Today is Saint Jude’s feast day. He is one of the 12 Apostles and is the patron of hopeless cases because in his epistle he emphasizes that the faithful “persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them (Catholic Online).”
He also happens to be one of my patron saints. I’m partial, but I have the best name in the world: Stephen Jude. The first martyr and deacon (Stephen) and a relative of Jesus (Jude). Legend has it he taught Jesus Greek. Imagine teaching Jesus! Whether or not it’s true, we know little of Saint Jude except that he does intercede for those in massive trouble. What a hero and role model to help people in such dire straights. (There’s a reason a well known hospital is named for him.) I wish I could live up to such a standard.
But I must confess: I don’t seek his intercession only in dire circumstances. Even when things seemharsh, although you know by comparison to others’ situations they are not, he will help you. Trust me. Seek his intercession.
Here is more about him from Catholic Online:
St. Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of St. James the Less, and a relative of Our Saviour.
Ancient writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Lybia. According to Eusebius, he returned to Jerusalem in the year 62, and assisted at the election of his brother, St. Simeon, as Bishop of Jerusalem.
He is an author of an epistle (letter) to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics. This Apostle is said to have suffered martyrdom in Armenia, which was then subject to Persia. The final conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity did not take place until the third century of our era.
Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His resurrection. Little else is known of his life. Legend claims that he visited Beirut and Edessa; possibly martyred with St. Simon in Persia.
