It's Always NIght

It’s always night when day is past;
  Always night when evil and the devil reign;
  Always night when man listens to the lure of temptation;
  Always night when despair threatens life;
  Always night when one goes against the light.

It was such a night when Judas walked
  Into the darkness of the city.
Such a night to follow his own purpose,
  To leave Christ’s bright love, to star in his own drama.
An air of gloom seem to cloak the night.

Judas ate the bread which Jesus offered;
  He sat reclining next to Jesus’ heart;
  Denying friendship, loyalty, and love.
A hypocrite, a perfect actor, was he;
  No light can offset the hardness of his heart.

Judas left with Christ’s appeal:
  To turn away from his evil course;
“Return, repent, receive,” says Christ,
“Don’t lift your heel against me.”
“Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.”

He turned his back on Jesus’ glory:
  A kiss from the one who is to hand him over.
He has chosen to follow Pilate, Caiphas too.
His legal thinking, his practical mind, a blackness cast within his soul.
Judas, a fraud, knew himself to be a fraud.

To earn money, to receive favors from the powerful ones
  Is uppermost in his mind.
He walks along the limestone steps, never faltering in the darkness,
  Toward his own destruction, a gloomy endless night
  Where no warmth of love could penetrate.

It’s always night when love is absent;
  Always night when greed and selfishness reign;
  Always night when hope is gone;
Always night when choices are wrong;
Always night when day is past.