Messages of Comfort

I want to go back to October 18, the Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist. Saint Luke was a physician and appropriately, I had to take my mother back to see the surgeon for a follow-up visit from her surgery and was not able to blog about this feast day. However, Saint Luke provides us with messages of comfort and we truly need to hear those in our world today. A world that seems broken, divided, hurting needs to hear the message of God's love and be assured that we live in hope. In speaking about Saint Luke, one writer states, "Saint Luke highlights Jesus' proclamation of God's healing word to all sorts of sinners and sufferers, from the grieving widow of Nain to the semi-comical tax collector, Zacchaeus, to the dramatic and anonymous woman who washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair" (Magnificat, 258-59). The phrase that stands out is, "Jesus' proclamation of God's healing word to all sorts of sinners and sufferers." We are all sinners in need of God's mercy and forgiveness so we need to bring a message of healing and reconciliation. Then from Luke's Gospel, this passage, "Jesus received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured" (9:11). The commentator continues, "Alone of the Evangelists Saint Luke, the 'beloved physician' (Col 4:14), preserves some of Jesus' best-known stories of God's merciful and healing love for all peoples, whether respected or despised. Among them are the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son" (Magnificat, 266). Again, "God's merciful and healing love for all peoples." These are beautiful messages that we need to listen to. We need to take God's word to heart because it is living and effective. Saint Luke, intercede for us!!!