Today we celebrate the feast of two Apostles, Simon and Jude. They were cousins of Jesus. The early Church took little interest in them as individuals.
Their importance rested in their being two of the twelve who were the foundation of Christianity much as the twelve sons of Jacob had been the foundation of the Jewish Religion. The similarity of their roles is brought out in Chapter Twenty One of Revelation where the heavenly Jerusalem is seen as having twelve gates, each inscribed with the name of one of the Jewish Patriarchs. It describes the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem as having twelve courses of great stones, each inscribed with the name of one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus.
Yesterday’s Gospel might have prepared the way for today’s feast with Jesus addressing Jerusalem, saying, “Jerusalem, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.”
Along with Simon and Jude we are part of that brood gathered by Jesus.
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