You are part of a building that has the apostles for its foundation
One of the wonderful surprises in the kingdom of God will be the full discovery of the heroic and beautiful lives of great saints whose deeds and admirable characters are hidden in history and have not been transmitted down to us. Such as these are the two apostles Simon and Jude whose feast we celebrate today, and about whom we hardly know anything from the scriptures apart from their names.
Judas Thaddeus the brother of James was a cousin to Jesus through Alpheus, brother of St. Joseph. God has chosen to honor this apostle whose name for centuries was tarnished by that of Judas the traitor, by making of him a powerful intercessor, which has earned him the title: "patron of hopeless cases." Simon the Zealot, a former rebel against the Roman Empire, is said to have suffered long as fugitive from the law. He hid in caves occupied by lepers and through that contracted the dreaded disease himself. He was healed by the Lord before being called to the vocation of discipleship. In contrast to Simon Peter his namesake, Simon is said to have been a very prudent man where Peter was the impulsive one. God admits every kind of character among his workers, for his own purposes and for his greater glory.
The readings invite us to reflect on the marvelous dignity of us all to which we are called, and the role we must play so that everybody gets there. We “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 foundation stone.” Each of us has a niche in this dwelling place for God; an indispensable role to play. If, as we hear in the Responsorial Psalm, the inanimate heavens declare the glory of God, so must we who are made in the image of God. In this call, however, there is always the possibility of failure as was the case with Judas who betrayed Jesus. This is because God’s call is never a one-time thing. It is a continuous process in which each day has a task to be accomplished. We have constantly to listen day-by-day to the voice of God and to be docile to it.
Through the Apostles Simon and Jude, we pray for docility towards the Spirit of God who called us and who molds us into a dwelling place for Himself in the Spirit.
