Terrorism and Nepotism

These are things we do not associate with the two saints whose feast we celebrate today, even though each one was in a prime position to go down the wrong road: SS Simon and Jude.  Both are apostles, the foundation of our Church, and both come from different backgrounds.

St Simon is commonly called the Zealot.  The Zealots were a group of extremist Jews who were in constant rebellion against the Romans during the occupation of Israel.   Organised in the year 6 AD, the Zealots continue their struggle right up to 66AD when they incited the revolt which would lead to Masada, and the eventual destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.   Simon was one of their group, and was converted from his ways by the Lord, though the story of his conversion is not recorded in the Gospels.  The Zealots were hanging around Jesus for a time, thinking he was the Messiah and would lead them in their revolt - they were correct in the first, wrong in the second.  Simon had to come to realise that the Messiah was not to be a political figure - salvation is not political, it is on the level of the entire person.  That is a message which was, and is, hard for many to get.  In the Church today we have our Zealots who want a revolution within the Church as the means of reform, but that's not how things work.  Living in an age when the world lives in fear of terrorism, St Simon should be a patron for these times.

St Jude is a different character.  He was a relation of the Lord, and so well placed to climb the greasy pole, but it seems he had no intention: it was the brothers James and John who fell into that particular trap, although Scripture notes the apostles did squabble over who was the greatest, and Jude is not excluded.  However, he came to his senses on that one, as did all the apostles, and he was content to serve rather than be served: a good lesson for those in the Church who want to further their ambitions or agendas, be they clerical or lay.  Jude is often portrayed holding an image of Jesus at his breast.  Some say it symbolises his relationship with Jesus, both as relation and loving disciple, but in fact it refers to the Cloth of Edessa - the mysterious cloth imprinted with the Image of Jesus which, according to tradition, the apostle brought to the king of Edessa.  Recent research suggests that this cloth was in fact the Shroud of Turin.  If it is, then St Jude was a custodian of the relic.

St Simon and St Jude were martyred, and their relics eventually brought to Rome, where they lie under the altar of the Chapel of St Joseph in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.