Homily for the Feast of St. Jude 2022

 

Homily for the Feast of St. Jude

October 28, 2022

We Need Each Other

 

            When you look at the Animal Kingdom, it’s amazing to see how animal babies grow up so fast. Giraffes literally fall out of the womb and start walking. Birds fly as early as 10 days after hatching. Dogs can have puppies of their own when they are only six months old. Lion cubs start to hunt when they’re only six weeks old, and at sixteen months they’re completely independent.

            And then there’s humans. It takes us eighteen years to be ready to leave the home! We can’t even walk until we’re a year old. Why would God make us, the smartest of all the animals, so totally helpless for such a large part of our lives?

            Because, unlike the animals, we were made to need each other. We weren’t meant to do life on our own. That’s why He didn’t just have us spawn from seeds – we were meant to be brought up in a family, a community of life and love. We are not supposed to do life on our own.

            In all of our excitement over St. Jude and his feast day, it’s easy to forget that he shares his feast day with another saint: St. Simon. We don’t know much about St. Simon – the Bible calls him a Zealot, which means he had been involved in armed rebellion to try to expel the Romans from ruling the Holy Land. The Bible also calls him a Canaanite, meaning that his family has roots all the way back in the Holy Land even before the coming of the Israelites. That’s about all we know for sure – many other legends surround him, but a significant tradition makes him the close coworker of St. Jude, as both of them traveled to Persia and preached the Gospel to the pagans in that land. St. Jude was martyred by being beaten by clubs, while St. Simon was sawed in half.

            We often think of the Apostles as these lone-rangers, traveling to far-off lands as courageous warriors bringing truth and love to godless nations all by themselves. But it’s consoling to know that Jesus commanded His followers to go out “two-by-two”. It can be a lonely mission to spread the Gospel by yourself – in times of discouragement and suffering, even the Apostles needed a brother to offer them encouragement.

            And this is true not only of the Apostles, but of us. On this feast day we not only celebrate our namesake, we also, in a sense, celebrate our parish as well – because we cannot even follow Jesus, let alone become saints, without the help of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We don’t believe in a “me-and-Jesus” spirituality – we need shepherds in the Church to guide us on the right path; we need our spiritual family to nurture the saint-in-the-making within us.

            So I ask you two questions. Who is helping you draw close to Jesus? Perhaps a family member or a friend is an inspiration to you; perhaps you have a brother or sister in Christ who encourages you to strive for greater holiness. If you find yourself isolated, get involved in our parish and get to know others who are seeking the Lord.

            And the second question is: who are you drawing closer to Jesus? We have to be intentional here – we don’t just accidentally fall into the role of spiritual friend. Perhaps consider a person in your life – a sibling, or a friend – whom the Lord has put on your heart to accompany towards the Lord.

            St. Jude couldn’t do it without St. Simon, and neither can we. But together, as one Mystical Body of Christ, we can become saints, along with our great patron!