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Of all your Evangelists, Lord Jesus, Saint Luke is the most artistic of all, giving us those rare glimpses with vivid details of your life and teachings that began in the annunciation of the birth of your predecessor, John the Baptist to the birth and spread of your Church with unforgettable characters and stories like the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Good Thief, and conversion of St. Paul. He wrote extensively like his teacher St. Paul, leaving us with two volumes of your Gospel.
Though scholars could not ascertain if St. Luke was indeed one of those 72 disciples you have sent out two-by-two in today's gospel, his writings teem with so many instances as if he was with you in your preaching and journeys, Lord Jesus.
In his writings, you seemed to have touched him as he narrated your story that in the process, he appeared like touching you all throughout!
It is not difficult to imagine that because as St. Paul had told Timothy today in the first reading, it was only St. Luke who had remained present with him in his darkest hours of imprisonment and trial in Rome.
Beloved: Demas, enamored of the present world, deserted me and went to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Luke is the only one with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is helpful to me in the ministry.
1 Timothy 4:10-11
Indeed in his writings and maybe in his paintings too, St. Luke had shown us that true "communication is more than the expression of thoughts and indication of feelings: at its most profound level, it is the giving of self in love" like what you did on the Cross, Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Communio et Progressio, 11).
If we could just have that grace and discipline to rediscover the beauty of writing in this age of electronic media when our communications are fleeting and superficial, always in a hurry, mediated with many other things like images and sounds, teach us to rediscover writing letters, journal writing, and even painting so we may get in touch with our inner selves to find you there and eventually touch you too for you have been touching us for so long without us realizing it. But most of all, like St. Luke, give us the grace and courage to write your Gospel with our lives. Amen.
