Homily For Saturday Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Year A, 28th October, 2023. The Feast of SS. Simon and Jude, Apostles

Readings: Eph.2:19-22, Ps  19, Luke 6:12-19

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

 

ARE YOU FELLOW CITIZENS OF GOD’S HOUSEHOLD LIKE SS. SIMON AND JUDE?

 

Will you leave? Will you care? Will you risk? Will you let the Lord lead you? These are questions of great demands which every true disciple must constantly reflect through in life, in order to be aware of the seriousness of the commitment required of every one of us as a disciple of Jesus. This great demand is presented to us in our liturgy today as we celebrate the feast day of too great apostles St. Simon and St. Jude and our readings propel us to reflect on our call to discipleship.

 

In the Gospel, we heard how Jesus after deep prayers called from among his disciples twelve apostles of which Simon and Jude were part of the twelve. Simon also known as the Zealot, was a member of the Zealots, the extremists who fought for the freedom of the Israelites against the Romans at the time of Jesus. While, St. Jude often referred to as St. Jude Thaddeus, was a member of the extended family of Jesus.

 

These two apostles along with others followed the Lord faithfully throughout his ministry. Simon though a member of the Zealot, abandoned his previous life as a freedom fighter to a great missionary along with St. Jude Thaddeus who was the probable author of the Epistle of St. Jude. These two apostles together served the Lord and reached out to many peoples and evangelized many nations. That is why both of them are celebrated together today, because of their missionary zeal and commitment to God even to the very end of their lives.

 

Tradition has it that Simon spread the Gospel to places like Persia and Armenia, Egypt and Ethiopia and along with Jude, they evangelized throughout Judea, Samaria, Persia, Armenia and other places. Sadly, after many decades of missionary activities, these two great apostles were martyred in Lebanon. They committed themselves wholeheartedly to the mission of Christ and his Church, they converted many and established firm foundations of the Christian faith in many places. Little wonder St Paul in our first reading tells us that we are fellow citizens of God’s household that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself as its main cornerstone.

 

Dear friends, are we fellow citizens of God's household like SS. Simon and Jude whose lives show us that evangelization is the very nature and essence of the Church. For Jesus gives us the mandate and the commission to evangelize, that is, to announce the Good News to all the nations and to spread the Gospel to every creature. This commission is shared by all those who are baptized both priests and lay faithful. Everyone has a particular responsibility to share in the work of proclamation of the Gospel. Today, we should ask ourselves, how have we proclaimed the Gospel to the world? What efforts are we making to ensure that the mandate Christ entrusted to us is carried out effectively in our generation?

 

Therefore, at this moment when the world is confused because we have removed God from our daily lives, at this time when we have placed our hope in the activities of the human person who seems to have taken the place of God, at this time when our governments, scientists, doctors, lawyers, professors and even pastors assumed the place of God, which of course have brought about the ugly situation we are facing in our societies today. We are reminded once again about our very mission, for it is time to take this mandate very seriously because it is our responsibility to fulfil our promises to God and ensure that the Christian faith is preached and sustained in the world and by so doing save humanity once again from sin, death and destruction that we have caused for ourselves.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we are lost in this world, we are confused because we have cut ourselves off from You our cornerstone, as we come back to You once again, please give us the grace to preach the Gospel following the examples of saints Simon and Jude, may we learn from their teaching and walk faithfully in the footsteps of Christ and by so doing draw humanity back to You once again.  We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful weekend.