Saint Luke

October  18, Monday

Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

A man concerted from a heartless paganism is struck by Christ, the Lord, who is concerned about the poor and the downtrodden; a physician, he is fascinated too by a man who is more than a man, Christ the Lord who heals the sick body and soul. This is the evangelist Luke. A jewel of his style is the tender description of the holy family in his Infancy Narrative. Among his main themes are God’s boundless forgiveness, prayer, the seriousness of the Christian life, the role of women in the Church, the universalism of a Church destined for all. These themes constantly reappear in the two books he wrote: his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.

 

First Reading: 2 Timothy 4:10-17b

Luke is the only one here with me. Bring Mark with you; he’ll be my right-hand man since I’m sending Tychicus to Ephesus. Bring the winter coat I left in Troas with Carpus; also the books and parchment notebooks.

Watch out for Alexander the coppersmith. Fiercely opposed to our Message, he caused no end of trouble. God will give him what he’s got coming.

At my preliminary hearing no one stood by me. They all ran like scared rabbits. But it doesn’t matter—the Master stood by me and helped me spread the Message loud and clear to those who had never heard it.

 

Gospel: Luke 10:1-9

Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge:

“What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.

“On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You’re like lambs in a wolf pack.

“Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage.

“Don’t loiter and make small talk with everyone you meet along the way.

“When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace.’ If your greeting is received, then it’s a good place to stay. But if it’s not received, take it back and get out. Don’t impose yourself.

“Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town.

“When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tellthem, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!’

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
your evangelist Luke portrays with warmth
your Son Jesus Christ as the healer
of the ills of people,
and the friend and support of the poor.
May St. Luke open our eyes
to the needs of the poor and defenseless
and help us love them and care for them.
Make us poor of heart,
that we may understand the poor
and bring joy and liberation to them.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Feast of Evangelist St. Luke

According to a pious tradition, St. Luke is thought to have painted the image of Mary, the Virgin Mother. But the real portrait that Luke draws of the Blessed Mother is the one that emerges from the pages of his Gospel. In those familiar scenes of the Annunciation, the Visitation and her Magnificat, the Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple, life in the home of Nazareth, Jesus being lost in the temple, and the Pentecost, Luke introduces us to Mary’s life in faith, helping us to understand her role in God’s divine plan of salvation.

Luke the painter has done his creation in two huge canvases – the first speaks of the Life and Mission of Jesus in the Gospel and the second spoke about the life and mission of the early Church. Or it can also be considered as reports of the works of Jesus in his Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles.

In the Gospel today, Jesus sends all his disciples, Luke says there were 70 of them (or 72 in some versions). Why is this number 70? The rabbis of Israel taught that the people of God – Israel was surrounded by 70 wolves – referring to the numerous pagan religious groups that disregarded the Jewish customs, traditions and practices. It is into the midst of these wolves or pagans that Jesus sends his disciples, and therefore, they are 70 in numbers

The Mission of Jesus is to build his Church and this cannot be done alone. Church is essentially a community and building this community is a collective responsibility. Hence, the disciples are sent out in pairs to support and complement each other in the mission. Carrying out the mission of Jesus is no easy task. It requires God’s blessings and hence, the first instruction of Jesus to his ambassadors is to be consistent in prayer to the God of the harvest, that they become efficient labourers.

Pay attention to this aspect of prayer: Prayer to the Lord of the harvest is not intended to persuade God to send more laborers into His harvest but is intended to transform the disciple into an apostle. Prayer gives him balance, good disposition, inner peace; frees him from pride, presumption. It enables him to overcome opposition, disappointments, and failures; it reveals to him, moment by moment, the will of the “Lord of the harvest.”

A disciple must resist the temptations to depend on material resources while accepting the mission of Christ. All the resources that he/she requires is to trust in God’s providence.

 

Video available on Youtube: Feast of Evangelist St. Luke