Tuesday, 18 October, 2016 Feast of Saint Luke

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.

John, Chapter 17, Verse 23-26

²³ I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴ Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. ²⁶ I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

Those who love and have holy fear have it in their heart to praise God.  It would be a good practice to make a prayer of praise to our God when we get up and when we go to bed.

For the evening prayer might I suggest to sit quietly before bed reflecting on Psalm 40:11 “Be still and know I am God.” Offer to our Lord your good works, and your failings, and praise Him for the graces He has given in regards to your concerns.

Feast of Saint Luke[1]

This day celebrates the life of St. Luke, one of Jesus' 12 disciples.  Luke was thought to be an educated Gentile, or non-Jew, and may have even been a physician.  Some biblical historians believe he may have even been a slave. Luke wrote two books in the New Testament -- the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. The Gospel of Luke focuses on converting non-Jews to Christianity.

St Luke Facts

• ·         Luke worked with the apostle Paul, and traveled with him throughout Asia Minor, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.
• ·         The Gospel of Luke describes a popular passage referred to as the 'The Parable of the Good Samaritan'.   In it a traveling man is attacked by robbers who strip and beat him.  A priest and a Levite pass by without helping him.  A Samaritan stops and cares for him, taking him to an inn where the Samaritan pays for his care. (Luke 10:25-37)
• ·         What became of Luke is unclear.  Some accounts say he was martyred, while others say that he lived to an old age and died in Greece.
• ·         The feast Day for St. Luke is held on October 18 in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Church and some Protestant churches.  The Orthodox church refer to this day as the Feast of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke.

St Luke Top Events and Things to Do

• ·         Read the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke.  This is the story that is most often read at Christmas time about the birth of Jesus Christ.
• ·         Read the popular 'Parable of the Good Samaritan'.  Use this to inspire you to go out of your comfort zone to help someone in need.
• ·         Some traditions believe that St. Luke, in addition to being a writer and physician, was a painter.  Do a little artwork today to honor the saint.
• ·         Go get a check up.  Luke was a physician.  Take care of your body in honor of St. Luke.

Amoris Lætitia[2] Growing in conjugal love, Lifelong sharing (123-125)

After the love that unites us to God, conjugal love is the “greatest form of friendship”. It is a union possessing all the traits of a good friendship:

• ·         Concern for the good of the other
• ·         Reciprocity
• ·         Intimacy
• ·         Warmth
• ·         Stability and the resemblance born of a shared life.

Lovers do not see their relationship as mere­ly temporary. Those who marry do not expect their excitement to fade. Those who witness the celebration of a loving union, however, fragile, trust that it will pass the test of time. Children not only want their parents to love one another, but also to be faithful and remain together. These and similar signs show that it is in the very nature of conjugal love to be definitive. The lasting union expressed by the marriage vows is more than a formality or a traditional formula; it is rooted in the natural inclinations of the human person. For believers, it is also a covenant before God that calls for fidelity: “The Lord was wit­ness to the covenant between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant… Let none be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord” (Mal 2:14-16). A love that is weak or infirm, incapable of accepting marriage as a challenge to be taken up and fought for, reborn, renewed and reinvented until death, cannot sustain a great commitment. It will succumb to the culture of the ephemeral that prevents a constant process of growth. Yet “promising love for ever is possible when we per­ceive a plan bigger than our own ideas and un­dertakings, a plan which sustains us and enables us to surrender our future entirely to the one we love”. If this love is to overcome all trials and remain faithful in the face of everything, it needs the gift of grace to strengthen and elevate it. In the words of Saint Robert Bellarmine, “the fact that one man unites with one woman in an indis­soluble bond, and that they remain inseparable despite every kind of difficulty, even when there is no longer hope for children, can only be the sign of a great mystery”. Marriage is likewise a friendship marked by passion, but a passion always directed to an ever more stable and intense union. This is be­cause “marriage was not instituted solely for the procreation of children” but also that mutual love “might be properly expressed, that it should grow and mature”. This unique friendship be­tween a man and a woman acquires an all-encom­passing character only within the conjugal union. Precisely as all-encompassing, this union is also exclusive, faithful and open to new life. It shares everything in constant mutual respect.

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[1] http://www.wincalendar.com/St-Luke

[2] Pope Francis, Encyclical on Love.