But for St. Luke...

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 18, 2024 - Remembering St. Luke, the Evangelist
2 Timothy 4: 10-17b; Luke 10: 1-9

Today we celebrate St. Luke, the evangelist who has made an irreplaceable contribution made to the Canon of the Bible, that we have as our Scripture. 

If it were not for Luke, we would have no Magnificat -the song of praise sung by our Blessed Mother, no Benedictus -the song of praise by Zecharaiah, no song of Anna! Luke makes it an important point to narrate the stories of persons who sang praises of the Lord - in fact those type of narrations continue in the Acts too! The message he gives us is clear: learn and get into the habit of singing the praises of the Lord, every time you realise the goodness of the Lord. 

But for St. Luke, we would not read the account of John's birth or the narrative on the Ascension of our Lord! He was keen on capturing the supernatural, amidst the run of our daily drill. His invitation is so pertinent: grow ever more conscious of God and the Godly elements in your daily life, because God is with us, all the time. 

But for St. Luke we would not have met Zachaeus in Jericho, the ten leprosy patients on the road, the Women disciples who followed Jesus, the "good thief" on the Cross, or the discouraged disciples on the way to Emmaus. There is a powerful element that Luke wants us to notice - that there is so much darkness and dullness around us that could easily overshadow our capacity to see the goodness of the Lord extending a saving hand to us... it takes a special grace to see the light and turn to the way of the Light. 

But for St. Luke we would have missed the greatest of stories ever told -the Prodigal Son and other inspiring stories of the Good Samaritan, the Rich man and Lazarus and Jesus' walk to Emmaus after resurrection. Luke is very particular about the choices that we have to make at the right moments of our life. If we miss them, we miss the sense of our life and our vocation. The question to us is: are we aware of the ever present light of the Lord and how ready are we to choose its radiance?

There is yet another speciality of Luke, which is his way of making sense of the Reign of God. Though even the other Gospels, be it the synoptics or that of John, they do speak of the Reign of God, Luke in his turn speaks of the Reign of God being amidst us. "Reign of God is amidst you", says Lk 17:21. The same is recorded in Lk 10:9, which we hear today: "the Reign of God has come near to you". The prominent message of Luke here is a call to recognise in action our vocation to be the agents of the Reign of God. It is a call to live our life as the people of the Reign, thus ushering in the Reign of God here on earth and now in our own contexts. 

May St. Luke inspire us to get in touch with the Word of God evermore lovingly and enable us towards making the Reign of God felt, present and flourishing wherever we are and in whatever way we can.