Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles
Second-Line Apostles
It is not easy to remain zealous and courageous without publicity, in the shadows. Create a community without claiming titles. Do thing, drawing strength from the fact that I am one of them. Both Apostles were unlucky. Jude bore the same name as the traitor Judas. Both Jude and Judas are translations of the name Ὶούδας in the Koine Greek language, original text of the New Testament, which in turn is a Greek variant of Judah (Y'hudah) make no difference. This is probably why Jude appears in the lists of the Apostles also under the second name - Thaddaeus (i.e., brave). Simon, bore the same name as the most important of the Apostles. His name functions with the nickname Canaanite or Zealot, that is, zealous.
We do not know the details of their lives. We actually know only their names that appear on the Catalog of the Apostles (Mt 10: 2; Mk 3: 16–19; Lk 6: 14–16, Acts 1: 13). Jude, about whom the Evangelist mentions "but not Iscariot", utters a single sentence in John's Gospel: “Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” (cf. Jn. 14:22). And that is all. Bible scholars doubt whether Epistle of St. Jude in the New Testament that its authorship is by Jude the Apostle.
Of course, tradition comes to the aid of this anonymity, it completes their story. According to medieval traditions, Simon died a martyr, cut in half with a saw. The history of Jude Thaddeus is connected with a beautiful legend about Abgar, king of Edessa (today's Urfa in Turkey). This king, suffering from leprosy, was to write a letter to the Lord Jesus asking for healing. In response, he received a letter written by Jesus himself and an image of the Savior imprinted on the canvas. These extraordinary gifts were to be provided by the apostle Jude, who preached the Gospel to the king and baptized him. In iconography, he is often depicted with an image of Jesus' face.
Jude Thaddeus is called upon as the patron of hopeless matters. Why him? It is not very known. But there is no shortage of hopeless human matters. Well, he is a patron of those dark moments. Jude, holding the reflection of Jesus' face in his hand, gives a clear indication: look for the face of the Lord in the darkness - martyred but also glorious. In him, hope in hopelessness.
Jude and Simon remained second-line apostles.
It is not easy to remain zealous and courageous without publicity, in the shadow of others; To create a community without claims to titles, according to our abilities; Accepting the fact, that the people will even confuse us with others - the more outstanding ones or, worse, with traitors. Do your work, drawing strength from the fact that you are one with the Lord.
One more thought
In today’s first reading Saint Paul tell us: “You also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (cf. Eph. 2:22)
How extremely important it is to understand, especially for us, people contaminated by individualism, that the path to God is a common path, that there is no individual road, that one cannot ignore another human being, that he is given to us as a path to God. This is better illustrated by the image that St. Paul shows, the image of building together a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. As we are in the practice of our lives distancing ourselves from this truth. It is very important in this upbuilding to say that it is done "by the Spirit". It is impossible to build a true temple of God without the Holy Spirit. This is an obvious statement with which each of us will agree, but in practice it means that those who do not bear the fruits of the Spirit, who do not practice them in themselves, do not build a temple of the true God. In a word, those who do not cultivate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control (cf. Gal 2:52) and humility do not participate in God's edifice, no matter how strongly they declare it.
Without the ground, the foundation of the building will collapse. This is also the case in our lives, each of us will probably confirm it. I have the impression that we are in fact constantly relying on ourselves and our intelligence to be smart.
Let us look at the Lord Jesus in today's gospel. Before making the important decision about choosing the apostles, he spent the entire night in prayer. Only later did he make a choice. Prayer to the father was a concrete testimony of his rootedness in the father. From this rooting arose the ability to choose according to God's will and the power that radiated from him. This is an example of building. I think it is worth asking ourselves if we are truly praying and devoting ourselves to God before an important decision or choice. Does our knowledge that only God can lead us on the right path have a specific expression in our lives, or is it not merely an ideological declaration, some subjective opinion? A similar question is asked about the neighbors that God has given them - whether I am building God’s dwelling place together with them. What is this building that I am erecting? It is worth to ask ourselves this question and seeing to what extent we live in truth.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george