Only Luke

As you probably know, we are in Liturgical Cycle C - which means almost every Sunday we hear a reading from Luke's Gospel.  

Given that, I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the unique things about Luke and his writings:

• Only Luke records the Annunciation, Visitation, the Presentation and Finding in the Temple
• We get the Magnificat ("My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord") from Luke's Gospel (1:46-55)
• Only Luke writes about Simeon's Song of Praise ("Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace", 2:29-32)
• The Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Rich Man and Lazarus, and the Good Thief can only be found in Luke
• Luke's Gospel is the longest in the New Testament
• Only Luke records our Blessed Mother's words "God has cast down the mighty and has lifted up the lowly" (1:46-55)
• The shepherds visiting the baby Christ is found in Luke
• Of the Gospel writers, only Luke wrote a sequel (Acts)
• Luke was the only non-Jew, New Testament writer (he was likely Greek)

And of course, only Luke wrote that line that inspired many blogs blog across the internet:  "Amen, I say to you, today, you will be with me in Paradise."

God Bless you.

Ten Percent

Ten percent.

That is how many lepers returned to thank Jesus in today's Gospel.  

Just a single foreigner out of a group of ten cured people.

I admit, I scoff at the 90% every time I hear this passage.  I mean, the nerve of these folks.  Our Lord takes time out of His glorious day to perform a miracle for them, and only one has the decency to come back and thank Him?  

Yes, I scoff at them, even though I go day in and day out forgetting to thank my Savior for the miracles He has done for me.  

Today alone I have yet to thank Him for the gift of of my life, for the breath I just took.  

I did not thank Him for the fact that I went to Mass without fear for my life.  

Nor did I thank Him for the gift of our pastor, my family, or my friends.  

I did not thank Him for the abundant food I had to eat, the roof over my head, or the fact that I can write this very post.

I failed to thank Him for calling me to follow Him, my faith, and everything He has forgiven me for.

In fact, I'm starting to think that if I thanked Him for "only" 10% of the miracles He has given me ... it would be an improvement.

God Bless.