Posted on 10/18/2005 7:58:45 AM PDT by Salvation
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Body of St Luke Gains Credibility
| Tuesday, October 18, 2005 St. Luke, Evangelist (Feast) |
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October 18, 2005    St. Luke, Evangelist Old Calendar: St. Luke, evangelist
St. Luke, the inspired author of the third Gospel and of the Acts of the Apostles, was a native of Antioch in Syria and a physician, and one of the early converts from paganism. He accompanied St. Paul on a considerable part of his missionary journeying, even companioning him in prison at Rome on two different occasions. His account of these events, contained in the Acts, is firsthand history. Luke's Gospel is, above all, the Gospel of the Merciful Heart of Jesus. It emphasizes the fact that Christ is the salvation of all men, especially of the repentant sinner and of the lowly. Legend says that Luke painted the Blessed Virgin's portrait. It is certainly true that he painted the most beautiful word-picture of Mary ever written.
St. Luke  St. Luke came from Antioch, was a practicing physician and was one of the first converts to Christianity. He accompanied St. Paul, who converted him, on his missionary journeys and was still with him in Rome when St. Paul was in prison awaiting death. We hear no more of him afterwards and nothing is known of his last years. The Church venerates him as a Martyr. St. Luke's Gospel is principally concerned with salvation and mercy; in it are preserved some of our Lord's most moving parables, like those of the lost sheep and the prodigal son. Dante calls St. Luke the "historian of the meekness of Christ." It is also St. Luke who tells us the greater part of what we know about our Lord's childhood. "According to tradition he was an artist, as well as a man of letters; and with a soul alive to all the most delicate inspirations, he consecrated his pencil to the holiest use, and handed down to us the features of the Mother of God. It was an illustration worthy of the Gospel which relates to the divine Infancy; and it won for the artist a new title to the gratitude of those who never saw Jesus and Mary in the flesh. Hence St. Luke is the patron of Christian art." Excerpted from The Liturgical Year, Abbot Gueranger O.S.B. St. Luke did not personally know our Lord, and like St. Mark, the author of the second Gospel, he is not included among the apostles. For this reason the Gospel chosen for their feast is the account of the sending forth of the seventy-two disciples. According to St. Jerome, St. Luke died in Achaia (Greece) at the age of 84, and it unknown whether or not he died a martyr's death. His name means "bringer of light" (= luke). Patron: Artists; bachelors; bookbinders; brewers; butchers; glassworkers; goldsmiths; lacemakers; notaries; painters; physicians; sculptors; stained glass workers; surgeons. Symbols: Winged ox; winged calf; ox; picture of the Virgin; palette and brushes; phials of medicine; physician's robes; easel; book and pen; hatchet; wooden horse; books of his Gospel and of the Acts; bishop; painting an icon of our Lady. Things to Do:
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Canticle of Mary |
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The Magnificat has occupied an important place in the Liturgy of the Church since around the fourth century. The canticle is taken from the Gospel of Luke (1:46-55) where the events of the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth are recorded. Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist at the time, greeted Mary with the well known phrase "Blessed art thou amongst women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus". Mary responded with the canticle. Today the Magnificat is used during Vespers every evening. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who recite it. |
| MAGNIFICAT * anima mea Dominum, et exultavit spiritus meus * in Deo salvatore meo, quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae. * Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes, |
MY soul doth magnify * the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced * in God my Savior. For He hath regarded the humility of His handmaiden.* For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. |
| quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est,* et sanctum nomen eius, et misericordia eius in progenies et progenies * timentibus eum. |
For He that is mighty hath done great things to me, * and holy is His Name. And His Mercy is from generation unto generations * upon them that fear Him. |
| Fecit potentiam in brachio suo, * dispersit superbos mente cordi sui; deposuit potentes de sede * et exaltavit humiles; esurientes implevit bonis * et divites dimisit inanes. |
He hath shewed might in His arm, * He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, * and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things, * and the rich He hath sent empty away. |
| Suscepit Israel puerum suum, * recordatus misericordiae, sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, * Abraham et semini eius in saecula. |
He hath received Israel, His servant, * being mindful of His mercy. As He spoke to our Fathers, * Abraham and his seed forever. |
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Feast of St Luke, Apostle 2 Timothy 4:10-17; Luke 10:1-9 When we hear today’s Gospel about the abundant harvest but the paucity of laborers, our minds tend to go in the direction of the current dearth of vocations and our need to pray for more. That’s a laudable instinct and a good prayer, but it puts an unhealthy distance between ourselves and the perennial problem of who will carry the Good News. The real answer to that is, of course, that we all must be bearers of the Good News, not necessarily by taking on some formal role in our parishes, but by actively living the Good News. As Christians, we should be readily identifiable as truly and specially human in the best sense, just as Jesus was. That leads us to ponder what Jesus was and was not, what He regularly did and what He did not. Jesus was brother and neighbor to every person whose path He crossed. He set no barriers against people and included everyone inside the circle of His love. His purpose with each was simply to help him or her thrive. Jesus spent little or no time at all indulging in trivial pious practices, but He spent abundant time both in pondering the Scriptures and in communing silently with the Father. What better model could we ask? Jesus, our brother! |
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| St. Luke: Patron Saint for Artists |
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| 10/18/05 |
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About the year 450, the Empress Eudoxia returned home to Constantinople from the Holy Land with a large, heavy icon painted on wood. The image shows the Blessed Mother gazing out at the viewer and pointing with her right hand to the Divine Child she cradles in her left arm. |
Faith-sharing bump.
How sad, reading these names in the Biblical records of people who chucked the opportunity to serve the Lord.
An Intercession appropriate to the day I copied from a FR posting last year:
O Lord Jesus Christ our God, Lover of Mankind, Physician of our souls and bodies, who didst bear the pain of our infirmities, and by whose wounds we are healed,
Who gave sight to the man born blind,
Who straightened the woman who was bent over for 18 years,
Who gave speech and sight to the mute demoniac,
Who not only forgave the paralytic his sins, but healed him to walk,
Who restored the withered hand of a troubled man,
Who stopped the flow of blood of her who bled for 12 years
Who raised Jairus' daughter to life
And brought the 4-day-dead Lazarus to life
And who heals every infirmity under the sun,
Do now, O Lord, give your grace to all those here gathered who have labored and studied hour upon hour, to go into all the world, and also to heal by the talent You have given to each of them.
Strengthen them, by your strength, to fear no evil or disease,
Enlighten them to do no evil by the works of their hands,
And preserve them and those they serve in peace,
For You are our God, and we know no other,
And to you we send up glory together with your Father who is from everlasting, and your most Holy, Good, and Life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Fr. John Parker
Thank you for that. Just what I needed right now.
Tuesday October 18, 2005 Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading (2 Timothy 4:10-17b) Gospel (St. Luke 10:1-9)
Over the past week or so, we have been hearing the point from Saint Paul in his Letter to the Romans that we are saved by faith. Now what we hear in Saint Luke’s Gospel is Jesus telling us that the laborer deserves his payment. This is what the Church calls “merit.” The Church tells us that we have to have both faith and works, not the works of the law as we had talked about last week, but good works, salvific works. Salvific works means “works that lead to salvation.” So these are things like prayer, acts of charity that are done out of love for God and true love for neighbor, doing the things according to our state in life out of love for God. A work of salvation is something that has a supernatural motive. It is not just doing something nice for somebody in order to get some sort of selfish gain, in order for someone to think well of you, or whatever it might be, but rather it is something that is designed to move someone toward salvation. These works, the Church teaches us, are required and there is merit involved. Merit is the payment, if you will, that one deserves for having done a certain work. If you look at it on the natural level, your paycheck is the merit that you have earned for the work you have done. But in this case, God is the one who gives the payment: an increase in grace, an increase in glory, a greater love for God and for neighbor. These are the kinds of things that are going to be the reward we receive for having cooperated with God in His work.
Now the important thing of understanding this is that oftentimes Catholics are accused of thinking that they can earn their way to heaven. That is exactly wrong. There is no salvation without faith. It is only by faith that we are saved, but not faith alone; it is faith and works. We cannot earn our way to heaven. Heaven is something which is supernatural. That means it is beyond what is natural for us and, therefore, it is beyond our ability to be able to achieve. Even Our Lady, who never once sinned in her entire life, did not deserve to go to heaven. She did not earn her way to heaven. If from this point forward you did not sin once for the rest of your life, you still could not deserve to go to heaven. It is not something that anyone deserves or earns; it is a free gift of God. And so the idea that we think we can earn our way to heaven is something which is actually directly against the teaching of the Church. The Church teaches that we have to cooperate with the grace of God and do these works, these works of salvation, these works of charity, out of love of God and love of neighbor. These works will obtain for us an increase in grace and an increase in glory, but they are not earning our way to heaven. That is what we need to be very clear about.
We are saved through faith in Jesus Christ, not through any kind of empty works of the law and not even through good works. But the good works are required of us because if we are going to say that we have faith in Jesus Christ then (as we have seen many, many times over) that means we have to believe in every single thing that Jesus taught and everything that He is. And at the very center of His teaching is a new commandment: to love God and to love neighbor. So we have to have faith, but we have to have charity. And that charity is going to be rewarded because, after all, as the Lord Himself makes clear: The laborer deserves his wage.
* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.
| Lk 10:1-9 | ||
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| 1 | And after these things, the Lord appointed also other seventy-two. And he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was to come. | post haec autem designavit Dominus et alios septuaginta duos et misit illos binos ante faciem suam in omnem civitatem et locum quo erat ipse venturus |
| 2 | And he said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send labourers into his harvest. | et dicebat illis messis quidem multa operarii autem pauci rogate ergo Dominum messis ut mittat operarios in messem |
| 3 | Go: Behold I send you as lambs among wolves. | ite ecce ego mitto vos sicut agnos inter lupos |
| 4 | Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. | nolite portare sacculum neque peram neque calciamenta et neminem per viam salutaveritis |
| 5 | Into whatever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house. | in quamcumque domum intraveritis primum dicite pax huic domui |
| 6 | And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall return to you. | et si ibi fuerit filius pacis requiescet super illam pax vestra sin autem ad vos revertetur |
| 7 | And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Remove not from house to house. | in eadem autem domo manete edentes et bibentes quae apud illos sunt dignus enim est operarius mercede sua nolite transire de domo in domum |
| 8 | And into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. | et in quamcumque civitatem intraveritis et susceperint vos manducate quae adponuntur vobis |
| 9 | And heal the sick that are therein and say to them: The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. | et curate infirmos qui in illa sunt et dicite illis adpropinquavit in vos regnum Dei |
Jesus and His Disciples
4th Century A.D.
Sarcophagus From Roman Gaul
Marble
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Tuesday, October 18, 2005 Meditation 2 Timothy 4:10-17 Only Luke is with me. (2 Timothy 4:11) This one, short sentence tells us a lot about what kind of man Luke was. Paul had been deserted by friends for a variety of reasons. He cites “love of the present world,” but that could mean many things. Perhaps one friend found the sacrifices of traveling from town to town too strenuous and the constant threat of arrest too upsetting. Another might have had doubts when he heard gossip about Paul and decided to leave him. Maybe another disagreed with Paul about how to minister to a particular group. Or the simple daily challenges of living in close contact with another sinful human being required too much self-sacrifice for someone else. But though all these left, Luke remained with Paul. When things got tough and the friendship was no longer easy, he didn’t leave. Evidently, he valued his relationship with Paul so much he was willing to work hard to maintain it. Repentance and forgiveness are not always easy. They require us to humble ourselves and let go of the grudges or objections we may feel justified in holding. But repentance and forgiveness are also the foundation of our Christian life. When we embrace them, God can forge deeper ties between us so that our relationships can withstand trials. We too are called to be faithful friends. Every relationship faces challenges. We may not agree on everything, we may feel ignored or unappreciated, we may feel hurt by something our friend said and want to hold it against them. But instead of looking at the other person’s faults, perhaps we should see where we can try to reconcile. Instead of abandoning the relationship and looking for someone easier to get along with, perhaps we could ask the Holy Spirit for ways to mend fences. As we allow our friendship with Christ to permeate our relationships, we will “make known the glorious splendor of God’s kingdom” (Psalm 145:12)! Our efforts at being faithful friends can make us evangelists, even like Luke. While we’ll never be a contributing writer to the Bible, our lives themselves will proclaim the gospel to everyone we meet. “Lord, I will not shrink from the work it takes to remain faithful to my relationships. Help me cultivate a spirit of repentance, forgiveness, and fidelity, so that I can be a witness to your power in the world today!” Psalm 145:10-13,17-18; Luke 10:1-9
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October 18, 2005
 St. Luke
Luke wrote one of the major portions of the New Testament, a two-volume work comprising the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. In the two books he shows the parallel between the life of Christ and that of the Church. He is the only Gentile Christian among the Gospel writers. Tradition holds him to be a native of Antioch, and Paul calls him "our beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14). His Gospel was probably written between A.D. 70 and 85. Luke appears in Acts during Paul’s second journey, remains at Philippi for several years until Paul returns from his third journey, accompanies Paul to Jerusalem and remains near him when he is imprisoned in Caesarea. During these two years, Luke had time to seek information and interview persons who had known Jesus. He accompanied Paul on the dangerous journey to Rome where he was a faithful companion. "Only Luke is with me," Paul writes (2 Timothy 4:11). Quote:
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