FEAST OF STS. SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLE 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Ephesians 2:19-22

 Now you are no longer strangers or guests,

But fellow citizens of the holy people: you are of the household of God. You are the house whose foundations are the apostles and proph­­­ets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus. In him the whole structure is joined together and rises to be a holy temple in the Lord. In him you too are being built to become the spiritual sanctuary of God.

 

Ps 19:2-3, 4-5

Their message goes out through all the earth.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke 6:12-16

At this time Jesus went out into the hills to pray, spending the whole night in prayer with God.  When day came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them whom he called apostles:  

Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James and John; Philip and Bartho­lo­mew;   Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alpheus and Simon called the Zealot;  Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who would be the traitor.

 

Gospel Reflection：

From the many who had been following Jesus as his disciples, a select 12 were chosen. If we were to analyze the composition, we would quite be surprised at how varied and different were the 12.

Simon, known as the Zealot, one who actually advocated active resistance against the Romans, becomes a companion of Matthew, the tax collector. As for Judas Thaddeus we know hardly anything as we are more acquainted with Judas Iscariot, the traitor.

Why Jesus chooses one and not the other as an apostle is not for us to fathom, though. Ours is to accept and rejoice that the Lord chose the 12and the Lord continues to choose others to succeed in the apostolic ministry.

The Lord sees what we do not and cannot see. And to each of those He chooses He gives the necessary graces for the ministry. Simon and Jude would faithfully witness to Christ and spread the Gospel.

Both apostles are not as popular as the other “Simon”a.k.a. Peter, and”Judas”a.k.a. Iscariot. But one tradition tells us that they were martyred together somewhere in Persia.

We, too, may not be as popular as other evangelical preachers but if we lay down our lives for Christ in living up to the law of love and mercy, then the blood that Simon and Jude shed, has made our Faith so much stronger!