For the next few weeks we will read from St. Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome. Unlike his other epistles, this one is written to people who don’t know him and so serves as a letter of introduction. (Paul is aware that he had a reputation and wanted to put forward his “apologia.” Apparently, before his arrest, he had planned just to stop of in Rome on his way to Spain. St. Paul states the theme of the letter right at the beginning: what does it mean to have faith. His starting point is not, however, revelation — the Word of God we recognize in the Bible. Paul starts with creation. What can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them, ever since the creation of the world. What subsequent thinkers would call Natural Law which tells us about God is available to everyone. All they need do is look around. Today in our prayer lets look on the universe and see what a mighty, prolific, fertile, vast and beautiful God we serve.
