Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - Sts. Simon and Jude, apostles
[Ephesians 2:19-22 and Luke 6:12-16]Jesus went up 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.
There is reason to believe that the Lord would have done well to have taken a nap after "pulling an all-nighter" before choosing the Twelve from among the other disciples! I know I would not have a clear head! The Twelve turned out to be quite a mixed bag! The two we celebrate today, Simon and Jude (not the Iscariot) might be exhibit A. Simon was what we might call a terrorist today! Jude is known by two names (Thaddeus is the other name) and wound up becoming the patron saint of hopeless causes! It seems the most that could be said about him is that he wasn't the traitor! But we shouldn't be too hard on these two. Didn't all Twelve turn tail and run when Jesus was arrested? The leader of the gang would soon deny he even knew Jesus! The consoling thing in all of this is that even though Jesus got exasperated at the apostles on many occasions, he never gave up on them! I'm counting on the same kind of mercy and I hope the apostles will assist me with their prayers! AMEN