18th October 2021
Feast of Saint Luke, the Evangelist
The Plan of God in our Life
2 Timothy 4:10-17ab
Ps 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 17-18
Gospel Lk 10:1-9
Today the Church is gladly celebrating the feats of saint Luke, the apostle of Christ and apostle of the church, who is considered by the church to be the tradition and deposit of faith and also the pillar of the pastoral activity of the church. Luke is an outstanding evangelist who responded positively to Christ’s calling and left everything to follow Christ and to be with him.
He is the only non-Jewish Evangelist. He wrote the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, between 70 and 85 AD. They were originally one book, and, when taken together, are longer than the fourteen epistles of St. Paul. Luke is represented in art by an ox or calf, for he saw Jesus as a sacrifice for all mankind and began his Gospel describing Zechariah and the Temple worship.
It is believed that Luke wrote the Gospel when he was 74 and died at Boeotia when he was 84 years old. Luke presents Jesus as giving importance and recognition to women and the Gentiles.
Luke is traditionally known as the apostle of the poor and known as the apostle of prayer: Luke presents Jesus as a man of prayer spending much of his time in listening to God his Father in order to learn His will and in talking to Him in solitude.
We are to be merciful and compassionate, becoming the voice of the voiceless: Luke describes Jesus’ siding with the poor and marginalized in the society (option for the poor) and trying to give a special status to women and Gentiles.
He helped Paul in nourishing spiritually many Christian communities and to bear witness of Christ among them.
With Luke we learn that life is not measured by duration, rather it is measured by donation; the quality of life is not a matter of how long you live but what you have done, if you were able to fulfill the plan of God in your life faithfully; and we also learn the real leadership based on service and self-giving for the sake of others.
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