Monday in the 28th Week of Ordinary Time. October 11, 2021

Romans 1:1-7

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God, which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, the Gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

For those interested in tuning in to Monday night’s live Bible Study 

on the Gospel of St. Matthew, the site address is:  

http://meet.google.com/bji-vmbk-sqy. We will begin at 8:00 PM eastern time, 

7:00 PM central time. I plan to record it for  the benefit of the sisters at 

the Poor Clares Monastery in Alexandria, Va.

From the First Reading for today’s Mass: “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus.”  When we read St. Paul’s letters, or hear them at Mass, we often do not hear the salutation, or it is read in such a hurry by a lector that the words do not come out clearly.  It is very necessary to grasp the very first words of his letters in order to understand what Paul is saying in the body of his text.  In the first words of his Letter to the Romans, he identifies himself as “a slave of Christ Jesus”.  This was how Paul understood himself and how he wanted others to understand him.  Paul saw himself as belonging to Jesus Christ from the instant he saw him in the vision on the road to Damascus, calling him not “rabbi” but “Lord”.  At his conversion, he asked Jesus, “Lord, who are you?” (Acts 9, 5).  We see how literally Paul took his slavery to Jesus when he recounts all that he has suffered for him.  No one working for pay would have put himself in the way of so much suffering — or accomplished as much.  Identifying himself as the slave of Jesus, Paul goes on to say that he was “called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God”.  The term “Apostle”, by the time of the Letter to the Romans around the year 56 AD, had become a title signifying that the bearer authentically taught what Christ wanted the Church to teach.  This was something more than a missionary because it conveyed authority granted by the Lord Jesus.  Paul does not claim the title as an honor or that he ought to be honored for the title, but that he has been “set apart for the Gospel of God”.  As a slave, then, he has been placed in a position in which he represents the desires of his Master and is given the wherewithal to carry them out.  He does not in any way represent his own desires, whatever they may be.  He is the vessel, not the content.

“Which he promised previously through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.”  Paul, speaking mainly to Gentile Christians, does point out that the teachings of the Lord — the Gospel — does not arise out of thin air, but is promised and foreshadowed through the ages.  God spoke through his prophets in announcing the coming into the world of “his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Paul is sometimes very difficult to translate.  It is not easy to see where his sentences begin and end, or how to arrange their order.  Here, Paul strives to describe the Incarnation of the Son of God and to make certain that these Gentile converts understood that Jesus Christ is true God and true man.  “Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith.”  Paul comes back round to explaining his own place, and why the Gentile Christians in Rome — whom he had not yet met — should listen to him.  “For the sake of his name”.  Paul says here that the Lord sends out Apostles like himself not because he needs to or for some other reason stemming from weakness, but for the sake of his name, which is “Jesus”: “God saves”.  The Lord has sent out Apostles for the sake of saving the people of the world: “among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also.”  To this, Paul adds, “who are called to belong to Jesus Christ”, called by God himself from the beginning of time to belong to his Son.  

“To all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  In a typical letter in classical times, the salutation was kept  very brief: “Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to all the beloved of God in Rome.”  Paul adapts the form in the way he does order to show that it served the purpose of God insufficiently.  Just as theology bursts into an ordinary greeting, so the Son of God burst into the world.  Paul’s writing style portrays the disruption and transformation that Christ’s advent causes.

We also are the slaves of God.  We belong to him.  He is no landowner conscious only of profit and heedless of the sufferings of his laborers, but one who gives us work which we ought to relish, and which brings him no gain but wins for us eternal life.