Over this weekend, in the town of Rawang, in Selangor, Malaysia, there will be crowds of people.
And a good number of Catholics from Singapore will be there too.
The crowds would be streaming to a Catholic church there called the Church of St. Jude Thaddeus.
The feast day of St. Jude Thaddeus, who was one of the 12 Apostles, is on the 28th October.
And since this year the 28th October falls on a Sunday, then the crowds would be larger than ever.
That is because St. Jude is a popular saint – he is the patron saint of the desperate and hopeless cases.
Maybe “hopeless” is not quite the correct word to use here.
But certainly the word “desperate” is something we are familiar with and that we can identify with.
In the Catholic Church, St. Jude is venerated as the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes.
St. Jude is invoked in desperate situations because his New Testament letter (Letter of Jude) stressed that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh and difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them.
So it is a very encouraging and consoling letter.
That is just one of the reasons why St. Jude is invoked as the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes.
But in the past, many Catholics have mistakenly confused St. Jude with Judas Iscariot because their names sound similar in Latin as well as in other languages.
As a result, the faithful avoided venerating him or invoking him for prayers.
Therefore, St. Jude Thaddeus is also called the “Forgotten Saint”.
But because veneration of St. Jude was minimal, hence only people in the most dire of circumstances would call upon him, those that are termed as a “lost cause”.
And surprise, surprise, when those in a really desperate situation or a lost cause turned to St. Jude, their petitions were answered.
Hence, the veneration of the “Forgotten Saint” was revived, and St. Jude has become one of the more “popular” saints.
In the gospel, the blind man Bartimaeus (or son of Timaeus) was a desperate case as well as a lost cause.
Regardless of whether he was born blind or afflicted with blindness, his blindness was a lost cause – there can be no cure.
Besides his blindness, he also had quite a desperate situation.
He was “forgotten”. He was only known as Bartimaeus, or son of Timaeus. People had forgotten his name!
His blindness had enveloped him in darkness, and his “forgotten” status pushed him into desperate loneliness.
So here is a classic desperate case and a lost cause – a blind beggar, with a forgotten name, only known as the son of Timaeus.
But when he, whose name was forgotten by people, heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried out to Him by an ancient and royal name : Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!
It was an acclamation – Jesus, Son of David, and followed by a lamentation – Have pity on me!
And for that, he got scolded by the crowd and told to shut up.
Because people like to hear acclamations, but they frown upon lamentations. People get disturbed by the cries of lamentation.
As far as most people are concerned, the afflicted are to suffer in silence.
To cry out aloud in lamentation is rude, it is not proper and it disturbs the peace. And it doesn’t sound religious.
But that is not what the Bible teaches. In fact in the Bible, there is a book called the Book of Lamentations.
In other words, the Bible teaches that the religious response to suffering is not to suppress it or hide it or to keep quiet about it.
Because remaining silent and hiding it is as good as making suffering a hopeless case, and that there is no possibility of change, because God doesn’t care at all.
But that is not true! Because when that son of Timaeus called out to the Son of David, something happened. Yes, Jesus stopped and called for him.
Yes, God listens to the lamentations of His people, the cries of suffering, the groans of anguish and distress, the screams of pain.
Lamentations express the hope that God will listen and that things will change.
Certainly God does not forget those who are suffering and who cry out to Him.
God will stop and listen, just as Jesus stopped and called for the son of Timaeus, that blind beggar whose name was forgotten by people.
Well, St. Jude Thaddeus knows what it feels like to be forgotten.
And as the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes, St. Jude reminds us that those who are suffering in pain and anguish must not be forgotten.
St. Jude will gather the prayers of those who are suffering and present them to Jesus.
And what better day to pray to St. Jude Thaddeus than on his feast day as we come for Mass.
After Mass, let us just spend some time in thanksgiving, and let us ask St. Jude to pray for us.
We have our desperate situations and high anxieties, especially as our children are having their exams, and not only they are stressed out, we are also stressed out.
Or, we may also know of persons whom we think are “hopeless cases” – they are addicted to gambling, drinking or in some kind of sinful attachment.
Let us remember that with God, there is no such a thing as a hopeless case.
But of course, without God, then everything is hopeless.
Let us ask St. Jude to pray for us. We will face desperate situations, but there is hope that things will change.
Because God won’t leave us desperate and hopeless.
God will not forget us. Because our names are carved in the palm of His hands (Isaiah 49:16)