We should thank St Luke today for bringing good tidings to us because he was a faithful instrument in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Moved by the grace of divine inspiration he passed on to us a remarkable Gospel as well as an account of primitive Christianity which we have in the Acts of the Apostles.

As in all work done well, the inspired writings of Sacred Scripture required human effort. The help of God does not supplant human talent. Luke himself refers to the diligence involved in the task, "After following up all things carefully from the very first he made an orderly account". And he indicates too, that the information he obtained was from those "who were eyewitnesses from the beginning" (Lk. 1:2).

Thanks to Luke's attentive correspondence with the grace of the Holy Spirit, today we can read an account of Jesus' infancy and the series of superb parables that he alone recounts: the parable of the prodigal son, of the good Samaritan, of the negligent administrator, and indeed of the poor Lazarus and the rich man. Also unique in Luke is the account of the two disciples to Emmaus. Luke describes specially the divine mercy shown to those in need, and stresses Christ's love for sinners to show that Jesus came "to save those who were lost."