The scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Feast of Saint Luke, evangelist | USCCB
Today we
celebrate the feast of St. Luke. He was born of a pagan family and after
meeting St. Paul and hearing his preaching on the Lord Jesus Christ, he
converted to the Christian faith. Paul was very much influential in the life of
St. Luke. As a result, St. Luke would go on to compose one the gospels and
would go on to describe the early activity of the church in the Acts of the
Apostles.
Paul himself
was a convert to the Christian faith due to his encounter with the Lord Jesus
Christ on the road to Damascus. Paul was an early persecutor of the faith in
Jesus Christ but after the vision of Christ on that Damascus Road, he would
preach about salvation in Jesus Christ, and as a result, St. Luke came to
faith, and we now have his works in scripture.
It is
through St. Luke and St. Paul that we, too, have come to our Christian faith.
Christ worked through them and all the early apostles and disciples to spread
the good news to the whole world. We, too, are disciples of Jesus Christ and
the Lord is asking us to share with those in our life and with all we meet,
“The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.” We may not be called to go from town
to town as the early disciples were called to do to share the Good News of
Jesus Christ, but we are called to bring Christ into the world by how we live
out our Christian calling of Loving God and loving neighbor. This is how people
will encounter the Lord Jesus Christ.
By seeing us
and how we live out our Christian faith, they may feel called to find out more
about our faith. It is then that we can share the good news of the Kingdom of
God. We don’t need to hang out on street corners with bibles in hand asking
people to turn from their sinful ways. We just need to be the visible signs of
people who are followers of Jesus Christ, called to love God as he loves us,
and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It will be then that they will
encounter Jesus Christ.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteAMEN. "Preach the GOSPEL always. When necessary, use words." (Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi).
"Be always ready to share the reason for this hope of (y)ours, but do it with gentleness and respect/reverence." (1 Peter).
"We are ambassadors for CHRIST, GOD as it were, appealing through us..." (2 Corinthians 5)