Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude

Today's Mass Readings

I have always thought it was a great dignity to be named one of the Apostles. Maybe I was spared the embarrassment of that fateful day related in the gospel in which Jesus called His disciples to Himself, and from them, He chose just twelve. Think about it: What must it have felt like to have not made the cut?

Yet today we celebrate Saints Simon and Jude, considered even among these named twelve “Anonymous Apostles.” Unlike Peter, John, and even some others like Matthew who have a bit of a back-story, these two have less reliable details left in the Tradition. Still, they were numbered among the Twelve. And honestly, do they have any less dignity than the other disciples or, for that matter, to us?

St. Paul, an Apostle by exceptional inclusion himself, says we need not consider ourselves as less than these foundational figures. Indeed, we are all stones that build up the temple with Christ Jesus as the capstone holding the entire massive edifice together. Indeed, all of us have been made holy through this union with Christ. In the Hebrew from Isaiah 6 from which we get our Sanctus at Mass, the word for “holy” can also mean “sacred.” We are sacred to the Lord.

At a large suburban parish where I was at for several years, the various priests usually came out before the liturgy started and asked: “Are there any guests here among us?” Folks would raise their hands and tell us from where they came. Then the priest would invite the congregation to welcome one other. I never did this. It was not because I did not want to be welcoming, but I had a theological reason: any baptized Catholic that comes to Mass is not a guest, but rather is home. Whoever you are and wherever you are from, you are no longer a stranger but part of the household of God with the Apostles in Christ.

Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB