Monday of the Twenty-eighth
Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 1:1-7; Luke 11:29-32)
St. Augustine once wrote, “With you I am a Christian; for
you I am a bishop.” The first title, he
went on, filled him with consolation while the second one made him fearful. Augustine, like Paul in his salutation to the
Romans which we read today, realizes that Christ comforts his people. On the other hand, to be a bishop means to
stand in the place of Christ – which is the daunting task of approximating his
love for others.
In the reading Paul calls himself a “slave of Christ.” All Christians need to understand themselves
in this way. We are to do what he
commands. But this term by no means
exhausts our identity. More than that,
we are Christ’s sisters and brothers, adopted into God’s family as daughters
and sons. This means that we carry out
Christ’s commands not out of submission but out of freedom. In other words we do not see God as a
prisoner views the warden watching every move the latter makes. We rightly view God more like a mother
observing her baby begin to walk and ready to assist the child at every step.
Paul also emphasizes that Christ has sent him out as his
apostle. But he does not claim any
particular privilege for being so named.
Rather he realizes the terrible burdens that Christ has laid upon him
with the sending. In other writings Paul
lists the sufferings that he has undergone in bringing the gospel to
others. For now he is content with
mentioning how the call to apostleship links him with women and men in
different places as sisters and brothers.
