Celebrate St. Luke with a Simple Snack or Meal and More!

Whether you like snacking with the saints or celebrating with simple eats at meal time, I've got some ideas for celebrating the feast of St. Luke.

Since St. Luke is one of the Gospel writers, to snack with Saint Luke, simply get some gluten-free Nature's Bakery Fig Bars - or anything like them, cut off the edges on one side and etch crosses into them to make "Bibles".

Then, since St. Luke is often depicted as an ox with wings, pick all the cows out of some Annie's Bernie's Farm Fruit Snacks as "oxen" or use animal crackers or any other cookie or treat with an ox-type shape and put them on a plate.

Set these out with a St. Luke peg doll, image of Saint Luke, or similar, and you are good to go for snacking with Saint Luke!

Or, if you would like a meal instead of a snack, prepare some simple eats!

Last, year, my son made his own Name Day meal:

• scrambled burger, because St. Luke is patron to butchers (and my son loves red meat of any kind)

• "quill pasta", because St. Luke is patron to writers and artists.

Plus, whatever vegetable you like, which in my son's case was broccoli.

Whether going with a simple snack or an easy eats meal, it would be appropriate to read about St. Luke, read portions of the Gospel or retell  what you know about St. Luke would be appropriate.

You might also glean some ideas from the Celebrate St. Luke's Feast Day with Art, Music, and Poetry plans that I shared last year or from other past St. Luke posts.

Some of the things we did as activities during our celebrations last year were:

a picture study...

writing and sharing Letter Poems, and adding symbols of St. Luke into artwork.

Can you find a symbol in each of our drawings? They might include a winged ox, a winged calf, an ox, a picture of the Virgin, a palette and brushes, vials of medicine, physician's robes, an easel, a book and pen, hatchet, a wooden horse, books of his Gospel and of the Acts, a bishop, or someone painting an icon of our Lady.

Plans for all of our St. Luke art, music, and poetry activities are described in full detail here.

However you celebrate St. Luke's feast day, I pray that you have a faith-filled, fun, and meaningful time making memories as you live the liturgical year.

St. Luke, pray for us!

Celebrate St. Luke's Feast Day with Art, Music, and Poetry

If you're looking to include some art, music, and poetry in your observance of St. Luke's feast day, then I have some ideas for you.

Since our family's next AMP Club meeting happens to fall on St. Luke's feast day, and St. Luke is my son's name day, I have decided to marry feast day inspiration with our usual and AMP meeting activities, so we can observe the feast day with friends.

As I often do, I am sharing our saint-inspired AMP plans here in case you, too, would like to celebrate the liturgical year through the riches of art, music, and poetry.

Invite Children to Share What They Know about St. Luke

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St. Luke the Evangelists images, peg dolls, Figgies & Jammies "books", a reading about St. Luke, a candle, and perhaps another treat can make a wonderful invitation to welcome children to the feast day celebration.

Once everyone has gathered, looking at the symbols painted on the doll, the edible books, etc., ask children to share what they know about St. Luke.


Share about St. Luke

If you have time, after children share what they know about St. Luke, perhaps watch a few different Youtube biographies about St. Luke online, taking notes which can be used in a poem lately.

Or, read the brief St. Luke iography which can be found free online at Loyola Press and is excerpted from Voices of the Saints.


St. Luke Art Appreciation

St. Luke Painting the Virgin; source: Wikipedia

Offer children, or pairs or trios of children, different images of St. Luke(as pictured in this section) and encourage the children to study the image they receive or 30-60 seconds.  Then, to turn it over and recall what they can from the image in terms of "art words" and what was actually depicted.

A Painting by Hermen Rode; source: Wikimedia Commons

Chat about the things they note and, then, lay all of the images out side by side. Challenge the children to discover something that is the same about each of the images: Each has an ox in it!

St Luke the Apostle and Evangelist; source: Wikimedia Commons

Ask if anyone knows why St. Luke is often depicted with or by the symbol of a winged ox. Point out, as is explained on Catholic Culture, that:

The ox, recognized as the animal of sacrifice, was applied to St. Luke because his Gospel emphasizes the atonement made by Christ's sacrifice of himself on the Cross.

St. Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin; source: Wikimedia Commons 

Detail, as explained on Catholic Exchange:

Oxen were used in temple sacrifices. For instance, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem, an ox and a fatling were sacrificed every six steps (2 Sm 6). St. Luke begins his Gospel with the announcement of the birth of St. John the Baptizer to his father, the priest Zechariah, who was offering sacrifice in the Temple (Lk 1). St. Luke also includes the parable of the Prodigal Son, in which the fatted calf is slaughtered, not only to celebrate the younger son’s return, but also to foreshadow the joy we must have in receiving reconciliation through our most merciful Savior who as Priest offered Himself in sacrifice to forgive our sins. Therefore, the winged ox reminds us of the priestly character of our Lord and His sacrifice for our redemption.

St. Luke Painting the Madonna; source: Wikimedia Commons

Then, take specific note of all the different oxen in the images - their placement, the way they are painted, etc.

St. Luke Painting the Virgin Mary; source: Wikimedia Commons

The Ox (or, Rather, Cattle) Music Appreciation 

Connecting to the idea of Luke's symbol being a flying ox, ask children if they think any classical music has ever been composed about an ox, or cattle.

Of course! There is actually a piece called "Pictures at an Exhibition" with a portion of it called "Bydlo" (The Cattle) which was composed by Mussorgsky in 1874 and, later, redone by other composers. (An audio of the piece can be found here.)

Play The Cattle for the children and ask them to try to imagine a scene.

Discuss how the piece was inspired by "a Polish cart on enormous wheels, drawn by oxen."

Listen for how it begins fortissimo (ff) (loudly), suggesting that the lumbering oxcart's journey begins in the listener's foreground. 

Then, listen for how it reaches a climax (con tutta forza), followed by a diminuendo (decrease in loudness) to a final pianississimo (ppp) (quieter playing), suggesting the oxcart receding into the distance.

Have students name the instrument the piece was played on: a piano!

Then, without showing the Youtube video above, just listening to it, see if children can guess what the main instrument the piece is being played with in it: string instruments like cellos. (Perhaps, recall how the piano is also a string instrument, but crosses over to being percussion instrument.)

Finally, play the Ravel version of the same piece.  Have children listen for a different depiction of where the ox cart begins and goes to. See, if they notice how in the Rael version, you can hear the cart come from a distance, get closer, then go away.

Share and Write Letter Poetry

Ask children what they might say if they had a chance to talk to the oxcart man?  To the ox itself? To one of the composers? To Mama Mary and the Child Jesus? To St. Luke?

As how God talks to us. As about one way we know His Will and Word - the Bible, the inspired word of God, a sort of "letter" to God's people.Read about what inspired Luke to write his Gospel and, then, suggest that instead of waiting to get to Heaven to ask St. Luke about writing the Gospel, we could compose our thoughts now into a Letter Poem - or we could write a letter poem to anyone else.

Recall the different types of poetry we have studied before, such as Persona Poems, Direct Address Poems, Haiku, and more, and then explain that a Letter Poem is a letter we write in a poetic form.

Source: Amazon

Read about Letter Poems in Poetry from A to Z and suggest that we each write a letter poem - perhaps a thank you letter as a poem - to someone we know who St Luke is patron to - artists, bachelors, bookbinders, brewers, butchers, glassworkers, goldsmiths, lacemakers, notaries, painters, physicians, sculptors, stained glass workers, and surgeons - or to St. Luke, Mama Mary, the Child Jesus, or even an oxcart man.

Begin drafting quick writes of such poetry, and, after five minutes, share poetry with one another.

Create Art

Finally, create some art.

You might model artworks after the art examined during the picture study.

You might draw an ox with wings.

You might create images of the Blessed Virgin Mother and the Baby Jesus.

Or, you could do a completely different art project, such  as Simplicity by Creating a Masterpiece, but challenge children to somehow add a symbol of St. Luke into their finished work.

Symbols include a winged ox, a winged calf, an ox, a picture of the Virgin, a palette and brushes, vials of medicine, physician's robes, an easel, a book and pen, hatchet, a wooden horse, books of his Gospel and of the Acts, a bishop, or someone painting an icon of our Lady.

More Feasting, Fun, and Learning with St. Luke

You might also consider adding other. St. Luke day fun, learning, and food to your day:

Rock Art and More

Planning a St. Luke's Feast Day Resource Round Up

I'd love to hear about how you celebrate St. Luke's feast day. Please do pop back to comment here or on our Facebook page to let me know. 

 Lord God, who chose Saint Luke to reveal by his preaching and writings the mystery of your love for the poor, grant that those who already glory in your name may persevere as one heart and one soul and that all nations may merit to see your salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

~The Collect

 St. Luke the Evangelist, pray for us!

Enjoy St. Luke's Little Summer with Rock Art and More

Last year, the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist fell on an unseasonably warm day here - a truly "St. Luke's Little Summer" sort of day.  Thus, we combined an excursion to our favorite "lazy river" with a feast day celebration, thereby enjoying an afternoon filled with faith, friendship, and fun.

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This year, it looks like St. Luke's Day will once again bring beautiful weather, so as we plan to enjoy another outdoor celebration with friends making rock art to leave behind for others.  This seems an ideal (and easy!) activity to enjoy for St. Luke's day, since St. Luke is patron to artists and painters,  his name means "bringer of light" and he was an evangelist among gentiles.  Creating rock art with faith-based images and messages on them and leaving them behind to brighten other's days can help share a bit of light and the love of God.  

A Look Back at Our Our St. Luke's Day at the Lazy River

Last year, as I mentioned, we ended up spending St. Luke's day outside enjoying the incredibly warm fall weather we were having. 

However, it was not just warm weather, it was unusual King Tide weather.  So, when we arrived at the beach, we found the King Tide was causing the parking lot to flood.

Thus - much to my amusement - while we waited for friends to arrive, my children decided to get to work right away building dams. 

Meanwhile, St. Luke (in peg doll form) watched over us.

Soon enough, the waters in the lot began to recede a bit, and our friends arrived, so we walked out onto the beach.

As we trekked down to the typically lazy river, we were surprised by how high the tide was. We'd never seen it so far up on the beach before.

Luckily, the "Give One - Take One" rocks my daughter had left on an earlier excursion were high enough up on the beach to escape the King Tide, and some still sat ready to greet passersby.

Then, when we got to the lazy river, we found the tide had made it more of a lazy river-lake. 

That was A-okay with the kiddoes.  

They enjoyed the warm ocean water caught in the deep tidal pool.

Meanwhile, I found a high bank to set up our St. Luke's Feast Day picnic on.  For it, we used a lace tablecloth atop our picnic blanket, since St. Luke is patron to lacemakers and set out our St. Luke peg doll and the Picture Book of Saints.  

Most of our fare was not so much symbolic as easy to take along to the beach, although I did make mini-meatballs since St. Luke is patron to butchers and is often symbolized by a winged calf.  These did not make it into the picture though as the boys scoffed them right up as soon as they saw me taking them out. 
 

So, it was onto prayers, lunch, and a reading and chat about St. Luke.

Then, it was time for more lazy river fun for the children while I packed the food away and out out Sharpies, paper, color sticks, and a few rocks.

And, oh the fun they had!

The lazy river was not so lazy at times...

After they children had enjoyed riding the current for some time, I invited them back to the blankets and suggested we make artwork to leave on the beach for others to find, since St. Luke was an evangelist and is also patron to artists and painters.

Some of us made Mary rocks, since St. Luke was said to have painted a number of images of Mary and Baby Jesus.

My oldest made Armor of God rocks.

Friends made artwork on rocks and paper, too.

After that, it was time for more fun straight through the golden hour.

It was truly a delight-filled celebration, and, this year, although we won't be returning to the lazy river on St. Luke's feast day, we intend to evangelize by rock out made outside again after Mass and co-op.

Perhaps where you are will experience St. Luke's Little Summer, as well, and be able to use our idea of creating rock art in honor of St. Luke's patronage and leaving it behind to brighten other's day's, in honor of St. Luke's name meaning "bringer of light" and of him being an evangelist.

Three More Ideas for the Feast Day

• Enjoy a Name Day Tea
• Utilize any o all of the ideas from my St. Luke's Round Up.
• Play Commissioned, or another game about the spread of the early church.

St. Luke, pray for us.