Today the Church honours two apostles who often get overlooked — Simon and Jude. We know little about them individually, but that’s exactly the point:
they show us the quiet strength that holds up the Church from within.

Luke tells us that before Jesus chose the Twelve,
He went up a mountain to pray.
He spent the whole night with His Father,
and only then did He call His apostles by name.

That’s the foundation of every vocation — prayer first, mission second.
Jesus didn’t build the Church by talent or strategy,
but by communion with the Father.
The apostles were not self-appointed; they were chosen.

We live in a world that says, “Make your own truth, build your own platform.”
But the Gospel says the opposite:
it’s not about self-selection; it’s about divine election.
Christ calls; we respond.

Before any of us are priests, deacons, parents, teachers, or disciples,
we are first the called.
We didn’t find Christ — He found us.

Ephesians reminds us: “You are no longer strangers and aliens,
but members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.”

Simon and Jude are part of that foundation.
We don’t know their miracles or speeches;
we just know they were faithful. And that’s enough.
Not every apostle was a Peter or a Paul.
Some built quietly, brick by brick, prayer by prayer, witness by witness.

That’s how most of the Church is built —
not through fame, but faithfulness.
Not through brilliance, but endurance.
Not through applause, but obedience.

Simon and Jude remind us that holiness isn’t about being noticed.
It’s about being available —to be placed where God needs you,
to hold up your little corner of the wall.

Paul says we are “built together into a dwelling place for God.”
The apostles are the foundation, Christ the cornerstone,
and we are the living stones built upon them.

That’s what it means to be Catholic:
not to start again in every generation, but to build on what’s been handed down.

The Church isn’t a museum of ideas;
she’s a living temple held together by grace and history.
That’s why we honour the apostles — not as distant heroes, but as living roots.

Through them we received the faith, the sacraments, the Scriptures.
Their courage carried the Gospel from that Galilean hillside to this altar today.
And every time we profess the Creed — “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” — we are saying: I stand on their shoulders.

It’s comforting to remember that the apostles were not born saints.
They argued, doubted, and stumbled.
But when they were filled with the Holy Spirit,
weakness became witness.

That’s still how the Church grows.
God doesn’t look for perfection — He looks for availability.
He takes ordinary men and women and turns them into living signs of His power.

If you think your faith is small,
remember Simon and Jude — quiet, unknown, faithful.
If you think your work doesn’t matter,
remember: God builds His kingdom on small foundations that last forever.

So today, thank God for Simon and Jude —
the apostles of the quiet cornerstones.
Through their yes, the Gospel reached us.
Through their faith, the Church still stands.

Let’s be like them:
steady rather than showy,
faithful rather than famous,
content to build where God has placed us.

Because when the foundation is strong,
the whole house stands firm.
And Christ Himself is the cornerstone who holds it all together.