Partially from the Archives....
From AmericanCatholic.org's Saint of the Day e-mail for today:
Saint Luke
Saint of the Day for October 18
(d. c. 84)
Saint Luke’s Story
Luke wrote one of the major portions of the New Testament, a two-volume work comprising the third Gospel and Acts of the Apostles. In the two books he shows the parallel between the life of Christ and that of the Church. He is the only Gentile Christian among the Gospelwriters. Tradition holds him to be a native of Antioch, and Paul calls him “our beloved physician.” His Gospel was probably written between 70 and 85 A.D.
Luke appears in Acts during Paul’s second journey, remains at Philippi for several years until Paul returns from his third journey, accompanies Paul to Jerusalem, and remains near him when he is imprisoned in Caesarea. During these two years, Luke had time to seek information and interview persons who had known Jesus. He accompanied Paul on the dangerous journey to Rome where he was a faithful companion.
Luke’s unique character may best be seen by the emphases of his Gospel, which has been given a number of subtitles:
1) The Gospel of Mercy
2) The Gospel of Universal Salvation
3) The Gospel of the Poor
4) The Gospel of Absolute Renunciation
5) The Gospel of Prayer and the Holy Spirit
6) The Gospel of Joy
1) The Gospel of Mercy
2) The Gospel of Universal Salvation
3) The Gospel of the Poor
4) The Gospel of Absolute Renunciation
5) The Gospel of Prayer and the Holy Spirit
6) The Gospel of Joy
Reflection
Luke wrote as a Gentile for Gentile Christians. His Gospel and Acts of the Apostles reveal his expertise in classic Greek style as well as his knowledge of Jewish sources. There is a warmth to Luke’s writing that sets it apart from that of the other synoptic Gospels, and yet it beautifully complements those works. The treasure of the Scriptures is a true gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church.
Saint Luke is the Patron Saint of:
Artists/Painters
Brewers
Butchers
Notaries
Physicians/Surgeons
Brewers
Butchers
Notaries
Physicians/Surgeons
* * * * *
I love how the Anglican Church celebrates the feast days of the Biblical Saints--the Saints of the New Testament--while still seeing every follower of Christ as a saint as well.
Here is the Collect, the prayer prayed collectively by the Anglican Communion today in remembrance of Saint Luke:
SAINT LUKE: OCTOBER 18
ALMIGHTY God, you inspired your holy servant Luke the Physician to write an orderly account of the Gospel and of the healing power of your Son; As he delivered your restoring words of wholeness, deliver us now from all sickness of body and soul; Through the sacrifice of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and rules with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. (Scriptural references for this prayer: Luke 1.1-2; Colossians 4.14; Proverbs 22.1-2; 1Timothy 6.3-4)
Each Friday morning for the past thirteen years, Father Acker and I (and now often Father Gregory) meet for weekly healing services including Morning Prayer and Holy Communion. During this time of prayer and praise, we pray this portion of The Liturgy for Healing (Book of Common Prayer 2011 page 145):
Bless physicians, nurses, all all others who minister to the suffering; grant them wisdom and skill, sympathy and patience.
[Response:] Lord, have mercy upon us.
And as we also do each Friday, we pray this portion of the Holy Communion service called The Prayer for the Church (Book of Common Prayer 2011 page 110):
And we humbly ask you in your goodness, O Lord, to comfort, visit, and relieve all those who [are in need of your healing touch, remembering especially (and we pray for God's healing to be upon those we mention by name and affliction) and] all those who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, danger, distress, or any other difficulty; Relieve and strengthen, help and deliver them by your mighty hand. Lord, in your mercy;
[Response:] Hear our prayer.
Here is the Collect, the prayer prayed collectively by the Anglican Communion today in remembrance of Saint Luke:
SAINT LUKE: OCTOBER 18
ALMIGHTY God, you inspired your holy servant Luke the Physician to write an orderly account of the Gospel and of the healing power of your Son; As he delivered your restoring words of wholeness, deliver us now from all sickness of body and soul; Through the sacrifice of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and rules with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. (Scriptural references for this prayer: Luke 1.1-2; Colossians 4.14; Proverbs 22.1-2; 1Timothy 6.3-4)
Each Friday morning for the past thirteen years, Father Acker and I (and now often Father Gregory) meet for weekly healing services including Morning Prayer and Holy Communion. During this time of prayer and praise, we pray this portion of The Liturgy for Healing (Book of Common Prayer 2011 page 145):
Bless physicians, nurses, all all others who minister to the suffering; grant them wisdom and skill, sympathy and patience.
[Response:] Lord, have mercy upon us.
And as we also do each Friday, we pray this portion of the Holy Communion service called The Prayer for the Church (Book of Common Prayer 2011 page 110):
And we humbly ask you in your goodness, O Lord, to comfort, visit, and relieve all those who [are in need of your healing touch, remembering especially (and we pray for God's healing to be upon those we mention by name and affliction) and] all those who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, danger, distress, or any other difficulty; Relieve and strengthen, help and deliver them by your mighty hand. Lord, in your mercy;
[Response:] Hear our prayer.
So as we thank God today for the example He gave us of a wonderful human physician, apostle, and evangelist in Saint Luke, we also thank Him for His healing touch...in His timing. Some Christians (and even some pastors and elders) have been suspicious of my fifteen-year illness, claiming that either I didn't have enough faith for God to heal me or that I had such sin in my life that He was refusing to heal me--the usual evangelical arguments about illness.
Our women's Bible study at Pine Valley Community Church is working our way through Kay Arthur's Precept studies in Romans; this year we're tackling Part Three: Romans 8-11. And in the video this week (which were filmed when Kay Arthur sported the fluffy hair and "colorful" fashions of the '80s!), Kay assured us that God brings suffering into our lives to refine us, to help us to become more loving, more compassionate, and more like Christ. I was relieved that she didn't follow the "name it and claim it" factions of evangelical thought--in fact, she gently disparaged the whole philosophy...by name). I felt strengthened and inspired by her thoughts on Romans 8 and Christian suffering.
It is also in the stories of the Catholic Saints that I've found value in physical suffering--as well as in the Psalms which we read through each month in The Book of Common Prayer 2011. The Psalter breaks down the 150 Psalms into 60 readings, 30 for Morning Prayer and 30 for Evening Prayer. So the first few psalms are arranged under Day 1 Morning and Day 1 Evening, each numbered day corresponding to the day of the month. And it is in the saints such as Saint Teresa of Avila who endured illness for most of her life that I have found great consolation and inspiration:
It is also in the stories of the Catholic Saints that I've found value in physical suffering--as well as in the Psalms which we read through each month in The Book of Common Prayer 2011. The Psalter breaks down the 150 Psalms into 60 readings, 30 for Morning Prayer and 30 for Evening Prayer. So the first few psalms are arranged under Day 1 Morning and Day 1 Evening, each numbered day corresponding to the day of the month. And it is in the saints such as Saint Teresa of Avila who endured illness for most of her life that I have found great consolation and inspiration:
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| Detail of St. Theresa of Avila by François Gérard |
"Let nothing trouble you, let nothing make you afraid. All things pass away. God never changes. Patience obtains everything. God alone is enough."
-- Saint Teresa of Avila
"God calls to us in countless little ways all the time. Through illnesses and suffering and through sorrow he calls to us. Through a truth glimpsed fleetingly in a state of prayer he calls to us. No matter how halfhearted such insights may be, God rejoices whenever we learn what he is trying to teach us.”
--Saint Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle
"One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer." --St. Teresa of Avila
And thus we return to Saint Luke the Physician who allowed The Great Physician to work through him in traveling with Saint Paul and in writing the Gospel According to Saint Luke and The Acts of the Apostles.
Soli Deo Gloria,
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