October 18, 2014 8:30AM

As I said at the beginning of Mass, today we celebrate the feast of Saint Luke.

He is the only Gentile or non-Jewish Christian of the four gospel writers.

He was one of Saint Paul’s assistants and Paul calls him “the beloved physician.”

So apparently Luke was a doctor.

Luke’s gospel is very distinctive.

It has real differences from the other three gospels.

For example, Luke sees Jesus as the fulfillment of both Jewish and Gentile hopes.

Luke shows special concern in his gospel for the poor, the marginalized, social outcasts, and women.

Only Luke’s gospel has those memorable stories of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the rich man and Lazarus.

In these and other stories, Luke shows that God’s kingdom is for everyone – the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless.

He leaves us with a sense of universalism and inclusiveness – that Jesus and God’s kingdom is for all peoples, even the most unlikely.

He leaves us with a sense of attentiveness to those who are at the bottom of the social or economic ladder.

He lifts up the virtues of humility and justice as central to the following of Jesus.

I must admit that it is my favorite gospel.

I think it is a gospel that speaks well to us today.