The Feast of St Luke the Evangelist | Tuesday 18 October 2022

Today is Tuesday the 18th of October, the Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist.


The monks of Glenstal Abbey sing Viri Galilei: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?”

Although this is the antiphon for the Feast of the Ascension, it has something to say to us the rest of the year as well: When I am looking for God, all too often I look into the sky, as if God is far off in some distant place, when in fact God is here with me now, in the people around me, in the ordinary, everyday events of my life.

Can I sense that presence? Here? Now?

Viri Galilaei, quid admiramini aspicientes in caelum? Alleluia.
Quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet, Alleluia.


Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking into heaven? Alleluia.
He shall so come as you have seen him going into heaven. Alleluia.

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 10:1-9

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

If I see myself as a Christian, as a disciple of Jesus, it's easy to think that my job is to 'bring God' to people. But in these words of Jesus there's a reminder that, wherever I go, whoever I encounter, God has been there before me. When I meet people, when I talk, listen, converse with them, do I recognise that God is already present and active in their lives?

'The kingdom of God has come near to you'. Have I ever spoken those words, or words like them, to anyone? Would I put it in some other way? Would I want to say it at all?


Listening again to the reading, I notice the grace in it… the grace of which it speaks… how in these terms, every encounter between human beings is potentially a precious moment of grace.

What grace do I feel I most need from God, as this prayer time draws to a close? It may be a greater awareness of God's presence in other people, or God's help in communicating better with others, or maybe something else altogether. Whatever it is, knowing that God loves me, I ask with confidence for what I need.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.