Gospel for October 28, 2009, Wednesday
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. | 10/28/2009 12:00 AM
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Simon and Jude, apostles
1st Reading: Eph 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.
Gospel: Lk 6:12–16
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.
Commentary
On the various gospel lists of the twelve apostles, the tenth and eleventh places are occupied by Simon the Zealot and by Judas son of James, also called Thaddeus. Some ancient Christian writers say that Simon and Jude went together as missionaries to Persia and were martyred there. If this is true, it explains, to some extent, our lack of historical information on them and also why they are usually put together.
Jude is often, in popular usage, referred to as the patron of desperate causes, the saint of last resort, the one you ask for help when all else fails. Some might wonder what this is all about. Since his name reminds hearers of Judas Iscariot, there is a tendency for someone asking a Christian brother, now with God, for intercessory prayers to try one of the other apostles first. Hence, Jude has come to be called “the saint of last resort,” the one, whom we ask only when desperate. Christ wants us to owe our spiritual well-being, not just to Him, but also to one another. Hence, He has told us to pray for one another. And our bond of Christian love will never be broken by death.
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