I-Spy With My Catholic Eye, A Stupid Name.

I’m Catholic, I’m passionate about my faith, but Spy Wednesday is a weird name.

So I’m wiling to mock it a little (just a little) with top ten rejected activities to observe Spy Wednesday.

10) Playing “I Spy.” as you wait for mass to begin.

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(I promise, these bunnies were all for the baskets. Really).

9) Ratting out Mom for buying extra Easter Candy that will never see the inside of an Easter basket.

8 ) Spend the day reading total collection of Spy vs. Spy.

7) Fingerprinting family members to see who else raided the Extra Easter Candy Surplus that seems oddly thin.

6) Renting a fancy car and wearing a tux all day because it’s “Wednesday, Spy Wednesday.”

5) Don a trench coat and wide brim hat to covertly watch where the Easter eggs are being hidden before the big day.

4) Wearing a T-shirt saying, “Have you thanked a Hipocrite today?”

from Imgflip Meme Generator

3) Binge watching Bond films, pentitential indulgences for some of the more cheesy ones.

2) Pay for everything today with coins.

1) Raiding the surplus Easter Candy because it’s already been raided, and it’s better not to leave any evidence.

“I promise to be reverent and reflect on the reality of what took place during Holy Week. I still think it’s a stupid name.

If you’re interested in the reality of Spy Wednesday, the National Catholic Register has you covered with “Why is Today Called Spy Wednesday?”

We can theoretically blame the Irish for this unforntunate moniker. “It turns out that the first reference that the Oxford English Dictionary provides for “Spy Wednesday” is from Samuel Lover’s Handy Andy: A Tale of Irish Life (1842). So at least in Ireland, it goes back at least to the nineteenth century. It is called Spy Wednesday, because according to the gospels it was on Wednesday that Judas Iscariot’s decided to betray Jesus.” Whoever christened it such, had failed to kiss the Blarney Stone, or worse, it didn’t take.

So I started thinking, what else could we call this thing?

Woeful Wednesday –why not use alliteration and refer back to the nursery rhyme, Wednesday’s Child is full of woe –it fits.

Rueful Wednesday –The poetic alliteration still works.

Wormtongue Wednesday –because Tolkein patterned Grima Wormtongue after Judas – Grima was a loyal man of Rohan before he betrayed all he loved for power.

Wednesday of Regret –again, I’m just trying to get at the essence of what we acknolwedge on this day. And we should have regret for all we’ve done, and still do to require our Savior’s passion and death.

I consider the reality of this Holy Week to mean all the days leading up matter, but Spy Wednesday does not cover the reality of that day. Judas betrayed his friend Jesus, he did not spy on Jesus. So Spy Wednesday does not fully convey the truth.

Concupisense Wednesday lacks the poetic quality of my other proposals, but it more reflects the deformed wills we all struggle with, that would allow us in the moment, to fail Jesus, to betray Him with our words and our actions. The tragedy of Judas is his not trusting that Christ’s love and friendship is greater than our greatest sins.

Peter learns this when Christ meets him on the shore at the charcoal fire, and asks him three times, “Do you love me?” after his three times of denial. God’s love is bigger than all our sins, than every sin, if we throw ourseles into His mercy, His grace, His love. “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” ought to be the prayer of every soul.