Today, we celebrate the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, one of the four GOSPEL writers in the New Testament. GOSPEL means “good news”. In the GOSPEL according to St. Luke, we receive the beautiful revelation of a God who desires to bring healing and mercy to those who are lost and in darkness. We especially see this in the parable of the Prodigal Son which only occurs in the GOSPEL of Luke. We as children of God are given a mission as the body of Christ to share and proclaim the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ to all whom we encounter. May we who have received so many blessings and graces from our Lord share the good news, the GOSPEL, that our God is a God of love and mercy constantly seeking us out when we are in need or forsaken. And may we remember St. Francis’ words regarding the GOSPEL: “Preach the GOSPEL always; use words when necessary.”

As the Body of Christ, we are called to be good EXAMPLES of Christian Discipleship in our world today. We are called to exhibit and exemplify the presence of Christ to all whom we encounter. Thankfully as we grow, God gives us good EXAMPLES to follow on our journey. Any place where we see a bad EXAMPLE, however, we are called to learn and do the opposite. May we be grateful to God for all of the good EXAMPLES we have been blessed to know on our life journey. May we be most grateful to the EXAMPLES of faith in our lives especially our parents and grandparents.