June 24, 2026

Fr. John Riccardo

Brothers and sisters, are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were indeed buried with Him through baptism into death so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over Him. As to His death, He died to sin once and for all; as to His life, He lives for God. Consequently, you, too, must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:3-4, 8-11).

I find myself repeatedly revisiting various stops along the way on a recent pilgrimage in the footsteps of Saint Paul. One of those stops was Philippi, the first place in Europe to hear the gospel proclaimed. We not only had the opportunity to celebrate Mass at the river where Paul baptized Lydia, the first European Christian, but to spend a fair amount of time walking through the remains of the Forum of this Roman colony. Among the ruins there, which Paul saw (though they were greatly enlarged in later years), was a temple to what was known as “the imperial cult”, that is the succession of rulers from Caesar Augustus onwards.

Shortly before Caesar Augustus died in 14, he published a document that was carved on bronze tablets and placed outside his mausoleum in Rome for everyone to see and read. The document consisted of 35 paragraphs detailing his military victories, political power, generosity to the people, religious restoration and his claim to have finally brought peace to the Empire. The original document in Rome was then copied and sent to various cities under Roman rule and carved into stone on public buildings. These 35 paragraphs were entitled Res gestae divi Augustus — “the achievements of the deified Augustus.” It was, to say the least, shameless self-propaganda.These achievements were why his biographers hailed him as “savior”, “lord”, and “bringer of peace” — titles that are of course very familiar to Christians. In fact, Augustus himself claimed these titles.

This is important for us to recall in order to better understand the New Testament in general and Paul’s letters in particular, since what is being recorded took place at the time of Augustus, and the decades immediately after his death. Jesus, in fact, would have been in his teenage years when Augustus died. As Judea was occupied by the Romans, Jesus not only regularly saw Roman Legionaries but temples and statues of Augustus in places like Caesarea Philippi, Caesarea Maritima, and Samaria.

The Roman Empire, as we probably know, expanded primarily because of the Roman Legion. That is to say, it expanded by brute force. The aim of Rome was nothing less than to make the known world not only subject to Roman rule but to become Roman — in its architecture, its customs, its laws, and more.

I keep thinking of these things as we make our way through Paul’s letter to the small Christian community in the very heart of the empire. Paul is extremely conscious that his proclamation of the achievements of Jesus is dangerous, seditious, and life-threatening. But no matter. It’s true.

I especially keep thinking about the contrast between Jesus and Caesar and between the Roman way of “colonizing” the world and the Church. Unlike Caesar, Jesus — the rightful Lord of the universe — didn’t conquer at the tip of a spear. In fact, on the cross, He allowed His Sacred Heart to be pierced by a Roman Legionary’s spear! That cross, and that piercing of His Sacred Heart, was not a defeat, regardless of how it appeared at the time. Rather, it was a victory — a victory over the true enemies of the human race: Death, Sin and the devil himself. Because of “the achievements” of Jesus, the true Son of God, death not only no longer has power over Him, it no longer has power over those who give their allegiance to Him by faith and in baptism.

And unlike the Roman Empire, the Church doesn’t expand by imposing its will on others (or isn’t supposed to!). Rather, it expands by proposing the extraordinary “achievements” of the Son of God, who desires all men and woman to be rescued from the tyranny and slavery of the powers of darkness, and to walk in the newness of life and hope and freedom that are the fruit from that rescue.

Nobody in Paul’s day said or thought that Caesar Augustus loved them and gave himself for them. But Paul said this about Jesus. Nobody in Paul’s day said or thought that the various gods of Rome truly cared for them and loved them. At best the gods were to be appeased by various sacrifices and rituals so as not to incur their wrath. But Paul’s contemporary and friend, John, could write the daring and unheard of words: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

As we enter into these wondrous days of summer, let us ask St. Paul to pray for us, that we might come to know ever more personally who Jesus is and what He has done out of His unfathomable love for us. And as we do so, let us pray for the increasing desire to share this genuinely good news with those around us living the emptiness that is life apart from God.

Res Gestae

Fear No One