October 28
Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intention
7:45 AM – Sheila Guinto / The Blanchfield Family
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Ephesians 2:19-22
Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 19:2-3, 4-5
R. (5a) Their message goes out through all the earth.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.
Gospel Acclamation
See Te Deum
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
We praise you, O God,
we acclaim you as Lord;
the glorious company of Apostles praise you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Luke 6:12-16
Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
“Their message goes out through all the earth.”
Reflection
Simon and Jude were ordinary men. Jesus chose them not because they stood out from the crowd but because they were average, just like the people to whom they were to minister. The lives that these men lived can help us understand that Jesus often chooses average people to become saints… but those people must freely choose to follow Christ.
Whom or what we choose to follow will inform the remainder of our life. The choice to follow Christ is never easy. Simon, a Jewish zealot, who strictly followed the law of the Pharisees, had to make the difficult choice to walk away from false teaching and embrace the law of love that Christ preached. Jude Thaddeus, not to be confused with Judas who betrayed Jesus, was a man of such great faith in Jesus Christ that the faithful know him as the patron saint of hopeless cases and desperate situations.
Are we ready to make the same type of total commitment to Christ as to give up what we hold dear so that our total focus is on Christ? Let us pray about this today as we contemplate the Feast Day of these two great saints!
Peace,
Fr. John
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