18 October 2013
Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist
Today is t he feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist. So, let me share with you a conceit of mine. I like to associate the four evangelists with Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” St. Luke being identified with “Autumn”. I am glad his feast falls during “the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” because I believe that describes him very well. I look forward “when I have completed the course” to conversing with this very kind, sensitive, talented man. I anticipate hearing his remembrance of being with Paul, accompanying him to prison and how he learned about the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the parable of the Prodigal Son and the account of the widow of Naim. I also look forward finding out where he learned his writing skills and why he wrote the Acts of the Apostles — all of which I anticipate hearing as “clouds bloom in the softly dying (celestial) day.”
Is it pure fancy to imagine speaking in heaven with the saints and those we have known and loved in this life? Not at all! In heaven we shall know one another as we are known by God Himself. There relationships begun on earth will be perfected. And we’ll keep our human personalities and idiosyncrasies (divinized of course), indicating that heaven will be a place of everlasting laughter! Because St. Luke was the evangelist particularly sensitive to women, I anticipate hearing his take on Jane Austin, Sigurd Undset, Flannery O’Connor, Agatha Christie and – yes, Virginia Woolf too. But for now, I remember Paul’s “beloved physician” is the patron of the medical profession and I pray for all the medical personnel, who are challenged today by our secular society, and especially do I recommend to St. Luke’s guidance students who aspire to become the nurses and physicians of tomorrow.