Today is the Feast of St. Luke, the Evangelist. Today’s Gospel is taken from the Gospel that Luke wrote. He not only wrote the Gospel that bears his name but also the Acts of the Apostles. His Gospel is the story of Jesus and Acts describes how the story of Jesus continues in the preaching and healing of the apostles in the process of evangelization.
In today’s Gospel the Lord Jesus sends out (apostello) seventy-two disciples to prepare his way. Jesus tells them: “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Jesus also sees an abundant harvest in our world today. We, at times, may not see it but this is because we do not see what Jesus sees. He sees that people are hungry for meaning and purpose in their life. They are on a spiritual quest, each in their own way. Jesus sends us out like the seventy-two disciples to prepare his way. We prepare the way not by judging and condemning people but by showing them how Jesus brings joy and meaning to our life. We can prepare the way for Jesus by encouraging people to watch the TV series “The Chosen” or maybe even watch it with them and discuss it. We are all called to be evangelist even if we do not write a Gospel like St. Luke. We evangelize by helping people to be touched by the story of Jesus.
Evangelization begins with a personal invitation. Pope Francis expresses the invitation in this way:
“I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”. The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms.” (Evangelii gaudium #3)
Image: “St Luke the Evangelist” by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.