Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles
Today is the feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, chosen by our Lord to be his disciples. The Church remembers them both as apostles and martyrs. As apostles, Simon and Jude carried on the faith, professing the faith as witnesses to the life and teaching of Christ. Similarly, in their death by another’s hand, they witnessed to the death of Jesus with their own bodies, laying firm the foundation of the Church. Now, through their intercession as saints, they continue to bear witness to us of Gospel’s fulfillment.
St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians tells us that we 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.”
I very distinctly remember coming across this passage in my early days discerning my entrance into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. It was almost shocking. The Church, as the household of God, is an apostolic community. Our life together, the teaching we profess as truth, and the faith we proclaim together is that which we received from the first Apostles, those who where the first disciples of Christ. As a Christian, the faith I have is not something I gained through my own wisdom, my own ability to “analyze” the scriptures, nor is it something I came upon by my own searching. It has been given to me.
I received the faith from the Apostles, and those who have continued their mission through all of history.
Other, more recent Christian traditions emphasize the individual’s sole responsibility in their faith. One finds Jesus as savior from their reasoned discernment and reading of the Bible. In one’s heart, they make a “decision” to become a Christian. In the end, I am an island, a single person disconnected from history and dependent only on “individual relationship” with God.
This is not the Gospel proclaimed by Paul in this passage in Ephesians. Far from it! He announces that we are strangers no longer, w are fellow citizens with the holy ones of God! How joyous this is, to be known among the saints, to be in the presence of the Apostles and Prophets, all worshiping God, together! We are not alone, but one of the People of God.
May we stand in gratitude, humbled by the gift of Christ given to us by these first Apostles. May we walk with her, the Church, in faithfulness, participating in proclamation of the light that is Christ, to a world so wrapped in darkness.
- Tyler Delong