Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
When our Lord called to himself his twelve apostles, he chose men of various backgrounds,
but for the most part they were simple men.
They were not well-born or well-educated.
But even on a moral and spiritual level, they weren't the best of men either.
They weren't the cream of the crop.
It wasn't as though our Lord interviewed, you know, put an ad in the paper
and interviewed for his apostles and selected them among the best.
No, our Lord knew the hearts of each and every one.
And he drew to himself men that are very much like the rest of men.
Even one was a traitor.
And our Lord knew he was a traitor when he called him.
So we're like the mass of men in many ways.
St. Peter often manifests his humanity, his fallen nature.
And for whatever reason, God's infinite wisdom,
he called the twelve men that he did.
And he called them into an intimate companionship with him.
These were the inner circle.
This was the inner circle of our Lord.
These were the men that our Lord talked to away from the crowds
and explained the parables to them.
These were the men who had an opportunity to deal with our Lord much more than others.
Did one-on-one as our Lord, in the end,
called all of them to be with him the night before he died
where he instituted the sacred ministry of the priesthood and the Eucharist
and gave them his mandate to celebrate these mysteries
and to teach in his name.
And that mandate which became...
His last command to them as he ascended into heaven.
And he sent them forth to call other men into intimate companionship with God.
So the apostles were called in a very special way, in a unique way,
because our Lord wants all of us to be his friends and intimate companions.
That's represented to us in a very profound way
at the foot of the cross.
Where our Lord gives our Blessed Lady to St. John as his mother
and St. John to our Blessed Lady as her child.
One of the apostles, one of even of a closer companionship to our Lord.
The three, Peter, James, and John, seem to be selected by our Lord
for very special revelations such as the revelation that our Lord gave to them on Mount Tabor.
St. John, one of these three, was called to the foot of the cross
and he went with our Blessed Lady and there he received our Blessed Lady
as our Lord's last will and testament.
And in our name, St. John entered into that relationship.
And so all of us are called to this.
All of us are called to this.
And certainly we are all here at the altar of God
receiving from this great Savior.
The sacrifice, the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus
through the ministry of the priesthood, which was instituted on Holy Thursday
and which continues to be, and the mysteries of our salvation
continue to be celebrated in the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
Today we celebrate two apostles in particular
who were selected by our Lord in a very special way.
Saints Simon and Jude, and Jude in particular,
represents in another way this calling that all of us receive
because St. Jude was related to our Lord as a cousin
and he was the one on the night before our Lord died in the Last Supper
who said, why do you manifest yourself to us and not to the world?
And our Lord replied to him that if anyone loves me,
they will keep my commandments
and I will keep my commandments.
And my Father will love him.
We will come to him and we will dwell with him.
And so we think about this at this moment
when we come to the altar
and we continue to celebrate the sacred mysteries
that our Lord instituted on the night he did this with his apostles,
the night before he died.
And the apostles were sent forth to preach the gospel
and the gospel is still there.
And we still preach today
and we still have the apostolic character of the church
and we're still all called to be our Lord's intimate companions
through the Eucharist and through our fidelity to his teaching
and to our willingness to follow him even all the way to the cross.
May we have that strength and that grace
as we celebrate here at the altar of God.
The mysteries of our salvation in union with our Blessed Lady
and Saints Simon and Jude.
Amen.
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