We know remarkably little about Saints Simon and Jude.
For apostles, their biographies are not exactly overflowing.
Peter gives us plenty. Paul gives us almost too much.
Simon and Jude appear, are named, follow Christ, preach Him — and largely disappear from the pages of Scripture.
Which is rather encouraging.
Apparently you can become a saint without leaving enough material for a twelve-part documentary.
And Saint Paul tells us today why they matter.
The Church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.”
Simon and Jude are foundation stones.
A foundation stone has an unusual career.
Nobody walks into a beautiful church, looks at the floor and says:
“What magnificent foundations.”
If the foundations are doing their job, most people forget they are there.
They simply hold everything up.
That seems rather appropriate for these two apostles.
They did not become famous. They became faithful. And Christ built with them.
But notice where the Gospel begins.
Before Jesus chooses the Twelve, He goes up the mountain and spends the whole night in prayer.
Then, when morning comes, He calls His disciples and chooses twelve.
They did not apply. There was no interview panel.
No one presented a five-year plan for apostolic development. Christ chose them.
That matters, because the Church does not begin with human beings having an interesting religious idea.
It begins with Jesus Christ. He calls. He chooses. He sends.
That is why every Sunday we profess belief in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
“Apostolic” is not an old word which survived because nobody remembered to remove it.
It tells us where our faith comes from.
Christ entrusted His teaching and mission to the apostles.
They handed it on.
The bishops succeed the apostles.
And the Church does not have permission to wake up one morning and invent a new Christianity because the old one has become inconvenient.
We receive the faith. We do not manufacture it.
Simon and Jude remind us of that simply by being there at the beginning.
Then the Gospel gives us another important detail.
After Jesus chooses the Twelve, a huge crowd gathers.
People come to hear Him. People come to be healed.
And Saint Luke says: “Power came forth from Him and healed them all.”
That sentence keeps everything in the right order.
The apostles do not have power because they are impressive men.
The power comes from Christ.
Saint Paul says the same thing with his building.
The apostles are the foundation. But Christ is the cornerstone.
Take away the cornerstone and the whole building loses its shape.
The apostles do not replace Christ.
They bring people to Him.
And that is still the pattern of the Church.
A bishop is not important because he has interesting personal ideas.
A priest is not useful because he has developed his own version of Christianity.
A parish does not exist to become a monument to the people running it.
We are foundations, stones, servants.
Christ is the cornerstone.
That is wonderfully liberating.
Because Christians can become very busy doing things for God and gradually begin behaving as though He would be in serious difficulty without us.
He would not.
This is Christ’s Church.
We are allowed to serve Him.
We are not required to replace Him.
Simon and Jude understood that.
Christ calls. They follow.
Christ sends. They go.
Christ builds. They let themselves be used.
And then history largely loses sight of them.
God does not.
That may be one of the loveliest things about their feast.
The world remembers the spectacular.
God remembers faithfulness.
Simon and Jude were not called to make themselves famous.
They were called to belong to Christ and help others belong to Him.
So are we.
And the Church still stands for the same reason it stood at the beginning.
Not because every Christian is strong.
Not because every generation gets everything right.
The building stands because Christ is the cornerstone.
Simon and Jude gave Him their lives.
He built with them.
May He find us willing to do the same.
Not necessarily noticed.
Not necessarily remembered.
But faithful.
Because saints do not need to be famous.
They need to stay with Christ.
