He Selected Twelve and Called Them Apostles

October 28, Saturday Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles
Daily Readings: First reading: Ephesians 2:19–22; Gospel: Luke 6:12–16.

 “You are being built into the dwelling place of God." (Ephesians 2:22).  These words of Saint Paul are quite meaningful for today’s feast day as we celebrate the life and martyrdom of two of Jesus’s closest friends: Simon and Jude, his disciples whom He called personally to be with him and sent them off as missionaries.

The word apostle comes from the Greek "Apostolos,” which means the one who is sent off. In that sense, today we Christians are aware that we are all missionaries; we are all sent to share our faith with others.

At present, we are able to live our Christian faith, speak about the Gospel,, and be the dwelling place of God because these two witnesses of Jesus, among many others, were faithful to God’s mission and brave enough to give their lives up to spread the good news, the Gospel.

Now, the apostles’ strength and fidelity came from their personal relationship with Jesus. We are invited to follow in Jesus’s footsteps up to the mountain (symbolizing God’s dwelling place, God’s presence) and spend quality time of prayer with God to make better decisions in our daily lives, to deepen our relationship with God, and to take our rightful place in God’s mission.

As Pope Francis says in Evangelii Gaudium No. 120, in virtue of our baptism, all members of the people of God have become missionary disciples (cf. Matthew 28:19).  All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients.”