Each of the four gospels gives us a different picture of Jesus. Recently the gospel at daily Mass has been taken from St Luke, whose portrait of Jesus many people find the most sympathetic, kindly and attractive of the four. As today is St Luke's own feast day, let our prayer and reflection rest a little more on him rather than what he wrote for us. So let's praise and thank the Lord for Luke, and ask through his intercession that his writings may draw us closer to Jesus in faith, love and service.

Like us, Luke did not know Jesus in His earthly life. But for a while he was a companion of St Paul (as Paul's letter reminds us), and no doubt learned from him. He learned also from many other people of faith, and from the testimony of eye-witnesses and servants of the word (as he wrote at the start of his gospel). In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke wrote about how Jesus' disciples became His witnesses, to the ends of the earth. Through the companionship of faith, may we (like Luke did) share in a deepening knowledge of Jesus and witnessing to Him.

Tradition says Luke was an artist and healer. Incidents and details in the way he wrote about Jesus' teaching and healing do display Luke's own empathy and understanding, his sensitivity to people and to the working of the Spirit. He may or may not have painted a visual portrait of Jesus, but Luke's gospel itself is a distinctive 'portrait' of the Master.