A Feast for Minor Disciples

 ONLINE REFLECTION, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY

OCTOBER 28, 2020

 

OCCASION:             The Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude

 

 

Today in the church year is set aside as a major feast day – the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude.

 

They were two of the lesser-known disciples of Jesus. They are among the lists of disciples in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and in the Book of Acts.  The Gospel according to John does not have an exhaustive list of the disciples.

 

If you are wondering about Jude – he is sometimes referred to as Thaddeus. He is also said to be the author of one of the epistles of the New Testament, the Letter of Jude – a one-chapter epistle that includes some memorable phrases.  I will finish with one in a moment.

 

As I mentioned, we know very little about Simon – called the Zealot – and Jude.  They were disciples of Jesus, largely in the background of his ministry.

 

Tradition ties Simon and Jude together by indicating they had a joint mission to Persia, modern-day Iran, in the early days of the church.  The various disciples had their ministries in different parts of the world – John, of course, ended up on Patmos; James was in Jerusalem; and Peter ultimately ended up in Rome.

 

Tradition holds that Simon and Jude met their ends when crucified in Beirut, Lebanon.  There is, of course, no accurate record.

 

Perhaps the most frequent reference to either of them is the fact that Jude is a patron saint of hopeless causes.  His ministry and the memory of both Simon and Jude is cause for remembrance.

 

The final two verses of Jude’s letter in the New Testament are these:

 

“Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever.”