Wednesday, October 12, 2011

10/18/2011 – Feast of Luke the Evangelist - Tuesday of 29th week of ordinary time - 2 Timothy 4:10-17; Luke 10:1-9


We celebrate Luke the Evangelist today. Luke wrote not only the Gospel of Luke, but also the Acts of the Apostles.  Every Gospel had an audience to which it was targeted; Luke was written from a Gentile point-of-view for a Gentile audience. 

In the reading we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls 72 disciples to follow him, sending them out to bring the God’s world to people who may not have been very open to the message that these disciples are proclaiming.  Yet, Jesus tells them to preach this word with great courage and zeal, to not be shy or ashamed with the Gospel they are announcing to the world.  This is a good message for all of us, since we will all encounter some kind of obstacles or resistance along our own journeys of faith.  We reassure ourselves in knowing that God’s truth is the truth no matter what.  God indeed will sustain the disciples as they witness to his message and proclaim his kingdom, just as God will sustain us along our own journeys as well.   The word of God that Luke wrote down for us guide us and nurtures us.  We are to digest it, to reflect upon it, to have its meaning really penetrate our lives. 

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul talks about all of the disciples who have deserted him, yet Luke stays loyally at his side.  Yet, Paul still retains a courage and enthusiasm in his calling to his missionary, to meet the challenge of bringing the Gospel to the Gentile.  We, also, may get burdened by all of the challenges and obstacles we met on our journey, since we Catholics are such a small part of the population here in Yazoo City and throughout the Delta.  Yet, our community of faith here is always here with us.  We will meet our challenges together as a community of faith, nurturing each other along the way. 

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