our Lord shortly before then at the Last Supper.

Peter's iron clad resolve melted away suddenly when soon after Jesus’ arrest when confronted in the courtyard of the High Priest about his being one of Jesus’ disciples with those words “You too were with Jesus the Galilean!”, as depicted in the image showing a maid saying this to Peter above. Peter firmly denied being with Our Lord or even knowing Him.

All of Peter's bravado, of the man who swore he would not deny Jesus indeed vanished, replaced by sudden panic and fear of persecution from being seen as one of Jesus’ followers. Peter had gotten off to a robust start, to be sure, in cutting off the ear of one of the high priest's servants named Malchus with a sword. It's as if he was being battle-ready to take on those among the crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders (Mark 14:43) coming to arrest Jesus and take our Lord into custody.

Jesus told him to put his sword back in its sheath, that His arrest and Passion were a scriptural and Divine necessity and then he reattached Malchus’ ear with just a touch of His hand.

When we next see Peter he’s in the courtyard mentioned earlier, and it is there that the swashbuckling Errol Flynn of the earlier scene turns into a flustered soul, much like Jackie Gleason as Ralph Cramden of the Honeymooners going, "Hamanah, Hamanah, Hamanah," as if he had just lost all his nerve. His boldness was gone and he did indeed deny being one of Jesus’ disciples or that he even knew Him.

It's not hard to understand, of course. Peter's sudden fright was not unfounded, as Catholicism would suffer various waves of persecution from the first century up until our present time. Our Lord's Last Supper discourse was quite moving and left a profound impression on all the disciples in the room with Him that evening.

They swore, as Peter did, that they would never deny Jesus. But when confronted with the harsh reality of a crowd with swords and clubs coming to arrest our Lord only a few hours later, they all fled except for John and Peter.

Jesus gave His perspective on these events with some words of warning for us all in one of His what we call church approved private revelations to Sister Josef Menendez, a Spanish nun, in 1923:
My disciples have all fled; Peter alone, impelled by curiosity, but full of fear, slinks in among the soldiery. All around Me are false witnesses uttering lie upon lie calculated to increase the anger of the iniquitous judges.

Where then were you, My disciples and apostles, witnesses of My life, of My doctrine, and of My miracles? All those from whom I had every reason to expect help and protection – none was there to defend Me….

And while I offered Myself to be thus ill-used for the sake of souls held captive by sin, Peter, whom I had constituted Head of My Church…Peter, who but a few hours before had vowed to go with Me to torments and to death…Peter, who has the opportunity of giving testimony of Me, answers a simple question, first by a denial…and when the question is repeated, as fear takes an ever stronger hold of him, he swears that he has never known Me and has never been My disciple….

Ah! Peter, do you swear that do not know your Master? You not only swear it, but at a third question deny Him uttering horrible imprecations.

All you who live in the world in the midst of perils and occasions of sin, be on your guard against danger, for would Peter have fallen if resisting courageously he had not yielded to vain curiosity?

While the soldiers were leading Me to prison, I saw Peter in the crowd and I looked at him. Turning, he looked at Me and forthwith began to weep bitterly for his sin. It is thus that I look on guilty souls, but they?...Do they look at Me?... Do our eyes meet? Alas, how often I look in vain… that soul does not see Me, for he is blind. I urge him gently, but he does not respond. I call the sinner by name, but receive no answer. I send the trial that might awaken him, and still he slumbers.

Beloved souls unless your eyes are turned heavenward, you will in time become like animals that have no reason. Lift up your heads, gaze on your true fatherland which awaits you. Seek your God. You will find that He returns your earnest look and in His glance are peace and life. Keep My Cross and comfort Me!

Peter did reconcile with Jesus after Our Lord's Resurrection and he acquitted himself admirably and bravely in the first few decades of our faith.

All of those apostles and other disciples who were nowhere to be found during Christ's Passion would find ample courage after our Lord’s Ascension and Pentecost when on fire with the Holy Spirit they would indeed fearlessly, as Jesus commanded them “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20).

And all ten of the original twelve Apostles (except John who died a natural death and Judas, who hanged himself), among others, would fearlessly go to their deaths as martyrs to the faith after having done just that!

And many more saints would do likewise, facing martyrdom in the process, proclaiming the Gospel message in the centuries to come right up to our present day. But it must be pointed out that not only did their deaths not slow down the spread of Christianity but it inspired others to find it within themselves to preach the faith boldly.

This account of Peter’s betrayal and allowing himself to be forgiven by our Lord gives us both comfort in seeing the power of Jesus’ forgiveness and yet challenges us today. What would you say if possibly losing everything and everyone you hold near and dear hinged on your response to an updated version of that accusation: You too were with Jesus the Galilean! Again, would you deny Jesus?

When we look at the world today, we see much Christophobia and outright denial of Christ’s divinity and His social Kingship. This is nothing new, of course. A little over 100 years ago Pope Pius XI pointed out in his encyclical Quas Primas, in which he established the feast of Christ the King, that our Lord is the author of happiness. He wrote “Oh, what happiness would be Ours if all men, individuals, families, and nations, would but let themselves be governed by Christ!”

We in fallen humanity didn’t listen to these salient words from the Holy Father, however. They came at a time when the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was consolidating his absolute power in Communist (and thus atheist) Russia with only a few years before Adolf Hitler would do the same in Germany with Fascism.

The tragic result was that over 100 million people have perished since then due to Communism alone, to say nothing of the tens of millions who perished during World War II. 

Fast Forward to today: Jesus has become the "J-word" in some “elite” circles in mainstream media, among other places. It’s as if, in polite society, that we should not stand up for Christ as the King and center of our hearts for fear of offending people.

Yet, without wishing deliberately to cause offense to those of other faiths (or of no faith at all), nonetheless we need to be able to say, in effect, when challenged by those who wish to replace God with Government, for example, "Yes, I was with the Galilean." Yes, indeed! There's nothing wrong with standing up for Christ and Christianity in this increasingly secular technocratic world!

These days far too many of our elites these days in technology and in positions of leadership wish to worship Man as God rather than God as Man. Even more sinister is the technocratic dream, more like our nightmare unfolding, of a supposed merger of man and machine, with robots becoming more like humans and artificial intelligence, instead of people, calling the shots in many endeavors.

Or, in this age of increasingly digital currency, if that becomes the only standard within the next decade or sooner, it's going to be all too easy for increasingly ruthless powers that be, or just faceless arrogant bureaucrats to deprive us of any means of buying and selling anything (and that includes food)!

Much like those Roman emperors of the first three centuries of Christianity who demanded loyalty from Christians or that they would face persecution they could very well demand our fealty and acquiescence for some supposedly Globalist utopia which will probably be more dystopian.

This is not as far-fetched as one might think. Truckers in Canada in the winter of 2022 got a taste of this when they had their bank accounts closed with no access to funds for living expenses simply for protesting the coercive nature of the COVID-19 vaccine implementation.

Let me stress this again. Someday, perhaps sooner than we think, if all currency indeed goes digital we may be asked to pledge allegiance not to Jesus, but rather to some Anti-Christian secular tyranny if we wish to buy or sell anything. And that includes food!

Pray for the grace you may need, and for the wherewithal for means of support outside the system. That if you are being coerced to deny Jesus under the threat of losing all access to digital dollars when asked, in effect "Are you with Jesus the Galilean?" that you can say Yes, I am! Viva Cristo Rey (Long live Christ the King!)

God Bless,

Christopher Castagnoli
for www.ourcatholicprayers.com

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