The Lord follows his preachers

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

Today, October 18, as our church celebrates the Feast of Luke, Evangelist, Apostle, our Church invites us to read reflect on a passage from the Acts of the Apostles (9:27-31; 11:19-26), entitled “The Church was filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a homily on the gospels by Saint Gregory the Great, pope.

Saint Luke was born of a pagan family. Converted to the faith, he became a fellow-worker of the apostle Paul. From Saint Paul’s preaching he compiled one of the gospels. He handed down an account of the beginnings of the Church in another work, the “Acts of the Apostles”, which tells of events up to the time of Saint Paul’s first sojourn in Rome.

St. Luke wrote a greater volume of the New Testament than any other single author, including the earliest history of the Church. His gospel preserved the most extensive biography of Jesus Christ. Ancient traditions also acknowledge Luke as the founder of Christian iconography, making him a patron of artists as well as doctors and other medical caregivers.

Saint Gregory was born at Rome around the year 540. He rose through various public offices to the prefecture which he renounced. He entered the monastic life and, once ordained deacon, he discharged the duties of the legate at Constantinople. On September 3, 590 he was elevated to the Chair of Saint Peter and he proved to be a true shepherd by carrying out his office, helping the poor, spreading and strengthening the faith. He wrote extensively on moral and theological subjects. He died on March 12, 604.

Pope Gregory was a prolific writer whose works were influential in the medieval period. During his lifetime, he penned over 800 letters and authored accounts of the lives of the saints and other religious works. Using simple words to preach to the nobles and common people of Rome, Gregory employed metaphors, analogies, stories, and images to answer basic questions of faith and morals. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission of Rome, the Gregorian mission, to convert the then largely pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity,

The Acts of the Apostles, the second volume of Luke’s two-volume work, continues Luke’s presentation of biblical history, describing how the salvation promised to Israel in the Old Testament and accomplished by Jesus has now under the guidance of the holy Spirit been extended to the Gentiles. This was accomplished through the divinely chosen representatives whom Jesus prepared during his historical ministry and commissioned after his resurrection as witnesses to all that he taught. Luke’s preoccupation with the Christian community as the Spirit-guided bearer of the word of salvation rules out of his book detailed histories of the activity of most of the preachers. Only the main lines of the roles of Peter and Paul serve Luke’s interest.