Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist
Today is the Feast of 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 journey. He was also his companion while 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 came from Antioch, was a practicing physician when he was converted by St. Paul. He attached himself to the Apostle and accompanied him on most of 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.
Because of his closeness with St. Paul, Luke acquired the information about the life of the early Christian communities which he recorded in the Acts of the Apostles from St. Paul's teaching and a study of all the traditions of our Lord's life. Luke wrote the third Gospel, which St. Jerome called "Paul's Gospel." To St. Luke's Gospel we owe most of our knowledge of Christ's childhood and some precious details about our Lady. He also preserved some of the most touching of our Lord's parables, for example those of the lost sheep and the prodigal son. Dante styles him "The historian of Christ's meekness."
(In the Bible, meekness is a quality of heart that involves being humble, gentle, and open to reason, while also having strength under control.
Definition: Meekness is the ability to accept and submit to the will of someone else, in this case, God. It's a controlled strength that's based on trust in the Lord.)
On this day, the Roman Martyrology also commemorates St. Peter of Alcantara (1499-1562), priest. He was one of St. Teresa of Avila's spiritual directors and encouraged her in her reformation of the Carmelite Order.
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