October 28, 2025
Feast of Saints Simon and Jude,
Apostles
Lectionary: 666
Reading
1
Brothers and
sisters:
You 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.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (5a) Their
message goes out through all the earth.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.
Alleluia
See Te Deum
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
We praise you, O God,
we acclaim you as Lord;
the glorious company of Apostles praise you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102825.cfm
Commentary on Ephesians 2:19-22; Luke
6:12-19
The Gospel reading
from Luke describes Jesus choosing his twelve Apostles. As happens regularly in
Luke, Jesus is shown praying before any major action or decision. Luke tells us
that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and spent the whole night in communion
with his Father.
Luke speaks of
“the mountain”, although we do not know which one it is. But in the Scriptures,
generally mountains are holy places where one can more easily commune with God.
Famous mountains in the Scriptures are Mount Sinai, where Moses spoke face to
face with God; Mount Carmel, associated with the prophet Elijah; and Mount
Zion, where the Temple of Jerusalem was situated. There is also the Mount of
the Transfiguration, although again it is not certain which mountain is being
referred to.
Then at daybreak
Jesus called all his disciples together, and from among them chose twelve to be
his Apostles. The names are then given and they include “Simon called the
Zealot” and “Judas [or Jude] son of James”, the two Apostles we commemorate today.
What is the
difference between ‘disciple’ and ‘apostle’? Are the terms interchangeable? Not
really. Every ‘apostle’ is a ‘disciple’ but not every one of Jesus’ ‘disciples’
was formally called an ‘apostle’.
The word
‘disciple’ comes from the Latin verb discere, which means ‘to
learn’. A ‘disciple’ then is someone who learns from a master and tries to
follow in his footsteps. The word ‘apostle’ comes from the Greek verb apostello,
of which the noun is apostolos. This signifies someone who is sent
out on a mission bringing an important message from someone in authority, an
ambassador or an envoy.
Jesus had many
disciples, but just 12 of them were chosen to pass on his teaching after he had
left them. They, in turn, would appoint others with the same mandate. Today, it
is our bishops who have that mandate.
However, we might
also say that every single baptised person is really called to be both a
disciple of Jesus and an apostle, charged with passing on the gospel message.
Every single one of Jesus’ followers was called to be the ‘salt of the earth’
and the ‘light of the world’ and to behave in such a way that people would be
led to God.
In the First
Reading, from the Letter to the Ephesians, Paul (the supposed author of this
letter) is speaking to Gentiles who have become Christians. So he tells them:
…you are no
longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and
also members of the household of God…
‘Saints’ (hagioi)
means ‘people set apart, people who are different’. ‘Saints’ is a term used by
Paul to speak of members of the Christian communities. Here he is saying that
the baptised Gentiles now belong fully to that family.
Paul also sees the
Church as a building whose foundation is composed of the Apostles and the
prophets, with Christ himself as the headstone. The whole structure then
becomes a “holy temple in the Lord”. This is the Temple of the New Testament,
replacing that of the Old Testament in Jerusalem (although when the Letter was
written that Temple was still in existence).
So, as Paul will
say elsewhere, the Temple of the New Covenant is built not only with bricks and
mortar and confined to one place, but also consists of people. Wherever there
is a Christian community, the Risen Christ is present there:
…in him the
whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in
whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
So, it is not the
church building which makes us holy, rather it is we who make the church
building holy by our presence in it.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Feast – Saints Simon and Jude
Opening Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God, strengthen our faith, hope and
love.
May we do with loving hearts what
you ask of us and come to share the life you promise.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 6: 12-16 [12-19]
Now it happened in those days
that Jesus went onto the mountain to pray; and he spent the whole night in
prayer to God.
When day came, he summoned his
disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them 'apostles': Simon whom
he called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John,
Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of
Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who
became a traitor. He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level
ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples, with a great crowd
of people from all parts of Judaea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre
and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People
tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was
trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.
Reflection
Today the Gospel speaks about two
facts:
(a)
to describe the choice of the twelve Apostles
(Lk 6: 12-16) and
(b)
it informs that an immense crowd wanted to meet
Jesus to listen to him, to touch him and to be cured (Lk 6: 17-19).
•
Luke 6: 12-13 - Jesus spends the night in prayer
and chooses the twelve apostles. Before the definitive choice of the twelve
Apostles, Jesus goes up to the mountain and there spends the whole night in
prayer. He prays in order to know whom to choose and he chooses the Twelve,
whose names are given in the Gospels. And then they received the title of
Apostles. Apostle means one sent, missionary. They were called to carry out a
mission, the same mission that Jesus received from the Father (Jn 20: 21). Mark
concretizes the mission and says that Jesus called them to be with him and to
send them out on mission (Mk 3: 14).
•
Luke 6: 14-16 - The names of the twelve
Apostles. With little differences the names of the Twelve are the same in the
Gospels of Matthew (Mt 10: 2-4), Mark (Mk 3: 16-19) and Luke (Lk 6: 14-16).
Many of these names come from the Old Testament: Simon is the name of one of
the sons of the Patriarch Jacob (Gn 29: 33). James (Giacomo) is the same name
as Jacob (Gn 25: 26). Judas is the name of the other son of Jacob (Gn 35: 23).
Matthew even if he had the name of Levi (Mk 2: 14), the other son of Jacob (Gn
35: 23). Of the twelve Apostles, seven have the name which comes from the time
of the Patriarchs: two times Simon, two times James, two times Judas, and one
time Levi! That reveals the wisdom of the pedagogy of the people. By the names
of the Patriarchs and the ‘Matriarchs,’ given to the sons and daughters, people
maintained alive the tradition of the ancients and helped their own children
not to lose their identity. Which are the names that we give today to our sons
and daughters?
•
Luke 6: 17-19 - Jesus comes down from the
mountain and people look for him. Coming down from the mountain with the
twelve, Jesus encounters an immense crowd of people who was seeking to listen
to his word and to touch him because they knew that from him came out a force
of life. In this great crowd there were Jews and foreigners, people from Judaea
and also from Tyre and Sidon. They were people who were abandoned, disoriented.
Jesus accepts all those who seek him, Jews and Pagans! This is one of the themes
preferred by Luke who writes for the converted Pagans.
The persons called by Jesus are a consolation for us. The
first Christians remembered and recorded the names of the Twelve Apostles and
of the other men and women who followed Jesus closely. The Twelve, called by
Jesus to form the first community with him, were not saints. They were common
persons, like all of us. They had their virtues and their defects. The Gospels
tell us very little about the temperament and the character of each one of
them. But what they say, even if it is not much is a reason of consolation for
us.
•
Peter was a generous person and full of
enthusiasm (Mk 14: 29, 31; Mt 14: 2829), but in the moment of danger and of
taking a decision, his heart becomes small and he turns back (Mt 14: 30; Mk 14:
66-72). He even got to be Satan for Jesus (Mk 8: 33). Jesus calls him Pietra- Rock (Pietro). Peter of himself was not Rock, he becomes Rock (roccia), because Jesus prays for him (Lk
22: 31-32).
•
James and John are ready to suffer with and for Jesus
(Mk 10: 39), but they were very violent (Lk 9: 54). Jesus calls them “sons of
thunder” (Mc 3: 17). John seemed to have a certain jealousy. He wanted Jesus
only for his group (Mk
9: 38).
•
Philip had a certain welcoming way. He knew how
to get others in contact with Jesus (Jn 1: 45-46), But he was not too practical
in solving problems (Jn 12: 20-22; 6: 7). Sometimes he was very naïve. There
was a moment when Jesus lost patience with him: Have I been with you all this
time, Philip, and you still do not know me? (Jn 14: 8-9)
•
Andrew, the brother of Peter and friend of
Philip, was more practical. Philip goes to him to solve the problems (Jn 12:
21-22). Andrew calls Peter (Jn 1: 4041), and Andrew found the boy who had five
loaves and two fish (Jn 6: 8-9).
•
Bartholomew seems to be the same as Nathanael.
He was from that place and could not admit that something good could come from
Nazareth (Jn 1:
46).
•
Thomas was capable to maintain his opinion for a
whole week, against the witness of all the others (Jn 20: 24-25). But when he
saw that he was mistaken he was not afraid to recognize his error (Jn 20:
26-28). He was generous, ready to die with Jesus (Jn 11: 16).
•
Mathew or Levi he was the Publican, the tax
collector, like Zacchaeus (Mt 9: 9; Lk 19: 2). They were persons committed in
the oppressing system of the time.
•
Simon, instead seems belonged to the movement
which was radically opposed to the system that the Roman Empire imposed on the
Jewish people. This is why they also called it Zealots (Lk 6: 15). The group of
the Zelots succeeded in provoking a armed revolt against the Romans.
•
Judas was the one who was in charge of the money
of the group (Jn 13: 29). He betrayed Jesus.
•
James of Alphaeus and Judas Thaddeus, of these
two the Gospels say nothing except the name.
Personal Questions
•
Jesus spends the whole night in prayer to know
whom to choose, and he chooses these twelve. What conclusions do you draw from
this gesture of Jesus?
•
The first Christians remembered the names of the
twelve Apostles who were at the origin of their community. Do you remember the
names of the persons who are at the origin of the community to which you
belong? Do you remember the name of some catechist or professor who was
significant for your Christian formation? What do you especially remember about
them: the content of what they taught you or the witness that they gave you?
Concluding Prayer
The Lord is good, his faithful love is everlasting, his constancy
from age to age. (Ps 100: 5)
Saints Simon and
Jude, Apostles
Apart from their names in the Gospel, there is very little
we know definitely about the two Apostles, Simon and Jude. Simon is called
either the Canaanite or the Zealot (Matt 10:4, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13)
by the evangelists. To distinguish him from Simon Peter, he is called Kananaios (‘Kananites’
in Matthew and Mark) and Zelotes (Zealot, in Luke and in
Acts). Both titles come from the Hebrew qana, which means ‘the
zealous one’, but some, like St Jerome, misread it as a reference to the town
of Cana or to the region of Canaan. This led to a story that at the wedding
feast at Cana (John 2:1-12) Simon was the bridegroom!
The preferred reading in all the texts now is ‘Zealot’.
Zealot may indicate his membership in a strict Jewish sect. There was a party
called Zealots famous in the war of the Jews against their Roman occupiers.
They killed many of the nobility and filled the Temple with blood and brought
ruin on their people. But there is no clear evidence they existed in Jesus’
lifetime.
This verse from the Gospel of Mark (6:3) also refers to a
Judas and Simon:
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of
James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?
But the New Testament does not relate this Simon to any of
the Apostles.
After Pentecost, Simon, like several other Apostles, is not
heard of again in the New Testament. However, there is an abundance of legends
about his subsequent life and final martyrdom. One eastern source gives Edessa
in Mesopotamia as the place where he died, but a western tradition (represented
by the Roman Missal and the Martyrology) affirms that he first preached in
Egypt.
He then joined his fellow Apostle Jude, who was in
Mesopotamia, and they both went east to Persia. Here they were martyred at
Sufian (or at Siani). In one story, their throats were cut and in another,
Simon was sawn in two, like the prophet Isaiah. This tradition dates from the
6th century, 300-400 years after the Apostle’s death, but devotion to him goes
back much further.
There is even a tradition that Simon got as far as Britain,
perhaps Glastonbury, and was martyred in Lincolnshire. In art Simon is usually
symbolised with a boat or a falchion (an axe-like sword), allegedly the weapon
by which heathen priests cut him down.
Jude is called “Judas, son of James” by Luke in his Gospel
(Luke 6:16) and in Acts (1:13). He is called “Judas (not Iscariot)” in John’s
Gospel (John 14:22). He is commonly identified with Thaddaeus, who appears in
the list of Apostles in Matthew and Mark, but where there is no mention of
Jude. He is also believed to be the author of the Letter in the New Testament
bearing his name.
As with Simon, nothing certain is known of his life after
Pentecost, but again there are many legends. As mentioned, a Western tradition
says that he joined up with Simon to preach the gospel in Persia, where he,
too, died a martyr’s death.
In more modern times, Jude has acquired the reputation as
the ‘Apostle of the impossible’, as attested by expressions of gratitude in
Catholic devotional periodicals. The origin of this devotion is said to be that
no one would pray to him because his name was so like that of the traitor Judas
Iscariot. Only people who had tried every other option would in desperation
turn to him!
The relics of Simon and Jude are believed to have been
brought to St Peter’s in Rome in the 7th-8th century. Rheims and Toulouse also
claim to have relics.
In art, Jude’s usual emblem is a club, the instrument of his
death. Otherwise, he holds a ship, while Simon holds a fish. This is perhaps
because, as a cousin of the Zebedee brothers, he was also a fisherman.
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