PRAYER TO SAINT SIMON AND JUDE , Apostles feast on 28th October

On the various New Testament lists of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13), the tenth and eleventh places are occupied by Simon the Zealot (also called Simon the "Cananean," the Aramaic word meaning "Zealot") and by Judas of James, also called Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus. ("Judas" in New Testament contexts corresponds to "Judah" in Old Testament ones. Note that masculine names ending in "-ah" when translated from Hebrew directly to English usually end in "-as" when the translation passes through Greek, since in Greek a terminal "-a" is normally feminine, but a terminal "-as" is normally masculine. Thus we have "Elijah" = "Elias," "Jeremiah" ="Jeremias," etc.) Some ancient Christian writers say that Simon and Jude went together as missionaries to Persia, and were martyred there. If this is true, it explains, to some extent, our lack of historical information on them and also why they are usually put together. Simon is not mentioned by name in the New Testament except on these lists. Some modern writers have used his surname as the basis for conjectures associating him, and through him Jesus and all His original followers, with the Zealot movement described by Josephus, a Jewish independence movement devoted to assassination and violent insurrection. However, there were many movements that were called Zealot, not all alike, and Josephus tells us (Jewish War 4,3,9) that the movement he is describing did not arise until shortly before the destruction of the Temple in 70 Ad. Jude is often, in popular usage, referred to as the patron of desperate causes, the "saint of last resort," the one you ask for help when all else fails. Some readers will wonder what this is all about. Since his name reminds hearers of Judas Iscariot, there is a tendency for someone asking a Christian brother now with the Lord for intercessory prayers to try one of the other apostles first. Hence, Jude has come to be called "the saint of last resort," the one whom you ask only when desperate. Doubtless, you want to hear my personal opinion on this business of invocation of saints. Since you insist.... In the first place, the expression, "praying to Saint X" is misleading and unfortunate. In older English "pray" simply meant to request politely. Thus, in the Kjv, we read that Jesus boarded Simon Peter's ship and "prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land." (L 5:3) Thus, the idea of "praying to Saint X" is simply the idea of asking a fellow Christian to intercede with God on one's behalf. It is not different in principle from asking your Christian roommate to pray for you. However, in modern English, the word "pray" is generally understood to refer to worship. I therefore urge everyone who talks about "praying to Saint X" to modernize his language and instead talk about "asking Saint X to join me in praying to God for the recovery of my sick aunt," or whatever. The other way of talking can mislead others, and it can mislead the speaker. That was a preliminary comment on terminology. Now to the question. Undoubtedly asking one's fellow Christians in heaven for their prayers is something that can be abused. It can readily degenerate into the notion that getting what you want from God is a matter of knowing what channels to go through, what strings to pull. One ends up thinking of heaven as a place like the seat of a corrupt government (whether Washington or Versailles), where favors are traded and deals are made by influence peddlers. But the fact that something can be abused does not mean that we ought to give up its proper use. And surely one of the most valuable truths of the Christian faith is that God's love for us moves us to love in return, not only God but also one another, so that every Christian is a mirror in which the light of Christ is reflected to every other Christian. The Scriptures seem to show that God delights in giving us gifts through others when He could just as easily have given them directly. When Paul on the road to Damascus asks, "Lord, what will you have me do?" God does not tell him, but sends Ananias to tell him instead (A 9:1-19). When the centurion Cornelius is praying, God sends an angel to speak to him, but the angel does not preach the Gospel to him. It tells him to send for a man called Peter, and Peter comes and preaches the Gospel to him (A 10). God wants us to owe our spiritual well-being, not just to Him, but also to one another. Hence He has told us to pray for one another. Nor is the bond of Christian love broken by death. The martyrs under the altar in John's vision (Rev 6:9ff) pray for the church on earth. Even the Rich Man in Hell, in Jesus' parable, intercedes for his five brothers on earth. Are we to suppose that the saved are less compassionate than the damned?