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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Glorious Mysteries
Memorial of Sts. Simon and Jude
Ephesians 2:19-22
Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5
Luke 6:12-16


Jesus did nothing without praying. So before He chose His apostles, He retired for a period of time to speak with His Father. One would think that Jesus, being God, would know, without consultation what to do. But here we have the example of the full humanness of the incarnate Godhead. We also have the example of what we are to do in like circumstances. There is a clarity that comes from silence all around, from the deep stillness of your environment. In this silence, the voice of God may be more clearly heard. The concerns of the day have passed, there is no one pressing upon you the concerns of a new day. So you are free to take your primary cares to God and implore His help.

Once He had finished speaking with the Father, Jesus came down from the mountain and named the twelve. Among them were the two in honor of whom we celebrate this day. We know relatively little about them except for the “labels” that Luke gives them in this Gospel. One key line here is the description of Simon. Simon was a zealot--the word has come down to us to mean one whose enthusiasm is just short of insanity—almost “terrorist-ic” (and perhaps not all that short of it.) At the time, Zealots were a religious party that believed that the coming of the Messiah would bring about an earthly kingdom with a great prince. They opposed the occupation of the Holy Land, and it doesn't seem unlikely that they resorted to some of the tactics one finds in opposition to perceived oppression today. Why should this detail matter? It is important because Jesus shows, by choosing this man, that ideology is also not a dividing line. God's Kingdom takes in everyone. And if one is ready to be part of God's Kingdom, it transforms one into a servant of God. Liberals, conservatives, fascists, revolutionaries, Marxists, totalitarians, monarchists, you name the ideology, Jesus is there to save. He made Simon one of his intimate twelve as a sign to us that mere political screed did not stand in the way of the advance of the Kingdom. Jesus showed us through the selection of this great apostle that all are welcome and no one is beyond the reach of God's saving love.

At the end of the Apostle’s names, Luke includes Judas Iscariot, "Who became a traitor." Reading this first, then writing these words, I am moved to tears—most of all for Jesus who was betrayed, for Judas who squandered the opportunity to be moved by grace, and for all of us, who like Judas, betray the Lord whenever we sin. Judas' traitorous act should remind us that even those who are ostensibly close to the Lord are vulnerable and can fall into terrible sin.

That is why serious examination of our consciences in the silence I wrote about in the opening paragraph is helpful; it can indicate to us what words might be tacked onto our name if today there was a roll of Jesus' present day followers.

For me could it be "complainer" as I often throw in my lot with so many of my disgruntled co-workers, or "flash in the pan" because I often fail to stay the course and persevere. With my rosary tonight, I’m going to ask Mother to plead with Jesus to help me change my “label” to “loving”, “gentle”, “generous”, or “humble”. Better yet, how about the “label” that Jesus Himself gave to Nathaniel—“non-duplicitous”. Hey, there’s no shame in setting a goal.