Our Debt To St. Luke

The Church honors St. Luke the Evangelist, traditionally recognized as the author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. St. Paul refers to him as "the physician, Luke", and author, Taylor Caldwell, entitled her novel/biography of him as the Dear And Glorious Physician, a moving work, popular in the '50's and still worth an engaging read today. From what we know, Luke was a Gentile, writing for Gentiles; a masterful writer who described Jesus as healer, a man of compassion, tenderness and sensitivity,  who paid special attention to the poor and needy and remained focused on his mission to carry out the will of the father.  It is Luke who gives us the detail of Jesus sweating blood during his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and it is he from whom we learn  most of what we know about Mary, the Mother of God, including her beautiful hymn of praise, The Magnificat,  (Lk 1: 46-55) and the Canticle of Zechariah, (Lk 1: 68-79) at the birth of his son, John the Baptist. Tradition has it that he was an artist who painted the first icon of Mary, some believe is the famous Our Lady of Czestokowa treasured by the people of Poland.
St. Luke inspires us to use the talents God has given us to evangelize, that is, bear witness to Jesus and spread knowledge of him via our actions (and if necessary, our words), by imitating the tenderness, compassion, and sensitivity of Jesus to a world which knows him not, but which hungers for him.
Bro. rene