Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist

Today's Mass readings

We learn in today’s first reading that St. Paul had one companion on the trip that would end his earthly life – Luke (2 Tm 4:11). Others have deserted him on his way to Rome because they are “enamored of the present world.” Yet, Luke accompanies him.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Luke, companion of Paul, who wrote the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles. Luke was a Gentile, a non-Jew, and is thought to have been born in Antioch, outside of Jerusalem. Appropriately, his gospel emphasizes the relevance and, indeed the necessity, of the Good News to the whole world. Luke emphasizes Jesus’ ministry to the outcasts – the poor, sinners of all varieties, and women and he displays how tough Jesus was on the proud and self-righteous. We see in today’s reading from Luke a story of Jesus sending out his disciples ahead of him to prepare people for the coming of the Kingdom by offering “peace.” Such instructions prefigure the role of Jesus’ disciples in bringing the Gospel to the entire world, which really begins with the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is from Luke that we get the account of Pentecost – when the frightened apostles are gathered in Jerusalem after Jesus’ ascension and the Holy Spirit descends upon them beginning the mission of the Church. Throughout Acts of the Apostles, Luke shows how the mission of the Church mirrors the mission of Jesus, and this is made possible by Christ’s gift of His own Spirit to the Church.

Let us reflect today upon that gift of the Spirit that we celebrate in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. Since we learn from Luke that Christ’s Spirit animates and propels the Church’s mission, how well have we really been a member of the Church? We might take St. Luke himself as a model here, following his companion Paul to the death when everyone else abandoned him. Let us take one opportunity today to preach the gospel in an intentional way (in either word or deed), so that with the Church throughout the world, in the Person of the Holy Spirit we may proclaim the “glorious splendor of [God’s] Kingdom” (Ps 145:12).

- Tim Gabriell