Deuteronomy – Confident.Faith

Today we celebrate the Festival of St. Luke, Evangelist. A traveling companion of St. Paul, St. Luke was a Greek physician, who would author one of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts. It is Luke who gives us details of Christ’s birth and many other events. Taken together, The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts comprise over a third of the New Testament.

Today we commemorate Ignatius of Antioch, Pastor and Martyr. Serving as bishop of Antioch in the beginning of the second century AD, Ignatius was a proponent of orthodox Christian doctrine. Arrested under Emperor Trajan, Ignatius, like Paul, was taken in chains to Rome, where he was executed by being thrown to wild beasts in the arena. In his letters, written on the way to Rome, Ignatius warned against false teachings, encouraged his fellow pastors, emphasized Christ’s full humanity and full deity, defended the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, and stressed the unity of the Church (being the first to use the term “catholic” in describing her). Ignatius left behind a lasting legacy for the Church.

Today we commemorate Philip the Deacon. One of the seven men appointed to help the Apostles handle the work of the rapidly expanding Early Church by overseeing the distribution of food to the poor, Philip would go on to work as an evangelist in Samaria. Pursuant to the word of God brought to him by an angel, Philip encountered an Ethiopian eunuch, an official in the court of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, on the road that goes south from Jerusalem to Gaza. In preaching the Good News to this man (and baptizing him), Philip became indirectly responsible for transmitting the Gospel to the continent of Africa.

Today we commemorate Abraham. Selected from among the nations and called by God to become the father of a great nation, Abraham left his home and all that he had ever known, at the age of seventy-five, and moved to the land of Canaan, which God promised to Abraham and to his descendants (a promise fulfilled under the reign of Israel’s monarchs). At the age of one hundred, Abraham had Isaac with his wife Sarah — a miraculous birth according to the promise from God. Demonstrating his obedience to and trust in God in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac (a sacrifice God stopped by speaking from Heaven and providing a ram), Abraham is commended for his trusting faith in God and His promises. Through the Seed of Abraham, that is Jesus Christ, all nations have been blessed.