The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, October 28, 2004
Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Sts. Simon and Jude, apostles

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Ephesians 2:19-22
Psalm 19:2-5
Luke 6:12-16

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

"Simon, who was called a zealot. . ."

Jesus did nothing without praying. So before He chose His apostles, He retired for a period of time to speak with His Father. Once He had done so, He 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, but 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 (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 transform one into a servant of God. Liberals, conservatives, facists, revolutionaries, Marxists, totalitarians, monarchists, you name the breed, 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.

- JuandelaCruz
(sriddle415 at yahoo dot com)

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posted by joachim at 6:27 AM