October 28

Today the Western churches commemorate Simon and Jude, apostles of the Lord.
Simon, called the Zealot, and Jude son of James, also called Thaddaeus, are named last in the lists of the apostles. Similar to the workers hired at the eleventh hour, they still fulfilled their mission, giving witness to the Gospel until they were martyred.
As often happens in the biblical story of salvation history, God chooses to reveal himself to those who seem least important and most marginal. According to John's Gospel, it is to Jude that Jesus reveals the possibility of God's coming to dwell in the hearts of those who make room for his love.
The same call to love is addressed to Simon, who, before meeting Jesus, had belonged to a Jewish group whose members resorted to violence as a way of showing their zeal for God and the Law.
According to an apocryphal text, Jude was crucified in Persia after evangelizing Egypt and Mauritania. Simon is also said to have died in Persia after preaching in Samaria, Syria, Mesopotamia, and India.

PRAYER

Lord our God,
in the community of the apostles called together by Jesus
you showed us the seeds of your holy Church:
grant that we may live in communion with the apostles,
and that through the prayer of Simon and Jude
we may become a true image
of the first apostolic community
gathered around Jesus Christ,
our only Lord.