Suy Niệm Ngày lễ kính Thánh Luca, Thánh Sử 10/18/

 Suy Niệm Ngày lễ kính Thánh Luca, Thánh Sử 10/18

Thánh Luca là ai? Chúng ta chỉ biết qua là ông đã sinh ra ờ thành phố Antioch và làm nghề thầy thuốc. Ông đã theo Thánh Phaolô như là người môn đệ trung thành của thánh Phaolô.. Qua các bài đọc trong sách Tông đồ công vụ, chúng ta có thể đoán được là Thánh Luca là người đồng hành rất thân thiết với Thánh Phaolô trên đường rao giảng tin mừng cho dân ngoại, và đặc biệt nhất là trong những giai đoạn gần cuối cuộc đời của Thánh Phaolô. Mặc dù có nhiều người bỏ rơi Thánh Phaolô trong những năm qua tù đày ở Rome, nhưng Thánh Luca đã luôn trung thành và ở gần với Thánh Phaolô cho đến khi thánh Phaolô được tử vì đạo.

Thánh Luca đã viết cả hai cuốn sách đó là sách Tin Mừng Thánh Luca và cuốn Tông Đồ Công Vụ. Trong số những thứ khác, tác phẩm của ông đã thể hiện tình thương yêu sâu sắc mà Chúa Giêsu đã dành cho người đau bệnh, những người nghèo khổ, những người phụ nữ bị bỏ rơi và những người sống bên lề của xã hội. Tin Mừng của Thánh Luca đã mang lại cho những người này có tiếng nói. Thánh Luca cho chúng ta thấy được sự chăm sóc dịu dàng của Chúa Giêsu đối với những người có yếu thế, nghèo hèn, đau khổ và Thánh Luca còn nhấn mạnh cái tầm quan trọng của họ trong ánh mắt của Thiên Chúa.

Có những tin đồn người ta nói rằng Thánh Luca có thể là một trong bảy mươi hai người mà Chúa Giêsu đã chọn và sai đi rao giảng Lời Chúa như trong đoạn Tin Mừng hôm nay (Lc. 10). Vì lý do mà ông đã theo Chúa ngay từ lúc đầu, nên Thánh Luca đã chứng kiến được ​​tận mắt những việc mà Thiên Chúa đã chữa lành những ngưòi bệnh tật, cũng như chứng kiến được cảnh Chúa Giêsu luôn có những cử chỉ săn sóc và để ý riêng đến những người thiếu may mắn và cần có nhu cầu. Qua Tin Mừng của Thánh Luca, chúng ta đã nhìn được rõ sự thương yêu của Chúa Giêsu nơi mọi người một cách riêng biệt và sâu sắc.

Tin Mừng của Thánh Luca được gọi là Tin Mừng của lòng nhân hậu, từ bi và Tin Mừng của niềm vui. Có bao giờ chúng ta đã cảm nhận được là Chúa Giêsu đã nhìn chúng ta bằng con mắt nhân từ với lòng từ bi, nhân hậu?? Lạy Chúa, giúp chúng con biết mang lại niềm vui Tin Mừng đến cho mọi người

St Luke, Evangelist (2 Tim. 4:10-17; Lk. 10:1-9 )

St Luke was a close companion of Paul, including near the end of Paul's life. Many people deserted Paul in these last years, but Luke chose to faithfully remain with Paul.

Who is St Luke? We know that he came from the city of Antioch and worked as a physician. Eventually, he wrote both the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles. Among other things, his writings express the deep compassion Jesus had for the sick, the poor, women and people living on the margins of society. The Gospel of Luke gives these people a voice. Luke reveals Jesus' tender care for people in need and emphasizes how important they are in God’s sight.

It is said that Luke was also one of the seventy people sent out by Jesus in today’s Gospel passage (Lk. 10). Accordingly, Luke witnessed firsthand how God healed, nourished and blessed people in need. Luke saw that Jesus loved people personally and profoundly. The Gospel of Luke is known as the Gospel of compassion and the Gospel of joy.

Have I ever sensed Jesus looking upon me with compassion?

Lord, help me to bring the Joy of the Gospel to many people

Meditation: Luke 10:1-9 Saint Luke, Evangelist

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” (Luke 10:2)

A few decades ago, a team of sales­people would have mapped out their territory and assigned a particular town to each salesperson. The sales­people would go to every home in that town, and if the door opened, they would try to sell their prod­uct, whether it was vacuum cleaners, encyclopedias, suits, or anything else.

Now, in the age of huge depart­ment stores and Internet shopping, that personal approach isn’t practi­cal anymore. Some might even call it old-fashioned and inefficient.

But that’s not the way Jesus looks at things. In fact, he used an “old-fashioned” approach when he sent out the seventy-two disciples. He could have just beamed his mes­sage of salvation into people’s brains and avoided all the messiness using ordinary human beings. Instead, he chose rough-hewn tradesmen and their wives to go out and deliver it personally. He sent them to demon­strate his message in action and then tell people that the kingdom of God was at hand.

We may wonder why Jesus would use such low tech means to announce the good news. He certainly isn’t against technology. He might indeed have used the tools of our media-drenched age if they had existed at the time. But then again, he might not. Think about the num­ber of messages that are thrown at you every day. Would you pay atten­tion to one more text message, one more tweet, or one more sound bite? Wouldn’t you be more likely to pay attention to a living, breathing per­son whose life has been changed by Christ? That’s why the disciples were so effective.

That’s also why Jesus has appointed you to be his witness. You have some very good news to deliver. Evangelization is not about delivering the exactly right facts. It’s about tell­ing your own story of God’s mercy and presence—a story that only you can tell. So don’t worry about doing it perfectly. If God wanted perfection, he wouldn’t have chosen us humans to do the work. Just make your­self available, and let the Spirit work through you. If the seventy-two could do it, so can you!

“Lord, help me to see my corner of the world as your mission field. Give me a compassionate heart so that I can witness to your love and grace

Reflection:

Let’s think about Luke, whose feast is today. He was in the first wave of foreign converts to the Faith, and his Gospel could be said to be for foreigners: for people who were not familiar with Jewish Law and custom. It is distinctive in many ways. It was not written for Jews but for Gentiles, in other words, for the likes of you and me. For example, he seldom quotes the Old Testament, and never refers to Jesus as Rabbi (a Hebrew title), but as Master (a Greek title). He traces the genealogy of Jesus not from Abraham (the founder of the Jewish race) but from Adam (the ‘founder’ of the human race). He alone tells the parable of the Good Samaritan (a non-Jew). He has a habit of giving people and places the Greek equivalent of their Hebrew names: Go

Meditation: Luke 10:1-9 Saint Luke, Evangelist

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” (Luke 10:2)

A few decades ago, a team of sales­people would have mapped out their territory and assigned a particular town to each salesperson. The sales­people would go to every home in that town, and if the door opened, they would try to sell their prod­uct, whether it was vacuum cleaners, encyclopedias, suits, or anything else. Now, in the age of huge depart­ment stores and Internet shopping, that personal approach isn’t practi­cal anymore. Some might even call it old-fashioned and inefficient.

But that’s not the way Jesus looks at things. In fact, he used an “old-fashioned” approach when he sent out the seventy-two disciples. He could have just beamed his mes­sage of salvation into people’s brains and avoided all the messiness using ordinary human beings. Instead, he chose rough-hewn tradesmen and their wives to go out and deliver it personally. He sent them to demon­strate his message in action and then tell people that the kingdom of God was at hand.

We may wonder why Jesus would use such low tech means to announce the good news. He certainly isn’t against technology. He might indeed have used the tools of our media-drenched age if they had existed at the time. But then again, he might not. Think about the num­ber of messages that are thrown at you every day. Would you pay atten­tion to one more text message, one more tweet, or one more sound bite? Wouldn’t you be more likely to pay attention to a living, breathing per­son whose life has been changed by Christ? That’s why the disciples were so effective. That’s also why Jesus has appointed you to be his witness. You have some very good news to deliver. Evangelization is not about delivering the exactly right facts. It’s about tell­ing your own story of God’s mercy and presence—a story that only you can tell. So don’t worry about doing it perfectly. If God wanted perfection, he wouldn’t have chosen us humans to do the work. Just make your­self available, and let the Spirit work through you. If the seventy-two could do it, so can you! “Lord, help me to see my corner of the world as your mission field. Give me a compassionate heart so that I can witness to your love and grace