ST. LUKE, EVANGELIST
The goodness and kindness of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men. It would seem that the third evangelist, a disciple of St. Paul, had purposed setting forth this word of the doctor of the Gentiles; or may we not rather say, the apostle himself characterizes in this sentence the Gospel wherein his disciple portrays the Saviour prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel. St. Luke's Gospel, and the words quoted from St. Paul, were in fact written about the same time; and it is impossible to say which claims priority.
Under the eye of Simon Peter, to whom the Father had revealed the Christ the Son of the living God , Mark had the honor of giving to the Church the Gospel of Jesus, the Son of God. Matthew had already drawn up for the Jews the Gospel of the Messias, Son of David, Son of Abraham. Afterwards, at the side of Paul, Luke wrote for the Gentiles the Gospel of Jesus, Son of Adam, through Mary.
As far as the genealogy of this first-born of His Mother may be reckoned back, so far shall extend the blessing He bestows on His brethren, by redeeming them from the curse inherited from their first father.
O Jesus, thy evangelist has won our hearts. We love Thee for having taken pity on our misery. We Gentiles were in deeper debt than Jerusalem, and therefore we owe Thee greater love in return for Thy pardon. We love Thee because Thy choicest graces are for Magdalene, that is, for us who are sinners, and are nevertheless called to the better part . We love Thee because Thou canst not resist the tears of mothers; but restorest to them, as at Naim, their dead children. In the day of treason, and abandonment, and denial, Thou didst forget Thine own injury to cast upon Peter that loving look, which caused him to weep bitterly. Thou turnedst away from Thyself the tears of those humble and true daughters of Jerusalem, who followed Thy painful footsteps up the heights of Calvary. Nailed to the cross, Thou didst implore pardon for Thy executioners. At the last hour, as God Thou promised paradise to the penitent thief, as Man Thou gavest back Thy Soul to Thy Father. Truly from beginning to end, of this third Gospel appears Thy goodness and kindness, O God our Saviour!
St. Luke completed his work by writing, in the same correct style as his Gospel, the history of the first days of Christianity, the introduction of the Gentiles into the Church, and the great labors of their own apostle Paul.
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 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 and also of the medical profession, for in the holy Scripture itself he is said to have been a physician, as we shall see from the breviary lessons. He had studied all the sciences in his native city Antioch; and the brilliant capital of the east had reason to be proud of its illustrious son. The Church borrows from St. Jerome, the historical lessons of the feast.
The just censure therein passed upon a certain apocryphal and romantic history of St. Thecla, in no way derogates from the universal veneration of east and west for the noble spiritual daughter of St. Paul.
From the book of St. Jerome priest, on ecclesiastical writers.
Luke was a physician of Antioch, and, as shown by his writings, was skilled in the Greek tongue. He was a disciple of the apostle Paul, and accompanied him on all his journeys. He also wrote a Gospel; wherefore, the same Paul says of him: We have sent also with him the brother whose praise is in the Gospel through all the churches. And again to the Colossians: Luke the most dear physician, saluteth you. And to Timothy: Only Luke is with me. He wrote another excellent work, called *The Acts of the apostles, in which he relates the history of the Church, as far as Paul's two years ' sojourn at Rome, that is to the fourth year of Nero. From this circumstance, we infer that the book was written in Rome.
Consequently, we classify the journeys of Paul and Thecla and the whole fable of the baptized lion, among apocryphal writings. For is it possible that the apostle's inseparable companion should know everything concerning him except this one thing? Moreover, Tertullian, who lived near those times, relates that a certain priest in Asia, an admirer of Paul, was convicted by John of having written that book; which he confessed he had done out of love for Paul, and was on that account deposed. Some are of the opinion that whenever Paul in his epistles says: According to my Gospel, he means that of Luke.
Luke, however, was instructed in the Gospel not only by the apostle Paul, who had never seen the Lord in the flesh, but also by the other apostles. This he declares in the beginning of his work, saying: According as they have delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. He wrote his Gospel, then, from what he had heard, but the Acts of the apostles from what he had himself seen. He lived eighty-four years and was never married. His body lies at Constantinople whither it was translated from Achaia, together with the relics of St. Andrew the Apostle, in the twentieth year of Constantine.
The symbolic Ox, reminding us of the figurative sacrifices, and announcing their abrogation, takes his place today, with the man, the lion, and the eagle, to complete the number of the four mystical creatures before the throne of God. O evangelist of the Gentiles, blessed be thou for having put an end to the long night of our captivity and warmed our frozen hearts.
Thou wast the confidant of the Mother of God; and her happy influence left in thy soul that fragrance of virginity which pervaded thy whole life and breathes through thy writings. With discerning love and silent devotedness, thou didst assist the apostle of the Gentiles in his great work; and didst remain as faithful to him when abandoned or betrayed, shipwrecked or imprisoned, as in the days of his prosperity. Rightly, then, does the Church in her Collect apply to thee the words spoken by Saint Paul of himself: In all things we suffer tribulation, are persecuted, are cast down, always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus; but this continual dying manifests the life of Jesus in our mortal flesh. Thy inspired pen taught us to love the Son of Man in His Gospel; thy pencil portrayed Him for us in His Mother's arms; and a third time thou revealedst Him to the world, by the reproduction of His holiness in thine own life.
Preserve in us the fruits of thy manifold teaching. Though Christian painters do well to pay thee special honour, and to learn from thee that the ideal of beauty resides in the Son of God and in His Mother, there is yet more sublime art than that of lines and colours: the art of reproducing in ourselves the likeness of God. This we wish to learn perfectly in thy school; for we know from thy master St. Paul that conformity to the image of the Son of God can alone entitle the elect to predestination .
Be thou the protector of the faithful physicians, who strive to walk in thy footsteps, and who, in their ministry of devotedness and charity, rely upon thy credit with the Author of life. Second their efforts to heal or to relieve suffering; and inspire them with holy zeal, when they find their patients on the brink of eternity.
The world itself , in its decrepitude now, needs the assistance of all who are able, by prayer or action, to come to its rescue. The Son of Man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, faith on earth? Thus spoke our Lord in the Gospel. But He also said that we ought always to pray and not to faint; adding, for the instruction of the Church both at this time and always, the parable of the widow, whose importunity prevailed upon the unjust judge to defend her cause. And will not God revenge His elect, who cry to Him day and night; and will He have patience in their regard? I say to you that He will quickly revenge them.
From: Ven. Dom Gueranger's The Liturgical Year
