Patron Saint of the Fall 2015 Semester

St. Jude, pray for us!

So, I realized, four weeks into the school year, that I never chose a patron for the fall semester. For the past two semesters (Fall 2014 & Spring 2015), I've used Jennifer Fulweiler's Random Saint Generator to find a saint to intercede for me during the school semester. 

This semester, God gave me St. Jude. Also known as the patron saint of impossible causes. God's a funny one, isn't He?

Here's a brief biography about this amazing saint:

St. Jude, known as Thaddeus, was a brother of St. James the Less, a relative of Jesus, and one of His 12 Apostles 

He preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopot.amia, and Lybia. 

He returned to Jerusalem in 62 AD, and assisted at the election of his brother, St. Simeon, as Bishop of Jerusalem. 

He is an author of an epistle to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics. He is said to have suffered martyrdom in Armenia. The final conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity did not take place until the third century. 

At the Last Supper, Jude asked Jesus why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His resurrection. Not much else is known about his life. 

He is invoked in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them. He is the patron of desperate cases and his feast day is October 28th. 

To honor this beautiful man, I'll be praying to him daily, and reading his letter in the bible.

I took a quick look at it after he was chosen for me, and I was already blown away by how the first verse to catch my eye was exactly what I needed to hear, and actually what I talked about with my therapist yesterday:

"But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life" - Jude 1:20-21

St. Jude, pray for this hopeless case made new in Christ as I embark on my senior year.