28 October 2025 - homily for the feast of St Simon and St Jude - Tuesday - Luke 6:12-16

We celebrate the feast days of all the apostles in special ways at daily Mass. Today, we celebrate the feast of St Simon and St Jude, which takes place on October 28th each year.  As I was writing this homily, I wondered: Why would we celebrate Simon and Jude together? Shouldn’t each one get his own feast day like the other apostles? As best we can tell, they are associated with each other because tradition passes down that they were both missionaries together in Persia and Mesopotamia, with both dying as martyrs in Persia. In Scripture, we don’t know a lot about them, other than that they are included on the list of apostles. In art, Jude is often portrayed with a club, which is how he died. He is also often shown in icons with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles. Another common attribute is Jude holding an image of Jesus, known as the Image of Edessa. King Abgar of Edessa (now part of Turkey) was suffering from a serious illness. He had heard of Jesus healing others and called for Jesus to heal him. Jesus pressed His face onto a piece of cloth and gave it to St. Jude to present to King Abgar. Upon receiving the cloth King Abgar was healed. He wears a green garment. The color green symbolizes hope and renewal. Just as in spring when foliage and flowers spring up with renewed life, we turn to St. Jude, the patron saint of hope, in difficult or seemingly hopeless times. Simon is portrayed with a saw, the instrument of his martyrdom. 

Tradition holds that Simon was a member of the Zealots, a group in Ancient Israel that was very nationalistic. The Zealots hoped that the Messiah would come to liberate them from the foreign powers that had occupied Ancient Israel, to bring Israel back to military and political glory.   The Basilica of St Peter in Rome and the Church of St Sernin in Toulouse, France both claim to have the remains of Simon and Jude, so we are not entirely sure where they are buried. We may not know a lot of details about a lot of the apostles, but we do know that the Catholic faith we have today was passed down by them through their sacrifices and their faith.  

As we hear in the Gospel today of the 12 apostles whom Jesus called by name, we know that they were not the richest, not the most intelligent, not the most politically connected. The apostles were men who had great flaws and weaknesses.  

I grew in my appreciation of St Jude when I was pastor of St Jude parish in Pearl for five years. Also, I have seen the devotion many of my parishioners have to St Jude. I had a special mass dedicated to St Jude in each year with the Hispanic community in Tupelo. One of the inmates at the state prison is very devoted to St Jude as well. We unite our prayers with the prayers of St Simon and St Jude today.