About Today for

October 18

Saint Luke the Evangelist

Feast

“And he said to all, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.” [1]

Today is the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. Tradition assigns the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles to the Luke who was a companion of St. Paul. He wrote in fluent Greek and was well-versed in the Hebrew Scriptures. He was a skilled story-teller who gives us the parables of Lazarus and the Rich Man, the Good Samaritan, and the Prodigal Son. He highlights God’s plan of Salvation in history, Jesus’ call to conversion and faith, and the evangelizing mission of the Church. As Saint John Paul II remarked, “As a minister of God’s Word, Luke leads us to knowledge of the discreet yet penetrating light that radiates from it, while illustrating the reality and events of history.”[2][3]

Written by Sarah Ciotti
Reviewed by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB, STD
[1] Revised Standard Version, s.v., “Luke, The Gospel According To.”
[2] John Paul II, Message to the Archbishop of Padua, October 15, 2000.
[3] Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB, The Martyrology of the Monastery of the Ascension, 2008.