by Gordon Nary
Gordon: I appreciate Christian Peschken introducing us.
Luke: Yes, me too. Christian is a great guy. I was told by some different publishers that I should start a blog page so I started to put some of my work on LinkedIn and inform people in discussions about the faith on the page. This is when I was first introduced to Christian.
I saw his responses come up while communicating to others on my page. Christian then sent me a message that said, “Hi Luke! If you were in Geneva, I would offer you to produce a series of videos (each 2 to 5 minutes long) covering some of your topics…” I thought hmm, who is this guy? Then when I checked out his background I could only come up with two words in my head; God’s grace. To make a long story short, I was trying to find a publisher for my book at the time (The Catholic Church The Worlds Passover) Christian suggested that we should work on the apologetic series first. So we are in the process of doing that.
I guess he sees something in me that I have yet to see. While discussing apologetics he told me, “we do not have many experts but you my friend are an expert.” This kind of threw me off balance. I am self taught and I am far from a theologian. A while back though, I asked God to mold me to do his will, so I told Christian, “ you’re the professional, I’m in your hands.” I do not believe Christian and I coming together happened by chance.
Gordon: When did you join St Malachy ’Parish and how has the parish contributed to your spirituality?
Luke: I became a member of the parish when I first moved into the area around 26 years ago. I am presently a Eucharistic minister and a Lector and I help out as an usher. How the parish contributes to my spirituality I guess can be summed up in one sentence. The parish community is an active participation in the body of Christ that is united to all other members on earth as it is in heaven through all time and beyond time. Just experiencing this heavenly reality I believe contributes to my spirituality. I am often amazed at the mystery which unfolds in the Holy Mass.
Paul sums this up as. “You have come to mount sion, to the new Jerusalem to the church of the first born, to thousands of angels and the spirits of the just made perfect, to Jesus Christ mediator of the new covenant and to the sprinkling of blood that speaks better than that of Able.” I picture this on the other side of the veil as I watch the line of souls at every Mass; souls approaching the altar receiving the body of Christ from Christ. A love that is beyond human comprehension that often brings me to tears.
Gordon: What inspired you to become a Catholic apologist?
Luke: Christ told us in the great commission to make disciples of all nations. My love for Christ leads me to take no other course. After a mystical experience with our blessed mother I came to this conclusion.
Gordon: What services to apologists provide?
Luke: Personally, simply to have studied the faith to the point where you are honest and secure in your understanding, in order to be able to, through God’s grace, inform people of the true nature of the church in line with church teaching. To be an example of that teaching by trying to live a holy life. Always keeping in mind, the goal of edifying the mystical body and never coming to conclusions of your own on faith and morals outside of church teaching. This is Gods faith not man’s that we can interpret as we choose. Furthermore; to be able to in a charitable way, show the errors of scripture interpretation that has become Protestant tradition and replace those errors with the true nature of scripture.
Scripture is a seamless fabric that is a love story between an incarnate God and a sinful bride. “Him, who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him.” Flesh of His flesh.
I want to show people that the gospel to the apostles was not a book but salvation through Christ on the narrow road of a sacramental life in the re established kingdom of David which is the rule of heaven brought to bear on earth for those who choose obedience to the faith. “Whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven.” In order to find unity I want to show people how the Holy Mass is the true Passover for the sins of the entire world. Of course, we can only inform, it is God’s grace that converts the heart. I believe that for the most part, people live by the intent of their hearts and truth as they understand it.
Only God knows how much truth is revealed to a soul and how that soul responds to truth revealed or rejects it. I also believe that some people may subconsciously reject the truths of the church because knowing the truth leads to obedience to the faith.
When it comes to scripture interpretation or even debates, people tend to be in this rut where they debate opinions with opinions. We can never rise above opinion without authority and history. Honest exegesis of scripture expresses the Catholic faith. The history of the church from the beginning makes this unquestionable. We have records of the trials of the early martyrs expressing their faith. They went to their deaths defending the fact that Jesus Christ is God, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the martyred priests were refusing to stop celebrating the Holy Mass, they professed to belong to the Catholic Church.
The Bible was put together after a time period longer than America has been a country for the main purpose of having a unified canon of scripture read at every Holy Mass around the world. For the first 360 years before the Bible and after, the church ruled by a sacramental life in obedience to the faith with Bishops priests and deacons which were present from the beginning, and through dogmatic decree when challenged. Scripture was not interpreted it was lived.
Gordon: What social media resources do you use to promote your apologetics and which are most effective?
Luke: I have had a page on Facebook called Catholic Reality for many years and my personal page is for the most part, directed to providing information on the faith. As I have addressed earlier, I also have my blog site.
Gordon: James Martin, S.J, write an article ’titled Have you ever had a mystical experience? You had a mystical experience. Please describe it.
Luke: I never fell comfortable expressing this but I do so in order to edify the church. I have experienced the odor of sanctity a few times before but never like this. While praying in the dark in my living room one night, laying in the form of a cross, it completely overwhelmed me. I felt the presence of my spiritual mother, her caressing and holding my head, an experience of love that I cannot describe and will describe no further here, but also, an experience that I can only describe as a door opening up into another dimension. It is hard to keep a logical mind and express these things but I must be truthful. The aroma could not only be smelled but in some way, I felt it. The entire atmosphere of the room changed.
The air that filled with the aroma was so cool, crisp, clean, and fragrant; it gave me the sensation that I could practically taste it. I think I did. My eyesight was blurry as if I was not fully present in my environment, I was a little dizzy but in a euphoric way. The aroma did not only move around me but moved right through me, I felt it inside me. At first, it scared the heck out of me. I then started to get very emotional. This six two 250 pound peace officer started to cry tears of joy. The love and presence and comfort that I experienced was something not of this world. It is something I will strive my entire life to return to. I constantly questioned it, but I could never rationalize it away. This experience as a sinner has often been my strength in times of complacency, and doubt, and self absorption. It has been a gift that just keeps giving. It has taught me to try and focus on looking through the perspective of the eternal soul instead of what is temporal. It confirmed my path to seek wisdom to edify Gods mystical body and to strive to always focus on doing the will of God. From this point on, I became deeply involved in studying the faith. Over and over again, I would wake up in the middle of the night with another piece of the puzzle being put in place in my head.
It all centered around the veil, the flesh of Christ and the image of the Holy Mass on earth as it is in heaven as the true Passover for the sins of the entire world. What I discovered is nothing new. It has been in the heart of the church since the beginning, it is just that it really began to make sense to me. I developed a desire to try and make it make sense to others.
Gordon: With whom did you discuss it and what was their response?
Luke: I talked about it to my wife and mother and my priest. All who have been very supportive. They know I am a pretty rational guy so I think they believe me.
Gordon: In closing, who is your favorite saint and why?
Luke: Saint Augustine. It is through Saint Augustine that I began to see the soul of the bride of Christ and the love story played out across the scriptures. Augustine in his exposition of the psalms talks about what David meant when he said to pray unceasingly. He derived from David’s words not an image of continuous verbal prayer but a state of being. A continuous feeling of the soul in constant focus of being in Christ. If we could contemplate eternity, resting our head against Christ’s chest, then as we look into the world, every feeling of self love in ego, every feeling of fear, every wrong done against us, would look like folly compared to the eternal state in Christ.
Gordon: Thank you for a great interview