Today, October 28
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
The names of Simon and Jude appear in New Testament lists of the apostles but little else is known about either one. Since there are two apostles named Simon and two named Judas (Luke 6.14-16 and Acts 1.13), these are distinguished as Simon the Zealot and Judas the son (or the brother) of James, the others being Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot.
Simon is surnamed the Cananaean or the Zealot, names which refer to his zeal for the Law. Jude (Judas) is also called Thaddeus (Matthew 10.4 and Mark 3.18); the one mention of him outside of the lists is in John (14.22-23) where he is referred to as "Judas (not Iscariot)."
Traditionally, both these apostles suffered martyrdom. In a later tradition, Jude became a patron saint of 'hopeless cases.'
©2011 Living with Christ, Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/. Reprinted with permission.
Readings of the Day
Letter to the Ephesians 2,19-22.
Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Psalms 19(18),2-3.4-5.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day pours out the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge. Not a word nor a discourse whose voice is not heard; Through all the earth their voice resounds, and to the ends of the world, their message.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6,12-16.
Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Daily Reflection
Today, let us examine two of the Twelve Apostles: Simon the Cananaean and Jude Thaddaeus (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot). Let us look at them together, not only because they are always placed next to each other in the lists of the Twelve (cf. Mt 10: 3, 4; Mk 3: 18; Lk 6: 15; Acts 1: 13), but also because there is very little information about them, apart from the fact that the New Testament Canon preserves one Letter attributed to Jude Thaddaeus. Simon is given a nickname that varies in the four lists: while Matthew and Mark describe him as a "Cananaean", Luke instead describes him as a "Zealot". In fact, the two descriptions are equivalent because they mean the same thing: indeed, in Hebrew the verb qanà' means "to be jealous, ardent"... Thus, it is highly likely that even if this Simon was not exactly a member of the nationalist movement of Zealots, he was at least marked by passionate attachment to his Jewish identity and, hence, for God and his People and divine Law. If this was the case then Simon would have been worlds apart from Matthew, who, on the contrary, had an activity behind him as a tax collector that was frowned upon as entirely impure. This shows that Jesus called his disciples and collaborators, without exception, from the most varied social and religious backgrounds. It was people who interested him, not social classes or labels! And the most astonishing thing is that in the group of his followers, despite their differences, they all lived side by side, overcoming unimaginable difficulties: indeed, what bound them together was Jesus himself, in whom they all found themselves united with one another. This clearly constitutes a lesson for us who are often inclined to accentuate differences and even contrasts, forgetting that in Jesus Christ we are given the strength to surmount our continual conflicts. Let us also bear in mind that the group of the Twelve is the prefiguration of the Church, where there must be room for all charisms, peoples and races, all human qualities that find their composition and unity in communion with Jesus.