Monday, October 28, 2024

† "Up To The Mountain...... "

† Quote of the Day

"The Holy Bible is like a mirror before our mind's eye. In it we see our inner face. From the Scriptures we can learn our spiritual deformities and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are making and how far we are from perfection." — Pope St Gregory the Great

Today's Meditation

"He does not come down from Heaven each day to stay in the gold ciborium. He comes down to find another Heaven He cherishes infinitely more than the first, the Heaven of our souls, made in His image, living temples of the Most Blessed Trinity!" —St. Therese of Lisieux, p. 31
An excerpt from St. Therese of Lisieux, Meditations with the Little Flower

Daily Verse

"To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished and exultant, in the presence of his glory, to the only God, our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, power, and authority from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen." — Jude 1:24-25

St.s Simon Jude Thaddeus

St. Jude Thaddeus (1st c.) was a blood relative of Jesus Christ and one of his Twelve Apostles. He was known for his preaching, healing, exorcisms, and his appearance was said to have closely matched that of Jesus'. He is the patron of impossible causes, desperate situations, and hospitals. He also wrote the book of the Bible that bears his name. St. Simon the Zealot (1st c.) was also one of Jesus' Twelve Apostles, but one of the most obscure. He earned his name for being zealous for the honor of Jesus, showing a holy indignation towards those who claimed Christ with their lips while dishonoring him with their manner of life. After the Ascension of Jesus, towards the end of his life, it is believed that St. Simon joined St. Jude to preach the Gospel in Persia, where they were both martyred in 65 A.D. St. Simon the Zealot and St. Jude Thaddeus share a feast day on October 28th. See more about St. Simon. See more about St. Jude.

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

Reading 1 Eph 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 Ps 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.

Alleluia 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 Lk 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.

Daily Meditation: Luke 6:12-16

. . . the foundation of the Apostles. (Ephesians 2:20)

Just what do we know about these two apostles whom we are celebrating today? The Gospels record none of Simon's words, and Jude, who is also called Thaddeus, says only a few things. Ancient traditions tell us that after Pentecost, Simon preached in Syria, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, while Jude preached throughout Palestine before traveling to the city of Edessa in southern Turkey. While there, he established a vibrant church that prospered for centuries.

Eventually, Simon and Jude met up in Persia, where the two men ministered before suffering martyrdom around AD 65. Believers recovered their bodies, and they were buried together under an altar in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Simon and Jude are often considered among the more "obscure" apostles. But no one in the first century AD would have thought that way—especially not the thousands of believers who owed their faith to them. Neither would the Christians in thirteenth-century Rome, who used to visit their tomb to seek their intercession. And neither would the millions of Catholics today who pray to St. Jude as the patron of desperate causes!

That's one of the keys to today's celebration. As "obscure" as Simon and Jude may be, their legacy lives on. Their witness and their intercession continue to affect the lives of countless believers—and in ways neither of them probably imagined.

What's your legacy? It's probably a lot more than you imagine. Every one of your prayers of intercession moves the Lord. When you share your faith with someone, his Spirit works through you to touch those with open hearts. When you forgive someone, he pours out grace on that person. He fills every one of your acts of generosity and kindness with his love.

You'll never see your complete legacy in this life. But imagine how much more you'll see when, like Simon and Jude, you go to the Lord! So imitate these two apostles' persistence. Trust that everything you do in Jesus' name has eternal consequences.

"Jesus, help me to persevere in serving you, just as Simon and Jude did!"

Ephesians 2:19-22
Psalm 19:2-5

Reflections with Brother Adrian:

Click to hear Audio

In the Holy Scripture we hear today:
"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......." end quote.

From a Spanish reflection today:
"Today we are talking about houses. Or rather, about house, in the singular. The word house in Hebrew (beyt) has a much greater meaning than a simple building. It is an extended family (the house of Israel, "his whole house"); it is life (Bethesda: house of water; Bethlehem: house of bread); it is a people. When Cornelius and "his whole house" become Christians, it is not a mere imposition by the father of the family; personal identity is part of the identity as a people. The personal faith professed is done within a family, and not in isolation. When Paul tells the Ephesians that "they are no longer foreigners," it is not only to give them citizenship, but to recognize their belonging to the family, to the house, their identity. And he goes even further: we are the house of God, built, assembled, stone upon living stone. We are adding ourselves, inserting ourselves into Christ, the cornerstone of the whole building. "They are no longer foreigners" would not then be just a plea in favor of immigrants. It is something much deeper: it is rather a call to be part of the building, home, family, life, house, people. Not being a foreigner is being part of the family: being a house, being people. And this has consequences for the whole of life. To live now as a living stone is to be faithful to the news of Christ's salvation; it is following and discipleship. It is permanence in that life and that bread.
For this reason, Jesus' call to the twelve is much more than an anecdote of "following." It is a total change of identity. Those twelve (including the one who would betray him, who denied his own being) are now something else: they are part of this "house." And they are a very important part: they are the twelve of the house of Israel; they are the pillars of this house. For this reason, Judas' betrayal is a terrible wound, not only for Judas himself, but for the whole house. A terrible wound that will have to be repaired immediately after the death of Jesus. The house has to be complete: with its twelve apostolic columns and with all its living stones. We are not foreigners." end quote from Carmen Aguinaco.

Today we focus on the calling.
Has the Lord called you? Yes. By simply hearing this message, you too are being called to Him, but just like the spanish reflection says, it is not a mere calling but a call to completely change from the inside out.

Have you changed? Are you constantly changing? Are we conforming ourselves to Him. Are we constantly growing into the Lord?

Are you being perfected?

Does it hurt to be made perfect?

Are you being pruned? Has the pruning in your life been painful?
God knows. Father in Heaven sees all.

He sees if you are open to Him. That's all He needs, an open heart, to avail a body to Him so that the world can see He exists in the world you live in, and especially in you.
May we avail ourselves to Him so much, that He finds a home in you.
May He live so much in you that your world begins to shine brightly.
May we live in unity with the Holy Trinity, in a holy community.
And may we always esteem each other more, raise others higher than yourself, and in this way, see God.