Reflections on the readings for the Memorial of St. Luke (October 18, 2019): 2 TM 4:10-17; PS 145:1-11,12-13,17-18; LK 10:1-9
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Today we remember St. Luke, author of one of the Gospels and of the Acts of the Apostles. He is the only one of the four writers of the Good News who was a Gentile.
An early convert to Christianity and a physician by profession, Luke accompanied St. Paul on some of his travels and stood by him during his imprisonment in Caesarea and in Rome. He wrote in the 70s or 80s A.D. and his contribution to the New Testament is immense. Only in Luke do we read the story of the Annunciation to Mary, the Presentation of Jesus, or the finding of Jesus in the Temple. It is generally believed that he heard these stories directly from the Blessed Virgin Mary. Luke’s work has not only been acclaimed for the beauty of his prose, but also for featuring particular aspects of Christ’s ministry. Women, the poor and other marginalized people are highlighted, and Pope St. John Paul II even called it the Gospel of Mercy. Luke also focuses on the importance of prayer in the life of Jesus and all who strive to worship God.
While we do not know with certainty what happened to Luke after the completion of Acts, he is believed to have been martyred while sharing his faith in our Lord with Gentiles, possibly in Greece. In today’s reading from Luke, we hear Jesus say, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Luke 10:2). We find in St. Luke, a devout disciple and laborer for Christ who used the written and spoken word to introduce countless people to our Savior.