Homily for Feast of St. Luke

Homily for the Feast of St. Luke

Oct. 18, 2022
Collect
Luke 10: 1-9
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, New Rochelle

The collect today credits St. Luke with revealing the mystery of God’s love for the poor, with attention to the unity of believers “in one heart and one soul,” and with seeking the salvation of all nations.  Those are themes in Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.

by James Tissot

The gospel reading touches indirectly on 2 of those 3 themes, viz., the poverty of the 72 missionaries whom Jesus sends out and that very missionary activity which Jesus initiates.  These disciples are poor in what they carry, or don’t carry:  no money, no baggage, no extra sandals (10:4); and complete dependence on their hosts in the different villages where they go (10:7).  This poverty is the poverty of the early Church that we meet in Acts.  It’s the poverty of Jesus himself in his itinerant preaching (9:58; cf. 8:1-3) and of the people to whom he attended, among whom he moved, for whom his message resonated.  The only palaces Jesus entered were those where he was tried and condemned:  the house of the high priests and Pilate’s headquarters.

That’s rather a contrast to us even tho we profess poverty.  We have many possessions and ready access to funds.  Maybe you’ve shed most of your possessions at this point, but I haven’t—so many books, clothes for the different seasons and different occasions, and camping gear; and I live in a palace.  So it’s a challenge for me, at least, to live and minister like the 72.

There’s this, tho:  the 72 had to travel light to be on the go with their mission.  You’ve spent your lives, as I have, going here and there at the provincial’s call for the sake of our apostolic mission.  Now we have to pray, as Jesus says, for more laborers for the harvest of souls which is so abundant (10:2) and so much more difficult than when we set out to bring Jesus to the young.

The collect also prays that God’s salvation will reach all nations—a major theme in Luke’s Gospel, hinted at in Jesus’ sending out these missionaries, and of course in the Acts of the Apostles, where we witness the Good News coming to Greek Gentiles and finally to Rome.  Some commentators also note that Luke’s known world included 72 nations (altho St. John’s world allegedly counted 153 nations; see the haul of fish in the post-resurrection appearance [21:11]).

We thank God for the great missionary work done by our congregations, reaching to a score of nations in your case.  This is God’s grace at work, thru us touching countless souls.  We back our confreres around the world with our prayers, perhaps with correspondence, with welcomes when we meet them.  That gives us a share in their missions in Latin America, Africa, India, and in secularized Western society, which also is mission territory.

Our most important mission, tho, may be our own Christian witness:  being right here one heart and one soul centered on Christ.