Think of the timing of the authorship of Luke - some 70 years (perhaps - it is a little vague, but not before 50 years) after the resurrection. The early christians were expecting an imminent return of the Lord, this time in Glory, to bring in the end of days and the resurrection of all. In fact, Jesus, and indeed most of the people who knew him, had died, and the second coming of the messianic saving king had decidedly not happened.  It is likely that Luke wrote today's Gospel to tell them, the second or even third generation christians, that they should not be looking to the return of the king, but to be looking among themselves, to see (to it) that the kingdom of God is formed by them.

There are perhaps three ways to read this "in the midst of you" or as the Jerusalem Bible had it "within you".

1. 'already here' , you live in the kingdom
2. 'within your grasp' - you just need other make the effort to reach out, and live in it
3. 'a spiritual reality' - just live as if this was true, and you make it so.

I like the third most of all, but you are open to make your own interpretation. Just - live faithfully by your view. We are all destined for the same eternal Kingdom, that is assured to us by Christs Resurrection - but we are called to life our part, in the way we see to be true.

Do not fall into the concept that foreigner in Luke's Gospel means someone from elsewhere. The Samaritans lived very close to the Israelites and in faith and practice would have been almost indistinguishable from them. They did have arguments - bitter arguments - between each other about the content of the sacred scripture (what should or should not be read in synagogues) and about the advent of a Messiah. Our Lord needs us to apply his teaching to anyone whom we might find it to be uncomfortable to be with. Very often, the difficult ones are those who lead us closer to God. It can be hard to understand how, but patience and trust in the Lord will show us.

It might sound like the master is being unfair to the servant - demand to be fed by the slave after making them work all the day in the fields. Well - yes it is, but do not forget the example set by Our Lord. At the Last Supper he put on an apron and cleaned his disciples feet - not in response to being asked to do this, but out of love for them. An example to follow! We also are not saved by our efforts - willingly given or otherwise - but by Jesus' salvific work in the Cross and Resurrection. However - we still have to labour and strain - to help others to be saved.

Today's Saint is Martin of Tours. He was born in the Roman province of Pannonia (approximating to the western half of modern Hungary) in about 316 and was educated at Pavia in Italy. He was baptized, left the army and after spending some time as a hermit on an island off the Ligurian coast, founded a monastery at Ligugé in western France, where he lived a monastic life guided by St Hilary. Later he was ordained priest and became bishop of Tours. In his actions he gave an example of what a good shepherd should be. He founded other monasteries, educated the clergy, and preached the Gospel to the poor. He died in 397.

The number 7 crops up over and again in the Bible - and in popular culture. Of course - the week is divided into 7 days. Why might this be? 7 is regarded as a perfect number, complete and sufficient in itself. Our biology means that if you look at a collection of things, up to 7, it is very easy to count and remember them all. One of the many uses of 7 is to indicate time - both a short time, as in '7 days time' and in the sense of a long time ' Ruth waited 7 years for a baby brother'.

The Lord is using 7 here to mean a number of times, to few to be uncountable, but enough to be more than 'just a few'. So we should not ignore a plea for help which comes over and over again. Don't dismiss someone because they are being a persistent nuisance - find out what they need, listen to them, and give help.

Pope St Leo the Great was born in Etruria and became Pope in 440. He was a true shepherd and father of souls. He constantly strove to keep the faith whole and strenuously defended the unity of the Church. He repelled the invasions of the barbarians or alleviated their effects, famously persuading Attila the Hun not to march on Rome in 452, and preventing the invading Vandals from massacring the population in 455.

Leo left many doctrinal and spiritual writings behind and a number of them are included in the Office of Readings to this day. He died in 461.

One of the many skills of a leader, and one of the most difficult to achieve, is the true art of delegation. St Paul in today's reading from Romans shows us how. Once satisfied that the team know how to get on with the basics, he stops interfering, letting them get on with it, and he moves on to a monitoring and encouraging role. He has spotted that they are doing OK in most respects, and gives them encouragement and prise for that, but he also provides advice on how to become even better.

This will sound familiar to all teachers - it is the normal day to day way of working. Parents, Managers, Coaches,  - anyone with people looking to them for leadership - will do well to follow St Paul's example.

St Luke reveals to us some of his mastery in literature. Using the device of a pair of related stories, when to make the point only one would be more than enough, is a device that emphasises the importance of our Lord's message.

And the message is - God will go to extended, unimaginable efforts to save any lost ones back to his family.

It can be easy to feel sad that someone we know and love seems to be far away from God - for example a grown child who no longer comes to Mass. There is a lot of comfort in the sure knowledge that even those who no longer seek the Lord, are being sought out by God - He never abandons even the least of the little ones.

Our part is both easy and difficult - keep on loving and praying for them, no matter how little the effect seems to be. God has everything in his care.

Looking through the Lens of love - if love is genuine - we see that each of the commandments against something have a range of positive virtues that come from Love.

For example, Though Shall Not Kill. If we love someone with God's true Love, then rather than kill, we would seek to nurture life wherever it exists. So, we would choose not to use the death sentence, not to euthanise, not to drive recklessly, not to consume goods with abandon when others are starving... and so on.

The only thing we need to do is to allow God's Love to be the lens through which we look at everything.