When someone uses our name, it reminds us that we matter. In today’s Gospel, Luke doesn’t simply mention that Jesus called twelve apostles, he lists them by name, each one individually called to follow Christ. Our names do not appear in the Scriptures, but we are no less uniquely called to be disciples.
While we often tend to think of the twelve apostles as a unit, each of these men served the kingdom of God his own way. Tradition tells us that Sts. Simon and Jude, whose feast we celebrate today, preached the Gospel in Mesopotamia and Persia before dying as martyrs. Our path of discipleship may be vastly different from theirs, but we are uniquely called to follow Christ and to co-labor with him in his kingdom.
—The Jesuit Prayer team
.