October 18th saint of the day is St. Luke. He is the patron of doctors. Luke, the writer of the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, has been identified with St. Pauls Luke, the beloved physician (Colossians 4:14). We know few other facts about Lukes life from Scripture and from early Church historians. It is believed that Luke was born a Greek and a Gentile. In Colossians 10-14 speaks of those friends who are with him. He first mentions all those of the circumcision -- in other words, Jews -- and he does not include Luke in this group. Lukes gospel shows special sensitivity to evangelizing Gentiles. It is only in his gospel that we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan, that we hear Jesus praising the faith of Gentiles such as the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian (Lk.4:25-27), and that we hear the story of the one grateful leper who is a Samaritan (Lk.17:11-19). According to the early Church historian Eusebius Luke was born at Antioch in Syria. In our day, it would be easy to assume that someone who was a doctor was rich, but scholars have argued that Luke might have been born a slave. It was not uncommon for families to educate slaves in medicine so that they would have a resident family physician. Not only do we have Pauls word, but Eusebius, Saint Jerome, Saint Irenaeus and Caius, a second-century writer, all refer to Luke as a physician... And after everyone else deserts Paul in his final imprisonment and sufferings, it is Luke who remains with Paul to the end: Only Luke is with me (2 Timothy 4:11). Forgiveness and Gods mercy to sinners is also of first importance to Luke. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the Prodigal Son welcomed back by the overjoyed father. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus feet with her tears. Throughout Lukes gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to Gods mercy. He also is the only one who writes about St. Marys account on the events before and after the birth of Christ. Reading Lukes gospel gives a good idea of his character as one who loved the poor, who wanted the door to Gods kingdom opened to all, who respected women, and who saw hope in Gods mercy for everyone. - catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=76
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 02:41:46 +0000
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