Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles.
[October 28]O ALMIGHTY God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head cornerstone; Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ephesians ii. 19 & St. John xv. 17
By tradition, Simon Zelotes and Jude Thaddeus, brother of James the Greater, were apostles to Persia and were martyred. St Jude wrote the Epistle by his name. They along with the other apostles strove to build the foundation of our Church and faith. We remember their work and continue it through observing their teachings and doctrines. The apostles established central beliefs, which they taught in accordance with Jesus' great commission to go forth and teach and baptize. Catechumens confessed these beliefs at the time of Baptism. This form of confession is recorded in the "Teachings of the Apostles" as part of the rite of Baptism. This confession of faith has evolved into what Christians know today as the Apostle's Creed. This statement of belief is truly the foundation of the Church's faith, and it is part of what makes the Church apostolic. Each person who shares in the Communion of the Saints must hold these beliefs in common.
Our appointed Epistle gives us the image of a building. In it, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the cornerstone. Everything must align with him in the building - his teachings and his life. As the cornerstone, His actual presence in the Church anchors it. Then the foundation is built out from the cornerstone. This foundation is the apostles, their belief and fellowship, and their work to establish the Church. Finally, after the apostles had formed the foundation, the people that followed have built up the Church on this foundation, and so it continues today, all based on that strong foundation of Christ and the apostles and the beliefs they set forward.
The Gospel appointed for today provides the secret of the strength of the Church - Charity. Jesus gave his disciples the commandment, Love one another at the Last Supper on what we call Maundy Thursday, meaning Commandment Thursday. For as Christ is the cornerstone, the apostles the foundation, and we the building blocks; then Love is the mortar that cements the Church together. `God's Word in our lives is the discipline, the chisel that forms us into Christians, so that we are rightly fitted together. The sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper serve to bind the Communion of the Saints together. Superimposed upon this mystical structure of the Church is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in our Gospel that he would send the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father as the Parakletos who stands by us, assists us, and pleads our cause. His presence guards and support the Church and enables her to withstand all the assaults of Evil against her.
The Church is not about bricks and mortar in a physical sense, for they can certainly be destroyed, but the mystical Church will never be destroyed for the gates of Hell cannot prevail against her. Our belief is the essential and crucial element that shapes us and holds us together. In the Order of Centurions this belief is central to our discipline and devotion. It is expressed in the ancient Forma Romana Vetus that was given to us by the Apostles. We can never be defeated as long as we hold the faith. Today the faith is under serious attack from an increasingly secular and intolerant world who hates the Apostolic world vision. The most serious attack, however, comes from within the Body of Christ, and especially those who are charged specifically with guarding the faith... her bishops. What these errant bishops intend to pervert we must protect. That was the purpose for founding the Order, "to guard the simple Apostolic faith." I invite you to rehearse the Credo today as we remember Simon and Jude and our Apostolic Church:
In English *** Forma Romana Vetus *** Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem. Et in Jesum Christum, Filium ejus unicum, Dominum nostrum; qui natus est de Spiritu Sancto et Maria virgine; sub Pontio Pilato crucifixus, et sepultus; tertia die resurrexit a mortuis; ascendit in cælum, sedet ad dexteram Patris; inde venturus judicare vivos et mortuos. Et in Spiritum Sanctum; Sanctam, Ecclesiam; remissionem peccatorum; carnis resurrectionem
The Reverend Mark Carroll
Ephesians ii. 19
NOW therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the house-hold of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.St. John xv. 17
THESE things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep your's also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.