Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist

Today, we celebrate the feast of Saint Luke, a Gentile Convert and a companion of Saint Paul on his missionary journeys. He wrote the Gospel that bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles.

We believe Jesus was the Son of God and a human person. In the past, spirituality was often focused on Christ’s divinity, which could make him seem relatively remote, awesome, and fearful.

Luke’s Gospel portrays very clearly the humanness of Jesus. Such an approach could give rise to a spirituality of accompaniment, closeness, and friendship.

Luke lists Jesus’ genealogy as his human ancestors and is the only Evangelist who focuses on the birth of Jesus, born of Mary in a humble cave. He details the temptation of Jesus before he begins his public ministry. This ministry was compassionate and attentive to the people he encountered, especially those afflicted and alienated. He offered a new way of relating to the Father, not in strict observance of the minutiae of the Law, but in loving and caring for each other. He used simple images drawn from people’s daily experiences to explain the Kingdom of God, the graceful call of God to love. He died a painful and public death and was buried in a tomb. His humanity took on a different dimension after the resurrection.

Another crucial aspect of Jesus’ ministry was food and eating with others: his disciples, sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, and the five thousand who came out to hear him. His ministry of eating continues today as we gather for the Eucharist. He feeds us saints and sinners to enable us to carry on his message and to continue to be his living and healing presence in our world.

Let Us Pray:

Jesus, you humbled yourself to share in our humanity so we could share in your divinity. Give us an abundance of your grace that we might recognize and be of loving service to your presence in all of humanity, especially in those individuals we meet each day who come to us in need. Amen.