Episode Transcript  

One

Who are they?

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Simon and Jude, the Apostles. Simon and Jude were brothers of the Apostle James the Less. All three were sons of Mary, the wife of Clopas, who stood at the Cross with the Blessed Virgin Mary, and they were cousins of Jesus.

After the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, Simon preached the Gospel in Egypt and Jude in Armenia. Around the year 66, they traveled together preaching the Gospel in Persia, modern-day Iraq and Iran. They performed many astonishing miracles, casting out demons and converting more than 60,000 people in one city called Suamer (or Suanir). As they shared the good news of Christ and the people believed they put the pagan priests out of business. This brought about their martyrdom on this day, October 28th.

Before their deaths, Jude turned to Simon and calmly remarked, “I see that the Lord is calling us.” They forgave their murderers and, in total trust, went home to God. 

Two

The Letter and Image of Jesus

There is a wonderful historical account connected to the lives of Simon and Jude. 

According to Eusebius, in his History, King Abgar of Edessa heard about Jesus and wrote a letter to him, “King Abgar to Jesus, the good Savior who has appeared in Jerusalem, greetings. I have heard of the cures you perform without medicine or herbs, that you make the blind see, the lame walk, lepers clean, and the dead live again. Therefore, I believe you are either God or the Son of God and beg you to come and heal me of my long illness. I also know the Jews are plotting against you. Come to me; I have in this city a modest but honorable house large enough for both of us.”

Jesus answered, “Blessed are you who have believed in me though you have not seen me. It is written that those who do not see will believe. As for your invitation, I must finish the work I was sent to do and then return to Him who sent me. After my Ascension, I will send one of my Apostles to you to heal you and give you life.”

St. John of Damascus relates that when King Abgar realized Jesus would not travel to his country, he sent an artist to paint His portrait. However, this was impossible because the radiance of the face of Christ was too great. Jesus then pressed a cloth to His face, leaving His image upon it, and sent it to the king. 

St. John of Damascus attested that he had seen this image in his own time, known as the Image of Edessa or Mandylion, and it became an object of deep veneration in the East.

Three

Miraculous Healing

After the Ascension of Christ, Jude went to King Abgar, fulfilling the Lord’s promise. When Jude entered the king’s presence and declared that he was the disciple sent by Jesus, Abgar beheld his face shining with a marvelous, godlike splendor. Amazed and filled with reverence, the king bowed and said, “Truly, you are a disciple of Jesus, the Son of God, who promised to send one of His followers to heal me.”

Jude replied, “If you believe in the Son of God, you will receive all that your heart desires.” Abgar answered, “I do believe, and if it were in my power, I would punish those who crucified Him, were it not for the authority of the Romans.”

At that time, Abgar was afflicted with leprosy. Jude took the Savior’s Portrait, pressed it gently upon the king’s face, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed, and he was made completely whole.

Jude is often depicted wearing this image of Jesus which healed King Abgar. 

Four

The Letter of Jude

The Church has preserved St. Jude’s inspired letter in the New Testament as part of the Word of God. In this letter, Jude warns against false teachers, describing them in very vivid terms, “They are like shooting stars bound for an eternity of black darkness… But remember, my dear friends, what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you to expect. “At the end of time,' they told you 'there are going to be people who sneer at religion and follow nothing but their own desires for wickedness.’ These unspiritual and selfish people are nothing but mischief-makers.”

Jesus gave us an infallible way to protect ourselves against lies and false teachings by the threefold safeguard of Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium, that is, the official teaching of the Catholic Church. These three pillars of truth are synthesized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. 

So, if you want to know the saving truth and how to live a life of happiness and peace, then read the Catechism. If that is too much, then just listen to this podcast every day and pray with us because every year we give you the entire Catechism in daily bite-sized digestible portions. 

Five

Impossible Causes 

Why is Jude known as the St. of Impossible Causes? For centuries, Christians hesitated to pray to St. Jude because his name resembled that of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Christ. Forgotten and rarely invoked, he became, by God’s providence, the patron of desperate and impossible causes. Those few who called upon him received remarkable favors, revealing Judes’ powerful intercession. Devotion to him spread widely by the late Middle Ages and was promoted by the Dominicans, Carmelites, and later the Claretians. 

In his letter, Jude gives some very practical advice, “My dear friends, must use your most holy faith as your foundation and build on that, praying in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves within the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal life.”

When we face something that seems impossible to solve or to endure, that is normally when the temptation arises to escape through sinful pleasures, that is precisely the moment to turn to the Lord in prayer and wait upon Him in faith. Relief may come, and Saint Jude is rightly famous for his powerful intercession, but even if what you hope for does not come, or not in the way you expect, prayer always bears fruit. God will indeed take care of everything, perhaps not by removing the trial, but by transforming you through it: granting the grace to endure with peace, purifying your love, and leading you toward that perfect union with Him which is already the beginning of Paradise.

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