Here at St. Jude Parish, we are currently preparing for our parish fiesta to honor our patron. In these upcoming reflections, I would like to share some aspects of St. Jude’s life and how we can learn from him to follow Jesus more faithfully.
I want to begin by sharing some of St. Jude’s background. He is also known in the gospels as Thaddaeus. In Mark’s gospel, when Jesus chose the 12 apostles, He selected “Simon whom he surnamed Peter…and Thaddaeus” (MK 3:13-18). Most biblical scholars say the name “Thaddaeus” was used to avoid confusing him with Judas Iscariot, who betrayed our Lord. This is because in Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Jude is then referred as “Judas, son of James”(LK 6:16/ Acts 1:13). Sacred Tradition also tells us that St. Jude is a relative of Jesus and the brother of the apostle James the Lesser. The penultimate letter of the Bible is the Letter of Jude. However, scholars are divided to whether this refers to St. Jude the apostle or maybe another Jude. The author of the letter does not explicitly say that he is an apostle, but he simply refers to himself as, “Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ” (JD 1:1)
The main point I want to highlight here is that St. Jude was an apostle of Jesus. The word apostle comes from the Greek word apostelos, which means “to be sent”. When Jesus chose Thaddaeus and the other apostles “He appointed twelve that they might be with him and he might send them forth” (MK 3:14). Scripture notes that Jesus chose the apostles to first of all be with Him. Jesus desired to know these men. Our Lord wanted to share His life with St. Jude and the others before anything else. In the same way, Jesus calls each of us to be with Him. He desires to to share His life with us and transform us for the better. Jesus’ principle interest is for us to be with Him and know Him. The second part of the call involves the mission/duty. We see that after Jesus spent time with the apostles he then sent them out on mission. Similarly, it is only after we are transformed by the knowledge and love of Jesus that we are able to really go out to proclaim the gospel with passion. By our baptism we are in a relationship with Christ. He invites us everyday to be with Him in prayer and the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Afterwards, we are strengthened and nourished to go out and witness to Jesus as St. Jude did.