It is 18th October 2018. We celebrate the feast of St Luke the Evangelist. St. Luke, a physician and a fellow worker of Paul (Col 4:14, 2 Tim 4:11, Phm 24) and most admired by St. Paul for his companionship and hard work. The author of both the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles stresses the importance of the universality of the Redemption. Luke’s Gospel could have been written before the death of Paul (Nero’s Persecution-64 AD) before 63AD or after year 70. It is the most comprehensive Gospel emphasizing on prayer, miracles, angels, infancy of Jesus, prominent place for the sick, the suffering and the women. St. Luke voices a preferential option for minorities, segregated groups, and the underprivileged, the Samaritans, lepers, publicans, soldiers, public sinners in disgrace, unlettered shepherds, the poor; all these receive special encouragement in his Gospel. All people are important for God and are worthy of Jesus’ salvation. It is also called Gospel of mercy and Marian Gospel that offers the special place of Mother Mary in the salvific plan of God. St. Luke firmly taught us that Jesus is the messiah for all people. Only Luke gives a scriptural basis for all the five joyful mysteries of the Rosary: Annunciation by Angel Gabriel (1:26-38), Visitation of Elizabeth by Mary (1:29-56), detailed description of the events surrounding the Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (2:1-21), The presentation of Jesus in the Temple (2:22-40) and the finding of Jesus in the Temple (2:41-52). All the three important evangelical hymns used daily in the Prayers of the Church: in the morning Benedictus (1:68-79), evening hymn Magnificat (1:46-55) and night prayer Nunc Dimitis (- now dismiss,) (2:28-32) come from the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke. However the least significant is our talent, we must put it for the use of spreading the Good News of salvation. St. Luke’s Gospel is the Gospel of the Holy Spirit. For St. Luke, Almost everything happens through the holy Spirit and prayer: Mary conceives by the power of the holy Spirit; she is filled with the spirit when she recites the Magnificat; John the Baptist predicts the baptism in the Holy Spirit; Jesus is filled with the Holy Sprit after his baptism and led by the spirit. Jesus announces in Nazareth; “the spirit of the Lord is upon me..” etc. No matter who appreciates or not we must go on proclaiming the message of Christ to all people. Oppositions and rejection of message is much expected, yet we need to be generous staying the course like St. Luke until the end. Let us not be tired of sowing the seeds of love and hope to all people because we owe the Lord so much. The readings are from 2 Timothy 4:10-17; and the Gospel Luke 10:1-9. The first reading clearly mentions the missionary accompaniment of St. Luke’s to St. Paul. St. Luke was a companion of St. Paul in the second and third missionary journeys. The responsorial Psalm praises, “Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendour of your Kingdom.” (Ps.145:12). The Gospel reminds us all to become the evangelisers in our own way. We all have to take up the Word of God and start sharing our encounter with the Lord and His mercy. Jesus wants to send us all as He sent the seventy-two among the wolves like a lamb to preach the Word of God that is sharper than a sword. Even if an evangeliser is not gifted as one should be, the Word of God possess the inherent power to penetrate the hardest human hearts. We have a role to play in evangelising. Some can evangelise with the Word and some others can evangelise with deeds based on the Word. Let us bring the presence of Jesus by sharing and inviting the others to share their faith experiences in our small Christian communities. After our Baptism, we are still remaining idle complaining, arguing and comparing. We all need to become vibrant evangelisers, if not full time let us engage ourselves part time sharing the Word of God with someone who is in need of liberation. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” (Lk.10:2,3). May we take up the task of spreading the Good News today. May God bless all your tiny efforts in making Him known to all people.

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