Homily: 28th Week in Ordinary Time - Monday - Romans: "The most profound book in existence"

Romans 1:1-7 View Readings

Psalm 98:1-4

Luke 11:29-3

Until almost the middle of November, we will be reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans for our First Reading at weekday Mass.  Samual Taylor Coleridge called Romans “the most profound book in existence.”  It has also been called “the cathedral of the Christian faith.”  It is placed first among the epistles not only because it is the longest, but also because of its tremendous import. It was not however the first of Paul’s epistles to be written. 

Paul writes to the Christians in Rome, the center of the entire world, the greatest city in the world in power and population, but a city that had fallen to decadence, slavery, political corruption, and extremes of wealth and poverty. 

Essentially, the main point of the letter to the Romans, and of the entire Bible, and of Christianity, and of life itself, is Christ. 

We heard today who Paul was called by God to be an apostle—one who would carry the message of Christ and proclaim the Good News beyond Jerusalem into the far reaches of the Roman world. 

The Christians in Rome were being told by the Jews that salvation comes through the law of Moses.  Paul writes to confirm that salvation is through Christ.

In a similar way, our culture tells us that we don’t need Christ.  That following Jesus is secondary to pursuing our own goals.  “This generation is an evil generation” Jesus says in the Gospel.    In my favorite passage from the letter to the Romans, Paul writes, “conform yourselves not to this generation, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” 

We aren’t called to conform ourself to this age, to fit in by acting the way those who do not follow Christ act.  Rather, Paul tells the Romans today, “you are called to belong to Jesus Christ…you are called to be holy”.  Paul refers to himself as a slave of Christ Jesus—his whole life totally devoted to spreading the Gospel—and he tells us to do the same.

We are called by God to be Christian above all else.  This is our identity and the meaning of our lives.  So we must live lives worthy of our calling, by turning away from worldly pursuits and worldly ways of thinking, and be clinging to Christ in prayer, study of scripture, acts of charity, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.