Happy feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist!
As we celebrate the Feast of this great Evangelist, who witnessed to the radicality of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, we pray especially for our pilgrims making the Annual John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage today.
“Beginning with the mother Church of Jerusalem, the Spirit widens their horizons and spurs the Apostles and witnesses all the way to Rome. The history of the early Church unfolds against the background of these two cities: a Church that grows and spreads despite the opposition that threatens her from without and the crises that burden her progress from within. But throughout this whole journey, Luke's real concern is to present the Church in the essence of her mystery: this mystery consists in the everlasting presence of the Lord Jesus who, by acting in her by the power of his Spirit, imbues her with consolation and courage in the trials on her way through history.” - JPII, 10/15/00
“In Revelation 4, four beasts give endless praise before the throne of God: a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. Tradition holds that these signify the four Evangelists. Luke is the ox, the symbol of strength and sacrifice. His Gospel opens with the priest Zechariah, to whom ‘it fell by lot to enter the Temple of the Lord and burn incense’ (1:9). In the Temple, Zechariah encounters the angel Gabriel, who heralds the birth of his son, John the Baptist. Gabriel goes next to Mary to tell her that she will conceive and bear ‘the son of the Most High’ (1:32). A tradition dating to the 6th century makes Luke the first artist to have painted the Virgin Mary.” -Magnificat, Vol. 27, No. 8
Full text:
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