On the Feast of Saint Luke

Saint Luke is my kind of writer. Luke the historian and Luke the lyrical poet are both in evidence in his New Testament writings, his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.

He freely admits that he never met Christ in the flesh, that he was not a witness to the events he describes in his Gospel.

Like any good historian, he talked to the eyewitnesses, sometimes eliciting from them personal insights that are glossed over in the other Gospels.

Given the first chapter of his Gospel, I think it’s pretty clear that the Blessed Virgin Mary was one of the people with whom Luke spoke.

In Acts, however, Luke shifts to the first person “we” when describing some of the voyages of Saint Paul, leading us to conclude that he was a disciple or companion of Paul.

Luke’s poetry – the three great evangelical Canticles – are prayed every day in the Divine Office.

• At Lauds, the Benedictus or “Canticle of Zachary” (Lk 1:68-79),
• At Vespers, the Magnificat or “Canticle of Mary” (Lk 1:46-55),
• At Compline, the Nunc dimittis or “Canticle of Simeon” (Lk 2:29-32).

Interestingly, the Monastic Office does not contain the Nunc dimittis at Compline. I suspect this is because the Monastic Office of Compline predates the Roman, which added numerous bits to it.

On this, the day of his feast, let us spend some time reading Saint Luke’s works. I think the first chapter of his Gospel with its beautiful canticles and its eager anticipation of the birth of the Saviour is probably a good place to start.

According to Saint Jerome, Luke died in Achaia, Greece at the age of 84.