The Feast Day of Saint Jude ~ October 28
St. Jude is the Patron Saint of Hope and impossible causes and one of Jesus’ original twelve Apostles. He preached the Gospel with great passion, often in the most difficult circumstances. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he made profound differences in people’s lives as he offered them the Word of God.
St. Jude was the brother of St. James the Less and thus a cousin of our Lord. There is a tradition that Jude preached the faith mainly in Palestine, but later went to Persia and Armenia, and suffered martyrdom there.
St. Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand. This recalls one of his miracles during his work spreading the Word of God. King Abagar of Edessa asked Jesus to cure him of leprosy and sent an artist to bring him a drawing of Jesus. Impressed with Abagar’s great faith, Jesus pressed His face on a cloth, leaving the image of His face on it. He gave the cloth to St. Jude, who took the image to Abagar and cured him.
The lives of the Apostles, Sts. Simon and Jude are shrouded in obscurity and uncertainty, yet their very closeness to the Lord Jesus as shares in great work of redemption is a reminder to us that holiness, from which stems happiness comes from following closely in the footsteps of Jesus Christ rather than in being known.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus, St. Jude travelled throughout Mesopotamia, Libya, and Persia with St. Simon preaching and building up the foundations of the early Church. St. Jude died a martyr’s death for his unwavering faith. His body was later brought to Rome and placed in a crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica.
Reflection: If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too. But they will do all this to you because you are mine”. (Jesus – Jn 15:20)