October 18, 2021 - Feast of St. Luke, evangelist

2 Tim 4:10-17b

Ps 145

Lk 10:1-9

A scribe of Christ's meekness, as Dante defines him, Luke, a disciple of the second Christian generation, was an educated man, a doctor, probably from Antioch of Syria. He did not belong to the group of the apostles or even to the 72 disciples and he did not know Jesus.

St. Paul VI writes in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi:

The witness that the Lord gives of Himself and that Saint Luke gathered together in his Gospel - “I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God”- without doubt has enormous consequences, for it sums up the whole mission of Jesus: “That is what I was sent to do.” These words take on their full significance if one links them with the previous verses, in which Christ has just applied to Himself the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor.” Going from town to town, preaching to the poorest - and frequently the most receptive - the joyful news of the fulfillment of the promises and of the Covenant offered by God is the mission for which Jesus declares that He is sent by the Father. And all the aspects of His mystery - the Incarnation itself, His miracles, His teaching, the gathering together of the disciples, the sending out of the Twelve, the cross and the resurrection, the permanence of His presence in the midst of His own - were components of His evangelizing activity. (EN 6, December 8, 1975).

The Gospel of Saint Luke testifies to God’s great mercy and Jesus’ predilection for the poor. It is the Gospel of prayer and joy. The female characters in his Gospel are numerous and always treated with delicacy. One can ponder, for example, the news about the angel's annunciation to Mary. The birth and childhood of the Messiah were probably communicated to the evangelist directly by Mary herself or at least by credible witnesses who lived with Mary. Legend has it that San Luca was also a skilled painter: many icons of the Madonna have been attributed to his work.

In addition to his Gospel, the book of the Acts of the Apostles is attributed to St. Luke, which is a continuation of his Gospel. Saint Luke’s humility is such that we come to know his name only from Saint Paul, whom he accompanied on some journeys and who mentions him three times.

Beloved: Demas, enamored of the present world, deserted me and went to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Luke is the only one with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is helpful to me in the ministry. I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus in Troas, the papyrus rolls, and especially the parchments. (2Tm 4:10-13).

Like Paul, St. Luke was a great propagator of the 'good news' of Christ and, with him, he proclaimed the message fully, that all the Gentiles might hear it.

Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. You too be on guard against him, for he has strongly resisted our preaching. At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it (2Tm 4: 14-17).

The responsorial psalm invites the faithful and all the cosmos to praise and bless the Lord. All things and all men must speak of God’s glory and power to make them known to all people. They must communicate to everyone that God reigns forever with justice and goodness and is close to those who invoke him:

Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord, and let your faithful ones bless you. Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might. Making known to men your might and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom. Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.

The Gospel describes the sending of the disciples on mission:

The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household.' If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.'“

To comment on this Gospel we have chosen the homily of another great evangelizer: St. Gregory the Great, Father and Doctor of the Church. Initially Prefect of Rome, he became a Benedictine monk and then was elected Supreme Pontiff in extremely difficult times for the city of Rome, for the Church and for Europe; it was he who sent forty Benedictine monks to evangelize Britain, obtaining the conversion of those peoples:

Dearly beloved Brethren, our Lord and Savior instructs us at one time by His words, and at another by His works. For His works are lessons, because from His acts, though performed in silence, our duty becomes manifest.

For instance, He sends His disciples two and two to preach, because there are two precepts of charity the love, that is, of God and of our neighbor, and between less than two there cannot be charity. For no one is said to have charity for himself; but love, to deserve the name of charity, must have for object another. Our Lord sent His disciples two and two to preach, to give us to understand that the man who has not charity for his neighbor ought on no account to undertake the office of preaching.

And with good reason it is said that He sent them two and two before His face into every city whither He Himself was to come. The Lord follows His preachers; for preaching comes first, and when the words of exhortation have preceded, and the intellect has been enlightened by truth, our Lord comes to take up His abode in our minds. For this reason Isaiah says to preachers: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths” (Isa. 40:3). Hence the Psalmist also says, “Make a way for Him who ascendeth upon the west “ (Ps. 67:5).

For our Lord ascends upon the west, inasmuch as from the place where He set in His Passion He displayed in His resurrection His greater glory. He ascends in sooth upon the west, because by His resurrection He triumphed over death, to which He had submitted. For Him, therefore, who ascends upon the west we make a way, when we preach His glory to your minds, that He Himself, coming after, may enlighten them by the presence of His love. Let us give ear, then, to what He says when sending His preachers: “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest. “It is with profound sorrow we have to admit that though the harvest is great, the laborers are few, because, though the people are ready to hear the Word of God, there are few to preach it. Lo, the world is full of priests, yet in the harvest of the Lord a laborer is very rare, for we undertake, it is true, the office of the priesthood, but its duties we do not fulfill.

Yet weigh well, dearly beloved, weigh well the words of the text: “Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that He send laborers into His harvest.” Pray then for us that we may have strength to labor for you as we ought, that our tongue may not be slack to exhort, and that, having undertaken the office of preaching, our silence may not prove our condemnation at the tribunal of the just Judge.

For oftentimes by reason of their own sins the tongue of preachers is tied, oftentimes on the other hand it is because of the sins of their people that the gift of eloquence is withheld from pastors. By reason of their own sins the tongue of preachers is tied, according to the words of the Psalmist, “But to the sinner God hath said, why dost thou declare My justices?” (Ps 49:16.)

And again, the voice of preachers is hindered because of the sins of the people, according to the words of the Lord to Ezechiel: “I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that reproveth, because they are a provoking house” (Ezec. 3:26). As though He said expressly: The gift of eloquence is withdrawn from thee, because while the people offend Me by their sins they are not worthy to have the truth preached to them. Through whose fault it is that speech is withdrawn from the preacher is no easy matter to decide. But that the silence of the pastor is hurtful to himself sometimes, and to his flock at all times, is beyond all doubt. There is another feature, dearly beloved brethren, in the life of pastors which causes me deep affliction; and lest perchance my words may seem to reflect on anyone, I accuse myself also though I am so circumstanced, much against my will, and through the necessities of the present troubled times. For we have descended to secular business, and having received the dignity of one office we busy ourselves with the duties of another. We abandon the duty of preaching, and to our disgrace, as I perceive, we are bishops in name, and have the title but not the virtue that befits that dignity. For the people committed to our care abandon God, and we are silent. They live in sin, and we do not stretch out a hand to correct them. But how can we reform the life of others while we neglect our own? For through attention to secular affairs the more we are occupied with external things, the more insensible we become to what is internal.

Hence holy Church, with reason, says of her weak members: “They have made me a keeper in the vineyards, my vineyard I have not kept “(Cant. 1:5).

But though we are made keepers in the vineyards, our own vineyard we do not keep, because being involved in external business we neglect the duties of our own ministry.

(Homily XVII, addressed to the Bishops and Clergy, assembled in Council at the Lateran Basilica, about A.D. 591 Translated by rev. Patrick Boyle, C.M)