Betrayal is a shame-filled word, laden with pain. My faith tradition tells us that Judas betrayed Jesus following a dinner of friends, remembered today, several thousand years later, as both an ending and a beginning. The word betrayal is used and felt when relationships have been close and meaningful, when there is consciousness of wrong behavior, when repair seems impossible.
Today, when tradition commemorates betrayal, it seems appropriate to also remember and respect friendship. To have a friend with whom one can share good and bad, celebrations and suffering, is to be renewed and repaired with each encounter. We are blessed by friendships, and Jesus showed us how easy (and difficult) it is to honor them: through love, service, and forgiveness.
Happy Easter!
well put, Amen!