As we celebrate the feast of St Jude and
St Simon today, two of Jesus’ apostles, we can reflect upon how much we really
don’t know about most of these men who were called to be apostles. Jude is mentioned in the list of apostles in
the Gospel of Luke and in Acts, but he is not mentioned elsewhere, and we know
no other facts about him from Scripture.
Scripture tells us that Simon was a Zealot, a group in ancient Israel
that was very nationalistic, a group that hoped that the Messiah would come to
liberate them from all foreign powers, to bring them political glory and
military power. Since the early Church,
Simon and Jude have been associated with one another, and Tradition tells us
that they brought the Gospel to the people of Persia and died as martyrs for
the faith.
No,
we don't know about many of the apostles, be we do know that the faith we have
now in our modern world was passed down by them, 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 best families in society, but rather men with great
flaws such as tax collectors and zealots and men who were so fiery that they
were called “the sons of thunder.” In
the midst of all of our flaws and weaknesses, the Lord calls us as his
followers, to live out our faith in the reality of our lives. May we all hear that call.
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