“Luke is the only one with me.” (2Tm 4:11)

“I am sending you like lambs among wolves.  Carry not money bag, no sack, no sandals; greet no one along the way.” (Lk 10:3,4)

Today is the feast of St. Luke, one of the four Evangelists.  He is attributed with the authorship of the Gospel that bears his name and of the Acts of the Apostles which is a continuation of the story showing how the Holy Spirit ‘acts’ through the Apostles in building the early Church.  Luke is thought to have been a Gentile Christian writing for Gentile Christians.  It is believed that he traveled with Paul on parts of his second and third missionary journeys and was with Paul during both his first and second imprisonments.

Luke’s Gospel emphasizes the call to poverty, prayer, and purity of the heart.  God’s salvation through Jesus is extended to ALL humanity.  His juxtaposition of a story about a man with a story about a woman and Luke’s mention of the ministry of the women who followed Jesus is thought to show that Jesus cares as much about the salvation of women as He does for men.

The role of the disciple is the same rather one is male or female though.  “Carry not money bag, no sack, no sandals; greet no one along the way.” (Lk 10:3,4)   This is one of the three ‘first rules’ of St. Francis of Assisi whose feast we just celebrated two weeks ago.  It was trust, not faith, that allowed St. Francis to abandon a hermit's robe, sandals and belt for an even simpler robe with only rope for a belt and no shoes and to become totally dependent on other's charity for his daily bread in order to live this passage literally. Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  Trust, however, is not a gift -- it's a choice.  Trust is the decision to ignore our unbelief and let God out of the box.

We may not be able to live this passage as literally today as St. Francis did, but we can adapt the ‘spirit’ of the directive.
No money bag…do not place importance on acquiring material things. 
No sack….do not worry about provisions.
No sandals….toughen up your feet because the journey is going to be rough.
Greet no one along the way….stay focused on the destination, do not let yourself become distracted by other ambitions or aspirations.

God provides all we need when we say yes to His will.  We should not doubt His providence and grace.  Luke and the other saints did not and we too are all called to be saints.  If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.