Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles
Today, we celebrate the feast of Saints Jude and Simeon. St. Jude is one of my go-to saints when seeking intercession, although I know very little about him. In truth, no one knows much about either of these saints. They are named in Luke’s gospel as two of the twelve apostles. Legend has it that they were martyred together, hence their shared feast day.
However the tradition developed over time, St. Jude has found his way into my prayer life, perhaps yours too. I wonder how many times, particularly in the last couple of years, I’ve said, “St. Jude, pray for us!” I hope St. Jude isn’t offended that I’ve started to throw him in alongside so many other saints, who are often more specific to my cause and honestly closer to my heart. He’s a little like my “kitchen sink saint,” as in when I pack my prayer intercessions with hard things, I throw him in, “everything and the kitchen sink”: the saints I know I need and St. Jude for good measure!
With so much pressing in on us these days in our country and in our world, and in the lives of so many people I know and love, I am increasingly including St. Jude as an intercessor. St. Jude often finds himself alongside Saints Benedict and Scholastica when I pray that I and others will “listen with the ear of my heart” to one another. He is alongside St. Mother Cabrini when I pray that we treat immigrants with love and compassion. He is alongside St. Catherine of Sienna when I pray that civil leaders might talk to one another and broker peace. Why do all these things feel increasingly hard and like lost causes? I think including St. Jude has become my way of saying, “I don’t know how this is possible, God, but with you all things are possible.” St. Jude, pray for us.
In today's first reading, St. Paul reminds us that we are no longer strangers and sojourners; we are “fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God.” One of the beauties of our faith is that we are connected in Christ here and now, and across time. As we near the election, I pray that we remember that our primary citizenship is in the household of God and our call is to cooperate with God’s grace to make God’s kingdom come now on earth as it is in heaven. St. Jude, pray for us.
-Kelly Adamson