Oct. 28th - Sts. Simon & Jude

 

Today is the feast of the apostles St. Simon and St. Jude.

St. Simon from Cana, was a Zealot party member, which is why he is called Simon the Zealot. Zealots sought to overthrow Rome by force and violence if necessary. Obviously, after he met Jesus, he abandoned such ideas and rather became zealous in serving the Lord. Other than that he was a zealot, we know almost nothing of his life.

St. Jude, also called St. Thaddeus, was the brother of St. James, the less. The brothers were sons of Cleophas and Mary. Their mother, Mary, may have been the cousin of the Blessed Virgin. There is a tradition that Jude preached in Judea, Samaria, and Mesopotamia.

St. Paulinus states that St. Jude planted the faith as far way as modern day Libya. What we do know for certain is that he is the author of the epistle St. Jude, which was probably written before the fall of Jerusalem between 62 and 65AD. In his epistle, it indicates that heresies had already arisen and Jude denounces the evil life of heretics and warns of the judgment to come. He condemns the impious, the lustful, and those who “cultivate people for the sake of gain”. He charges Christians to “build up yourself upon the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the law of God, looking for mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto life everlasting.”

St. Jude is called the patron of the impossible, those in despair and hopeless cases, perhaps because he had the same name as Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus and despaired.

One tradition states that he was in Beirut and another tradition states that he and Simon were martyred at Suanis, a city of Persian, where they had gone as missionaries.

The two apostles were first hand friends of Jesus. They would have absorbed every miracle, and pondered all He that He said. They would have asked Him questions knowing He had the answer to everything. Both saints had the good fortune to learn from the lips of the Master, the doctrine, they would later teach. The Lord taught them about the mysteries of the kingdom. They walked with Him, talked with Him, and ate with Him. They shared their joys and sorrows with Him. Present at the Last Supper, they participated in the glorious sacraments of the Eucharist and the priesthood for the first time. At the last supper St. Jude even asked the Lord, “why He had manifested Himself only to His Disciples and not to the whole world.” (John 14:22)

However, after the Last Supper, they fled when He was arrested in the garden. Our Lord’s trial before the Sanhedrin, His carrying of the Cross, and His Crucifixion on Calvary would have caused them deep anguish. They were in the Upper Room when He appeared to all of the apostles after the Resurrection. They ate with Him, as He sat before them in His glorified body and beheld the wounds in His hands, feet and side. They gazed into the sky, as He ascended, on cloud into heaven.

They were also friends of His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and most likely ate some of Her meals. They were with Our Lady on Pentecost and saw flames of fire appear before their heads. They would have baptized, offered the Mass on the Lord’s Day and traveled by foot to preach in many distant lands.

And as apostles and martyrs, they laid the solid foundation of the Church, built upon Jesus Christ, their capstone. Now let us ask the Holy Apostles Simon and Jude to help us know and love the Master more each day, and to follow Him, all the days of our life.