Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 28, 2014 - Oct. 28 - Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles
[Eph 2:19-22 and Luke 6:12-19][Y]ou 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. [Ephesians]
Over the years that I have been doing itinerant preaching, since the early 1990's, I have been invited to preach four novenas in honor of St. Jude. So, I have become fairly acquainted with his devotional impact. [All I know about St. Simon is that he was a "zealot," meaning a political activist of some kind at the time.] A novena is a nine day prayer event in which participants attend each day to say special prayers from a booklet and mention the particular intentions with which they are seeking his intercession. The tradition is that St. Jude is the patron saint of "hopeless cases!"
Two of the novenas have taken place at the shrine of St. Jude that is housed at the Dominican-staffed parish of St. Pius V in Chicago. The other two at two different parishes in New Orleans. The mix of people who come is really interesting, from the poorest to the wealthiest. They bring with them a lot of tears and heartbreak - problems with jobs, or health, or family.....you name it. These are not everyday irritations but major difficulties. This form of devotion is testimony to the accessibility of the saints as persons who can share with us the travails and toils of life. They seem to be the ones in the "household of God" who can communicate with the "capstone" in ways that we feel we cannot.
Perhaps today we can think of the one intractable problem we have and share it with St. Jude. As for St. Simon, perhaps we can pray that he will find a way to calm down all the political excitement that we have to tolerate in this election year! AMEN
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