Husband. Father. Anglican Priest.
Saint Luke’s feast therefore does not finally ask us to admire Luke from a distance. It calls us to receive again the Gospel Luke spent his life proclaiming. Jesus Christ has come. Good news is proclaimed to the poor, liberty to captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed.
The Prayer Book gathers that vocation into the image of wholesome medicine. Luke’s doctrine heals because his Gospel brings us to Jesus Christ, who forgives sin, calls sinners to repentance, restores the disordered heart, and gives resurrection life.
Everything is ready. The invitation goes out farther than human pride would send it, the judgment is more serious than religious presumption wants to admit, and the righteousness we need is found only in Christ. So let us not despise the invitation by endless delay.
Jesus says this is “the Lord’s doing,” and it is “marvelous in our eyes.” That word marvelous matters. The proper response to the risen Son is not merely that we have understood the argument correctly. It is wonder. The one rejected by men has been chosen by God.
The Blessing of the Animals is an occasion for Christians to give thanks to God for the creatures he has made, to pray for animals entrusted to human care, and to remember our responsibility as stewards within God’s creation.
Michael fights, but the victory does not rest upon Michael. We resist, but the victory does not rest upon our spiritual strength. The saints conquer “by the blood of the Lamb.” That is where our confidence rests. When temptation exposes our weakness, the blood of the Lamb has not changed.