The Catholic Church is commemorating Holy Week, the events which led to the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection from death on Easter Sunday.

The four Gospels go into great detail on what happened on the night that Jesus was captured before He was crucified.

Two of the protagonists were members of His team, the Apostles, who later went on to continue Jesus’ teachings to spread what is now the Catholic religion in all corners of the Earth.

Peter and Judas take centre stage in the story. They were among the 12 men who accompanied Jesus in His three-year journey among the masses; they knew Him better than others but, on the night that was Jesus’ last before He was crucified, they both let Him down.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus knew what both were going to do. He told the Apostles that one of them was to betray Him, without naming he who was to do it. Jesus was more direct with Peter, telling him directly that the apostle was to deny he knew his Master three times before the cock crowed.

What Jesus predicted happened. Judas kissed Him on the cheek to “identify” Him to His captors, and Peter refused to admit that he was one of the Twelve when confronted by this three times.

Both later realised what they had done.

The Gospel of Matthew says that Judas was “seized with remorse” and, after trying to return the thirty pieces of silver, the blood money, “he went away and hanged himself”.

The Gospel of Luke says that, when Peter heard the cock crow after he had disowned Jesus three times, “he went outside and wept bitterly”.

Judas was unable to forgive himself for what he had done; in Peter’s case, he regretted his mistake immediately but went on to became the first head of the Church that Jesus created, the first pope.

We can take many lessons from this.

All of us make mistakes; all of us have committed errors that have hurt others, if not ourselves. Yet it is the way we react to such blunders that is important.

What we must do in these circumstances is understand what we have done, and try to learn from them. And the first step towards this atonement is to forgive ourselves.

Judas was unable to do so, and the Gospels tell us that he killed himself even before Jesus was crucified. Peter was stronger, and was able to overcome his weak moment, going on to take on the mantle as leader of his group and later of the Church.

Admittedly, Judas’ betrayal carried more serious consequences than Peter’s denial, but both Apostles realised that they had wronged their Master, and reacted differently.

All of us have, in one way or another, betrayed people we love or disowned them to defend our interests.

Yet not all of us admit to the mistakes we commit, largely because of our pride, but also for a million reasons that, in the most part, are in defence of our territory.

It is not wrong to commit mistakes. That is what makes us human. What is important is to acknowledge our shortcomings, forgive ourselves first and foremost, and try to make up for them.