FEAST OF SAINT LUKE, EVANGELIST – FEAST DAY ~ OCTOBER 18TH: Today, we celebrate the Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Luke on this feast day, we humbly pray for God’s Divine Grace and Mercy upon us all. We pray for physicians and all healthcare workers, we pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are sick with throat diseases, mentally and physically ill and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. We pray for the poor, the needy and the most vulnerable. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the souls of the faithful departed. We pray for all widows and widowers. We pray for Artists, Painters and Sculptors. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world…. Amen🙏
SAINT LUKE, EVANGELIST: St. Luke the Evangelist (1st c.), whose name means “bringer of light” (Luke) was one of the four evangelists, the inspired author of the third Gospel and of the Acts of the Apostles. He is the only evangelist to have written a second work, the Acts of the Apostles. Between his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke is responsible for one quarter of the New Testament. St. Luke was born at Antioch, Syria. He was a Gentile by birth and a well educated practicing Greek physician by profession. According to a legend of the 6th century he was also a painter. He was one of the earliest converts from paganism to Christianity, believed to have been one of Jesus’ seventy-two disciples. St. Luke was an early convert to the Faith and became the missionary companion of St. Paul, whom he accompanied on part of his second and third missionary journeys.
He spent most of his life evangelizing with St. Paul in Asia Minor, he was also his companion while in prison at Rome on two different occasions until the time of St. Paul’s martyrdom in Rome. St. Luke was among the only companions of St. Paul who did not abandon him during his final imprisonment and death in Rome. After the martyrdom of St. Paul in the year 67, St. Luke is said to have preached elsewhere throughout the Mediterranean, and possibly died as a martyr. However, even tradition is unclear on this point. St. Luke wrote a canonical account of his apostolic journeys with St. Paul (the Book of Acts) as well as a biography on the life of Christ (the Gospel of Luke). The two books of Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles were originally a single work. Fittingly, the evangelist whose travels and erudition could have filled volumes, wrote just enough to proclaim the gospel and apostolic preaching to the world. St. Luke’s Gospel preserved the most extensive biography of Jesus Christ. He tells us the greater part of what we know about our Lord’s childhood. St. Luke’s Gospel is principally concerned with salvation and mercy; it emphasizes the fact that Christ is the salvation of all men, especially of the repentant sinner and of the lowly. The intimate accounts contained in Luke’s gospel of the early years of Christ’s life (the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation, etc.) lead many scholars to believe that one of the eyewitnesses he interviewed was the Blessed Virgin Mary herself.
According to tradition, St. Luke was a skilled 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.” According to tradition, St. Luke painted the first icons of Our Lady with the Child Jesus. He was the only evangelist to incorporate the personal testimony of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose role in Christ’s life emerges most clearly in his gospel. Tradition credits him with painting several icons of Christ’s mother which are still venerated today, and one of the most famous sacred portraits ascribed to him – known by the title “Salvation of the Roman People”– survives to this day and hangs in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. In St. Luke’s Gospel 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.” According to St. Jerome, St. Luke died in Achaia (Greece) at the age of 84, the Church venerates him as a Martyr. However, it is unknown whether or not he died a martyr’s death. St. Luke is the Patron Saint of physicians, artists, bachelors, bookbinders, brewers, butchers, glass makers, gold workers, goldsmiths, lace workers, notaries, painters, sculptors, stained glass workers, doctors, surgeons and bachelors. His feast day is October 18th.
QUOTES OF SAINT LUKE, EVANGELIST
☆”What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
☆”Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.”
☆”Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you”
☆”To whom much is given, from him much will be required.”
☆”And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
PHYSICIAN’S PRAYER TO SAINT LUKE: Most charming and saintly Physician, you were animated by the heavenly Spirit of love. In faithfully detailing the humanity of Jesus, you also showed his divinity and his genuine compassion for all human beings. Inspire our physicians with your professionalism and with the divine compassion for their patients. Enable them to cure the ills of both body and spirit that afflict so many in our day… Amen.🙏
PRAYER TO SAINT LUKE: O St. Luke, you were chosen to reveal in preaching and writing God’s love for the poor. Moved by the heavenly Spirit of Love, you detailed the life of Jesus, showing His divinity and His genuine compassion for all human beings. Help those who already glory in God’s name to persevere in one heart and one mind, and inspire all people that they may hear the Good News of Salvation… Amen.🙏
PRAYER: God, You chose St. Luke to reveal in preaching and writing Your love for the poor. Grant that those who already glory in Your Name may persevere in one heart and one mind, and that all people may hear Your Good News of salvation. Amen 🙏