Feast of
Saints Simon and Jude
October 28, 2015 6:30am
Today’s gospel is good evidence
that Jesus selected ordinary persons to be apostles.
For example, the passage says
that the apostle Simon “was called a
Zealot.”
Scripture scholars tell us that
this meant that he was eager and probably obsessive about certain causes, maybe
to the point of being pretty insensitive to others.
Jude, the other apostle whom we
honor today, is also a person about whom we know very little.
Today’s gospel says that he is “the son of James.”
James was one of the other
apostles and is usually called James the Less because he was not James the
brother of John.
There is a New Testament letter attributed
to Saint Jude.
It is the shortest writing in the
New Testament, only 25 verses.
So, that is about all we know about
Simon and Jude.
And maybe, in the little we know
of them, we still find two messages.
First, I often find myself saying
in the Sacrament of Reconciliation that God does not expect us to be perfect.
Jesus did not expect the apostles
to be perfect.
Instead, he expected the apostles
and now expects us to admit our human imperfection.
He expects us to be growing,
working at becoming more and more like him.
This is what the virtue of
humility is all about and it is central to being an apostles or disciple or
follower of Jesus.
The other message I see here
today is that there are many persons like Simon and Jude in our midst.
There are many persons who remain
basically unknown, behind the scenes.
But they do wonderful things –
baking casseroles for soup kitchens, volunteering at Birthright, teaching
religion week in and week out to the children and youth, or just working their
jobs and at the same time being the best parents they can be.
Maybe Simon and Jude are special
patron saints to all these people.
In fact, maybe they are especially
blessed and loved by God precisely because they are often unseen and unnoticed
and unheralded.
