SAINT MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE, VIRGIN (OPTIONAL MEMORIAL)

. . . the Gentiles . . . , who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 

Today we hear the opening verses of St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Paul didn’t found the church in Rome, so he wrote this letter to introduce himself and establish a relationship with this largely Gentile community. Paul, called to be an apostle to the Gentiles, proclaimed the good news that salvation was available not only to the Jews but to anyone who believed in Jesus.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to read from Romans. Time and again, we will hear Paul’s persistent message: God’s mercy is so great that he invites men and women from every nation on earth into his own family. Everyone is “called to belong to Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:6). Paul addresses Gentile Christians as full members of God’s people, a community of believers saved by Jesus Christ. For Paul, the good news of Christ is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes,” whether Jew or Gentile (1:16, emphasis added).

Because most Christian believers today are Gentiles, we often overlook how radical this belief was at the time of the early Church. Jews didn’t share meals with Gentiles or enter their homes. They viewed them as outsiders to God’s covenant, unclean, and allied with their oppressors. So the idea of Jews and Gentiles being one people defied logic, and living it out required real humility. Even more, it required the grace and power that flowed from the death and resurrection of Jesus.

St. Paul understood God’s longing for everyone he created to belong to Jesus. God makes space in his heart for each and every one of us. He will continually call us until “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God” (Psalm 98:3). He will pursue every lost sheep until he finds them.

Jesus is calling out to you today. He invites you to come close to him in prayer, to enter his presence with all your brothers and sisters. He has made you his own; he has overcome every obstacle and bridged every division. You belong. Don’t let anything keep you away.

“Thank you, Jesus, for welcoming me into your family. Help me to love all your children.”

Romans 1:1-7
Psalm 98:1-4
Luke 11:29-32