the Man around my Neck

I have been wearing a medal of St. Jude Thaddeus of James around my neck for a while now.  Honestly, I think it is because, deep down, I wish I could be Catholic.  I love the sense of tradition.  It's much more comforting to be a part of a religious organization that would rather stay the same for eternity than try to appease youngsters by putting a coffee shop in their youth room and playing terrible Christian pop-punk through their speakers.  Seriously, Catholicism, if it weren't for all your pedo-priests and deification of really old men.....

I am in to the story of St. Jude because people kind of hate him, I guess.  Mostly because he is confused with Judas Iscariot.  As you can see, the art work involved in this iconography is beautiful and I especially like that of Thaddeus.  He usually has an axe in his hand because that is how he died and his head is usually portrayed with fire on it because he was present at Pentecost.  He is called the patron saint of impossible situations due to the content of his New Testament letter, which you should check out; it's really short.  The necklace serves as a good reminder of the principles found in his letter and makes for something productive to think about when the necklace reminds me.

"St, Jude, hope of the hopeless, pray for me" - Catholic prayer