THE  LETTER  TO THE ROMANS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Letter to the Romans.”

Today, Monday, October 12 till Saturday, November 7^th, we have on weekdays - for the first reading, The Letter to the Romans.

At times there will be feasts or what have you - and other first readings will be used. I also know at times other priests switch to other first readings. Yet in general, we have starting today, 4 weeks of The Letter to the Romans as our first reading.

Let us make good use of this opportunity. We have these 4 weeks with Romans every other year - for our first reading.  When it comes to preaching I have been finding myself preaching on the first reading more and more - because I’ve gone through the weekday gospels every year - forever. So I look forward to what Romans will bring us.

KEY DOCUMENT

We were taught that the Letter to the Romans was a key New Testament document - more important than others. Like the prettiest girl in the room, this letter stands out - in the midst of all these other books of the Bible.

The Letter to the Romans was very important to Augustine, Martin Luther, Karl  Barth, Karl Rahner, Ernst Kasemann, Vincent Taylor, Stanislaus Lyonnet  - and many more people who wrote about its substance and key concepts.

The more we come to weekday Masses - the more we become conscious of differences. For example, hearing Romans is quite different from hearing Corinthians and the other letters of Paul.

I hope as you listen to the first readings, you sense that.

Romans is more theory and theology than the other letters. It has less particulars - perhaps because Paul had not visited Rome before he wrote this letter - like he had in the other letters.

ROME IS THE BIG CITY

Acts 19:21 “… I must see Rome.”

Rome was the big city. And Paul became fixated getting there - and pondering bringing Christ to the world.  He knew Jerusalem was the capital of his Jewish roots. But Christ was for the masses. Get to Rome. Get to the center of the world at that time. Get to the new beginning Church in Rome.

The year was around 57 or 58 and Paul was in Corinth when he wrote this letter.

He first had to go to Jerusalem with some money for the Jerusalem church - but then he’d get to Rome - which he saw as the center of a hub - so he had to get there - to get the wheels spinning for Spain and other Roman colonies.

Paul was brought up and knew tried Judaism - with its stress on law and control.

He began to discover in Christ grace and freedom and mercy and love.

It took a while but in Christ he discovered the importance of letting go and letting God be in control.

AN EXAMPLE

I was listening to Canadian Public Radio the other day and they had on an interview with a former secret police guy in South Africa. He had been in on killings and beatings and control. 

After Apartheid he had a conversion to Jesus Christ - and now he drives a big food truck to the poor.  The interviewer asked, “I guess you’re doing all this to make up for your cruelty - to redeem yourself.”

And the man said, “No basically I’m doing all this because people need food - and our prayers and our hopes. I sinned. Jesus has brought me forgiveness.  Jesus has already brought us into his  kingdom and now we need to bring his life to everyone - especially those who want a dinner on their table.

CONCLUSION

Amen. So in the next 4 weeks - become more and more challenged by Paul's words and love for Jesus Christ and Christians.