October 28, 2009

SS. Simon & Jude
(Feastday = Oct. 28) (Holy Zeal)

End of the line draft picks? Judas (in LK) Thaddeus (MT & MK), the son of James (LK) and Simon the Zealot (in LK) a Canaanean (MT & MK). If the Apostles had numbered jerseys, they would be #10 & #11, just before Judas Iscariot. There isn't much known about them, but one characteristic I think we could highlight about them is their holy zeal.

Simon isn't simply called “the lesser” (nor “the pebble” compared to Simon “the Rock”). He was evidently a member of the Zealot party. Simply by his title we can put together his conversion story from a misplaced zeal for violent political revolution to a holy zeal for the Kingdom of Heaven and the revolution of humble love.

Judas Thaddeus (= "Courageous") has one line in the Gospel of John, asking the Lord “How is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?” He demonstrates a zeal for souls in this question, a desire that the whole world would be saved. If he is the author of the epistle of Jude, it is consistent with one who is "eager to write" and exhort the Church to “contend for the faith” (v.3). Verses 12 &13 definitely have the tone of a zealous preacher. The call to “save others by snatching them from the fire” (v. 23) also conveys a real zeal for the salvation of souls.

To understand what holy zeal is, let's look first at its opposites.

Holy zeal combats indifference and sloth. What is our attitude toward sin? Do we comprehend the consequences of sin enough to be repulsed by it? More than once I have been in discussions with young people who laughed at the thought of remaining chaste until marriage because they didn't yet see the long-term consequences of sexual sin. Recently I was speaking with a grandfather outside of an abortion site who was holding his grandson, (whom he called a “miracle baby”) while shrugging off the fact that his daughter was inside having an abortion, allowing this other grandchild to be killed. It is as if numbness in one part of the body spreads to the entire body and drains it of life. We can be lulled into dullness not only by sin, but also by being too busy with the “practical” or “productive” concerns of life and missing the one thing necessary.

Another opposite of holy zeal is unholy zeal. The desert fathers often spoke of zeal in negative terms, meaning a zeal without discretion or prudence. Misdirected zeal, such as the preacher with the bullhorn on the street corner condemning everyone to Hell, has certainly driven people from the Church. In the Philokalia, the wise abbot Anthony gives a number of bizarre examples of monks who demonstrated zeal without discretion by starving themselves to death, jumping into wells, or attempting to sacrifice a family member! These monks were trying to demonstrate their faith, but the result was death on their part (although the family member escaped from being sacrificed!). Sometimes I meet people who are zealously obedient to a subjective “sense” from the Lord, while totally neglecting objective obedience or reason. Or sometimes we find people so overly focused on one concern (for example, a liturgical norm) that they miss everything else about the persons involved. Our Lord scolded the Pharisees for being so zealous about taxing herbs, while neglecting love of God and neighbor, the weightier matters of the law. I have heard homilies (and probably given some) about frivolous and even inaccurate matters given with great zeal - but not holy zeal.

A holy zeal is one that contributes to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. St. Bonaventure speaks of St. Francis' conviction that “nothing ought to take precedence over the salvation of souls.” He says that St. Francis' zeal in prayer, preaching, and example came from this conviction.

From all of this it ought to be clear that holy zeal is not simply an energetic, high­-speed personality. One doesn't need to speak with the stereotypical voice of a televangelist to demonstrate a holy zeal. At the same time a voice should be appropriate to the word it is conveying, in this case the Word who brings salvation and life to the full.

When the desert monk Lot came to the abbot Joseph he explained that he had been praying faithfully, keeping vigil and observing a frugal diet, and was wondering if there was anything else he should be doing. To this the abbot Joseph reportedly lifted up his hands to heaven and his fingers appeared to be burning like candles as he exclaimed, “Why not be turned into fire?” That sounds like holy zeal.

Saints Simon and Jude were apparently more background Apostles, but no doubt the Lord saw this holy zeal in them. We get a glimpse of this, as I mentioned above. Saint Jude is the patron of hopeless causes, perhaps in part because of his holy zeal that everyone be “saved from the fire.” Let's keep them busy in Heaven praying for our conversion, that we may grow in holy zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR

St. Crispin Friary

Bronx, New York