Please read the passage before the homily:
Paul wrote to the Romans. He was not known to the Romans; others had brought the gospel to the city. Paul was an outsider, with the audacity of writing to the Romans The population of Rome was perhaps four slaves for each citizen, and the slaves were non-persons, with few rights if any.
Our reading is Paul’s introduction of himself to the Romans. He called himself a “slave of Christ Jesus, with no rights. Yet he acknowledged that he was “called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God.” Paul was a nobody like most of the people of Rome.
What then was the Gospel that Paul preached? Jesus is the son of David by human ancestry, but Son of God by divine power through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead that Paul had received the grace of being the apostle. Paul is called as also are called rhe Romans.
It is one like the Romans writing to the Romans. It is a slave writing to slaves. It is the outsider saluting the insiders with the grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is we who are reading and contemplating the words of Paul. We share the same credentials that Paul had, that of being a slaved, owned by the Lord Jesus himself. Like the ancient citizens of Rome, we are the beloved of God our Father and called to be holy. May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ remain with us.