Feast of Simon and Jude, Apostles

• Reading I: Ephesians 2:19-22
• Resp. Psalm:  Psalm 19:2-3,4-5
• Gospel Reading:  Luke 6:12-16

Psalm 19 is most often used as the responsorial psalm for the feast of an apostle.  It is a psalm that invites one to contemplate the order and magnificence of creation which is described both as witnessing albeit silently to the grandeur of the Creator and the wisdom of His Law.  This and similar psalms have been taken by the Fathers as pointing to the Word in Creation which is also reflected in the Law.  Augustine would say that there are two books that God gave us, that of Creation which is filled with His Word, and that of the Scriptures, written because men forget.

The apostles are like the "heavens" which declare God’s glory, the "sky" proclaiming the builder’s craft.  They are the ones who gave witness to the Word made Flesh; through the apostolic tradition, their proclamation is passed on from generation to generation.

The Synod of Bishops referred to the Voice of the Word in Creation.  God reveals Himself in His work; strictly speaking, the whole of Creation is His Word externalized.  But that Voice too has a Face, that of Christ, who built his house among us.  That Voice and Face is encountered in the Church, where Christ continues to resound as God’s Word among those He unashamedly calls brothers and sisters.  Scriptures, in the words of Augustine, is the one Word of God echoed in many words of men.   Through its pages we come to recognize the Word that is in Creation and the Word that the apostles preached.   And we remember today Simon and Jude whose faith has now become the foundation for our own.  Truly like the heavens and the sky, they continue to make the proclamation about God’s unique Word resound in our time. 

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