The feast day has two-fold purpose, to remember the event or the person and by means of reminder stir up within a soul a greater spiritual life. There are two types of feast days : universal and particular. The particular feast is celebrated only by certain dioceses or within certain religious orders. The feast day of St. Jude is a universal feast day, that is it is celebrated everywhere in the Latin Rite church and are included in the Roman calendar.
Second only to St. Mary, St. Jude Thaddeus is the most called upon saint in modern day prayer throughout the calendar year, not just on St Jude day. We acknowledge on his feast day his teachings to Christians to remain steadfast in the faith, to have fortitude, and to show mercy and to pray to the Holy Spirit.
We recognize Saint Jude Feast that he is the patron saint of desperate cases. Modern societies have made many speedy and major changes, putting human beings under tremendous stress in daily living. People have difficulty handling that stress and come to realize that newness and change and technology do not relieve stress and do not give hope and comfort. Prayer and petition to St. Jude stirs him to help, to provide hope and to provide help no matter how seemingly hopeless is the situation.
We recognize on the feast of St. Jude that he is the patron saint of hospitals. Hospitals as a business operation can sometimes endure major troubles. Purchase of necessary new high technology equipment can be prohibitively expensive. Upgrades to the existing plant plus financing of new space can be equally expensive. The normal daily operations and fair pay to the workforce is sometimes staggering. St. Jude is always here to help.
We recognize on St. Jude feast that he is the patron saint of hospital workers. Hospitals are known positively as places of healing. These settings can also be places of injury, severe pain, gore, terminal illness, surgery, therapy and death. The impact of one or all of these can have a debilitating effect on the life of a hospital worker. The prayers to St. Jude for fortitude at work and for continued faith in Jesus Christ can have a huge impact.
We recognize on his St. Jude feast day that he is the patron saint of desperate situations. People of all ages can sometimes find themselves or their family in desperate situations. The elderly person who needs prescriptions refilled but has no insurance and no money; the middle aged homeowner with a spouse and 3 kids soon to confront foreclosure and eviction; the young adult that cannot overcome a drug dependency and has no means to acquire more drugs; the old, the middle aged, the young, each faces a desperate situation. St. Jude is there to help if asked.
St. Jude Thaddeus is also acknowledged to be the patron saint of forgotten causes, impossible causes and lost causes. These are petitioned to him throughout the calendar year, and especially on his feast day we call to mind and honor his prayerful intercession.
Finally, we celebrate St. Jude’s feast day for the written word in his Letter of St. Jude. Herein, he tells people down through the ages including modern day to bear witness and pray to the Holy Spirit. The modern day faithful still get guidance and assurance from his writing. Some current biblical scholars link his comments to the New Age life style.