[Salvation]

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: October 18, 2012
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Lord God, who chose Saint Luke to reveal by his preaching and writings the mystery of your love for the poor, grant that those who already glory in your name may persevere as one heart and one soul and that all nations may merit to see your salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

• Banbury Tarts
• Beef Bourguignon
• Glazed London Broil

ACTIVITIES

• Family and Friends of Jesus Scrapbook Album
• Nameday Ideas for the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist
• Namedays
• Religion in the Home for Elementary School: October
• Religion in the Home for Preschool: October
• What is a Nameday?

PRAYERS

• Nunc Dimittis - The Canticle of Simeon
• Magnificat
• Benedictus (Canticle of Zachary)
• A Child's Gospel Night Prayer

LIBRARY

• Our Lady of Perpetual Help Icon Has Colorful History | Michael Dubruiel

Ordinary Time: October 18th

Feast of 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 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.

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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 is 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:

• Read the Acts of the Apostles. St. Luke accompanied St. Paul on his missionary journeys — we could spiritually adopt a missionary and accompany him or her with our prayers.

• St. Luke depicted Mary vividly in words. Learn and pray the three precious canticles preserved for us by him — the Benedictus, the Magnificat, and the Nunc Dimittis.

• Pray for doctors and those who care for the sick through the intercession of St. Luke, patron of physicians.

• Foods this day to honor St. Luke would include some beef dish, as he is the patron of butchers. So perhaps a nice cut of steak would be in order? For dessert, bake some raisin Banbury Tarts to evoke the festivals of England on this day, or a cake in the shape of a book with decorations of a calf or ox for this evangelist.

• Today is also known as "Sour Cakes Day" in Scotland, because baked cakes were eaten with sour cream in Rutherglen.

• This day is also "St. Luke's Little Summer," a period of summerlike days that occur around October 18 (like the term "Indian Summer," which officially occurs between Nov 11-20), named to honor the saint's feast day. In the past, St. Luke's Day was not observed by the secular world as much as St. John the Baptist's Day (June 24) and Michaelmas (September 29), so to keep in the forefront, St. Luke gives us some golden days before the cold of winter.

• Read more about St. Luke and his writings from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
  

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Luke 10:1-9

Saint Luke, Evangelist

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” (Luke 10:2)

A few decades ago, a team of sales­people would have mapped out their territory and assigned a particular town to each salesperson. The sales­people would go to every home in that town, and if the door opened, they would try to sell their prod­uct, whether it was vacuum cleaners, encyclopedias, suits, or anything else.

Now, in the age of huge depart­ment stores and Internet shopping, that personal approach isn’t practi­cal anymore. Some might even call it old-fashioned and inefficient.

But that’s not the way Jesus looks at things. In fact, he used an “old­fashioned” approach when he sent out the seventy-two disciples. He could have just beamed his mes­sage of salvation into people’s brains and avoided all the messiness using ordinary human beings. Instead, he chose rough-hewn tradesmen and their wives to go out and deliver it personally. He sent them to demon­strate his message in action and then tell people that the kingdom of God was at hand.

We may wonder why Jesus would use such low tech means to announce the good news. He certainly isn’t against technology. He might indeed have used the tools of our media-drenched age if they had existed at the time. But then again, he might not. Think about the num­ber of messages that are thrown at you every day. Would you pay atten­tion to one more text message, one more tweet, or one more sound bite? Wouldn’t you be more likely to pay attention to a living, breathing per­son whose life has been changed by Christ? That’s why the disciples were so effective.

That’s also why Jesus has appointed you to be his witness. You have some very good news to deliver. Evangelization is not about delivering the exactly right facts. It’s about tell­ing your own story of God’s mercy and presence—a story that only you can tell. So don’t worry about doing it perfectly. If God wanted perfection, he wouldn’t have chosen us humans to do the work. Just make your­self available, and let the Spirit work through you. If the seventy-two could do it, so can you!

“Lord, help me to see my corner of the world as your mission field. Give me a compassionate heart so that I can witness to your love and grace!”

2 Timothy 4:10-17; Psalm 145:10-13, 17-18