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. (Lk 6:12-16)
Lots of folks have always felt sorry for Saint Jude (really Judas) for being stuck with the same name as the traitor, Judas. Perhaps that’s why he became the patron saint of hopeless causes. On top of that, they called Saint Simon “the Zealot”(really the Fanatic!). It’s great to know that despite our names, our race, our country of birth, the language we speak, or our family of origin, we are all called to be a “dwelling place of God in the Spirit,” and we are all sent out to proclaim the message of the Lord “through all the earth.”
