We celebrate the feast of St Jude and St Simon
today, two of Jesus’ apostles. In Scripture, there are not a lot of details
given about the apostles, but we also know about them from the Tradition that
has been passed down to us. Jude has become a popular saint in the
Church. He is mentioned in the list of the
apostles in the Gospel of Luke and in Acts. St. Jude is known as the patron saint of lost
causes and desperate situations in our Roman Catholic tradition. This is due to the tradition that, because his
name was similar to the traitor Judas Iscariot, few Christians prayed for his
intercessions, out of the mistaken belief that they would be praying to Judas
Iscariot. As a result, St. Jude was little used, and so
became eager to assist any who asked him, to the point of intervening in very
dire circumstances. To encourage veneration of this "forgotten"
apostle, the Church maintained that St. Jude would intervene in any lost cause
to prove his saintliness and zeal for Christ, and thus St. Jude became the
patron of lost causes. Isn’t it interesting to see the roots of some of
the traditions we have in our Church?
Simon is mentioned on all four lists of the
apostles. On two of those lists he is called "the
Zealot. The Zealots were members of a very nationalistic
Jewish sect that saw the Messiah coming to restore them to military greatness
and to lead a free and independent nation. Tradition has it that Simon and Jude went to
Persia together as missionaries, where they were martyred for the faith. They are buried together in the same tomb in
St Peter’s basilica, below the St Joseph Altar at the left transept of the
basilica.
Even though we don't know a lot of details about
many of the apostles, we do know that they are responsible for passing down the
faith that we practice today, that they suffered and sacrificed in order to
spread God’s word throughout the world. As we hear in the Gospel of the 12 apostles whom
Jesus called by name, we know that they were not the richest, not the most
intelligent, not from the most prestigious families in society, but rather that
they were very human in their weaknesses and their flaws. They came
from all walks of life, including tax collectors, tradesmen, and fisherman. Some of
the apostles were so fiery in personality that they were called “the sons of
thunder.” In the midst of our human flaws and weaknesses,
the Lord calls us to be his followers, to live out our faith in the reality of
our lives. May we all hear that call.
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