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.

Today is a feast day in the Church – a special day set aside for the Apostles to Christ.  Today we remember Simon (who was called a Zealot) and Jude (Judas the son of James).  Our Gospel today focuses on Jesus choosing the 12 disciples in which he ordained them as His Apostles.  Why twelve?  For further clarification, I went to the footnotes again…

* [6:13] He chose Twelve: the identification of this group as the Twelve is a part of early Christian tradition (see 1 Cor 15:5), and in Matthew and Luke, the Twelve are associated with the twelve tribes of Israel (Lk 22:29–30; Mt 19:28). After the fall of Judas from his position among the Twelve, the need is felt on the part of the early community to reconstitute this group before the Christian mission begins at Pentecost (Acts 1:15–26). From Luke’s perspective, they are an important group who because of their association with Jesus from the time of his baptism to his ascension (Acts 1:21–22) provide the continuity between the historical Jesus and the church of Luke’s day and who as the original eyewitnesses guarantee the fidelity of the church’s beliefs and practices to the teachings of Jesus (Lk 1:1–4). Whom he also named apostles: only Luke among the gospel writers attributes to Jesus the bestowal of the name apostles upon the Twelve. See note on Mt 10:2–4. “Apostle” becomes a technical term in early Christianity for a missionary sent out to preach the word of God. Although Luke seems to want to restrict the title to the Twelve (only in Acts 4:4, 14 are Paul and Barnabas termed apostles), other places in the New Testament show an awareness that the term was more widely applied (1 Cor 15:5–7; Gal 1:19; 1 Cor 1:1; 9:1; Rom 16:7).

Bishop Barren alluded to this fact too in his post today…Recall the great vision from the second chapter of Isaiah: “The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain. . . . All nations shall stream toward it.” This is why Jesus chose twelve disciples, evocative of the twelve tribes. They would be the prototype and the catalyst for the gathering of Israel and hence the gathering of everyone. They would be the fundamental community and sign of unity.

So today’s Rosary will bring a little more meaning for me this morning.  Today I pray what I call the first five Salvation Mysteries and the fifth mystery is the Establishment of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Do something great for our Lord today – pray, reflect and celebrate the Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude.

God’s will, not mine, be done.

Be not afraid; just have faith.

Jesus, I trust in You.

He must increase; I must decrease.

But you, man of God, pursue righteousness,
devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
Compete well for the faith.