The Announcement of Grace “In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.” The evangelist Luke is very interested in prayer. It is his character to emphasize that, in the important moments of his life, Jesus prayed and prayed for a long time. We have […]
The Programmatic Discourse “When Jesus began his ministry, he was about thirty years of age. He was the son, as was thought, of Joseph.” Luke, according to his literary and mixed training, is the most precise Evangelist from the point of view of the historiographic indications. He has dated the beginning of the ministry of […]
The Center of Time After the infancy narratives, the evangelist Luke, in chapter 3 of his work, begins to narrate the public ministry of Jesus. And from this moment on, the same narrative order follows that of Mark and Matthew. These three evangelists are in fact called Synoptics because they can be read almost […]
The Episodes in the Temple The Gospel of the Infancy narratives written by saint Luke highlights the work of the Gospel. The revelation of Jesus involves the people who accept the message and pass it on to others. It is the experience that the evangelist Luke lived in person, and how he describes Mary, who […]
The Visitation and the Birth After the narration of the two annunciations of John and Jesus, the Evangelist Luke presents the meeting of the two mothers. In the two chapters of the Gospel of the Infancy, Luke collects the material of the Judeo-Christian tradition; oral testimonies, perhaps written documents reworked by his literary and theological […]
The Annunciation The evangelist Luke prefaced the actual account of Jesus’ public ministry with a long narrative of the protagonist’s childhood. The first two chapters of the Gospel according to Luke are dedicated to the events preceding the public manifestation of Jesus. In chapter three, in fact, the evangelist, as a good historian and Hellenist, […]
Who was Luke? “Scriba mansuetudinis Christi”, this is how Dante Alighieri described the evangelist Luke: “Scribe of the meekness of Christ.” It is a concise and adequate formula. The evangelist Luke is, in fact, a skilled writer inserted in the culture of Hellenism and he has crafted a beautiful neat story picking up material from […]
ASCENSION OF THE LORD – YEAR B A DIFFERENT WAY OF BEING NEAR Introduction Following the entry of Jesus into the glory of the Father has anything on earth changed? Outwardly nothing. The lives of people continue like they were before: sowing, reaping, engaging in trade, building homes, traveling, grieving, and partying. […]
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – YEAR B WE ARE LOVED THAT IS WHY WE LOVE Introduction Baal, the great god worshiped throughout the ancient Middle East, was the lord of the rain, the “rider of the clouds” upon whom depended the fertility of fields and animals. They burned incense and bent the knees to him. […]