STM Homily | Fr. Gregory Waldrop, S.J. | June 28, 2026

StDid you know, or, have you ever thought about the fact that the decoration of the Sistine Chapel in Rome is divided thematically into three different eras? Ante legem, that is, before the law or the time between Adam and Moses represented in Michelangelo's famous ceiling Subledger that is, under the law which designates the error era between Moses and Christ, and is described on the left wall with scenes from the life of Moses and the images of the Sibyls and prophets, and then sub gratia, or under grace the period inaugurated by the resurrection and Ascension of Christ, Which the scenes from the right wall depicting the life of Christ. Um, along with the older images of the early popes just above them, illustrate so sub gratia under grace.

That's the current era, our era. It is an in-between time after Christ's earthly life and salvific mission, and before the final eschatological fulfillment, when the children of God will exist in an eternal state of blissful peace and perfect fellowship with God, free of evil and death. Even Michelangelo would have struggled to depict whatever that's going to look like. Although his altar wall of the painting of The Last Judgment is a rendering of the transition point, the eschaton into whatever Paradise or the era in pace in peace turns out to be. So the chapel. The Sistine Chapel intends to sum up all of created time and space, and functions as both a window and a bridge to whatever everlasting, everlasting life with God will be. It is the ultimate expression of the sub gratia age, our age.

And that's the background. That's the background for today's second reading from the sixth chapter of Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans. In the previous chapter, Paul has made strong statements about Christ as the new Adam, about the new creation heralded by his earthly life and the overwhelming power of grace that animates this new era. Our era. But that led some people in Paul's time to question the need to avoid sin, or, at the other end of the spectrum of critique, to insist on the necessity of continued obedience to the Jewish law.

In the verses that we've just heard this morning, Paul provides a basis for righteous living in the subrosea age. How, according to Paul, shall we live as citizens of this new creation that has dawned in Christ when from a bodily standpoint, at least, the conditions of the old order still prevail. I hope you'll agree at least, that it's a pertinent question. How do I live out the Christ story? While, as one Pauline author has put it, the Adam story has yet to run its full course.

Paul likes to personify the great forces at play in this life, the human ones like sin and the divine ones like grace. So he identifies so with a slave master. We are absent grace subject to the tyrannical slave master's edicts and demands. How does one escape slavery. Well, the definitive way, of course, is to die drastic but effective.

Our baptism is not just a static entry into the person of Christ. Oh, isn't that nice? But into the whole dynamic of his mission, his life, his death, burial, and resurrection. Are you unaware that we who are 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. The tyrannical slave master that is so has no further hold on us except wait. Of course, we are still in this body and in this world.

So on the other hand, it does Paul. Paul obviously knows that we continue to sin, but his adamant statement refers to the radical inappropriateness of sin. What he really conceives of, and this is his understanding of what sin is a kind of radical selfishness. So it's inappropriate for those who have been born or died into the new life of Christ. The risen Lord lays claim on our bodies in order to continue to live out his Self-Sacrificial love in our bodily lives.

Did Christ not live in total loving obedience to the father? Well then, so should that be at least the aim and desire of believers? We are alive to God and dead to sin. Not because we always get this formula right. In fact, sometimes it seems the reality of our lives is just the opposite. But because that is the only authentic attitude, since it was the attitude and orientation of Jesus, it makes no sense for us to sin blithely, without concern or thinking. It just gives as if it just gives God God's grace, this powerful grace That much more room to work wonders. That was actually apparently the argument of some of Paul's critics, and he shows the illogic of such a stance.

No, we may still sin. We may still put our own needs and disordered desires and personal agendas first at times, or be tempted to. But as witnesses to the complete fidelity of Christ, to God, which is the mirror of the father's own saving fidelity, we, his disciples, strive to live that way too.

In this Subrosea era, as Paul says in the very next verse, which is not included in the passage we just heard, therefore sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And just to be clear, just to be clear, this is not primarily about even with all the language about bodies and flesh. And this is not primarily about sexual sin. All sin involves the selfish desires of the body, which includes the mind.

You know, I'm going to exploit the environment because it's easier. I'm going to ignore the needs of my neighbors. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get that job. I'm going to lie, cheat, steal and abuse to reach my goal. I'm going to spread the lie that empathy is for suckers. Now those attitudes and the actions that flow from them must not reign over our mortal bodies. We must not give them that. Not if we call ourselves believers, not if we have been baptized into Christ who counters those tendencies with his gospel message summed up in the sermon on the Mount and in the great commandment to love one another as I have loved you.

Living those positive values would be just as hard as avoiding their negative counterparts without God's grace. But that has been poured into us in great abundance. How shall we live sub gratia? By committing to strive to live in this world as Christ did until that time when we shall pass into the age to come in peace. In Gloria, when all striving shall cease.

range that our readings for a Sunday in June all speak of fear and anxiety. At least it's strange for me, because ever since I was a kid, I've thought of summer as a carefree time for seemingly endless hours of play, outdoors, games and puzzles, books of my own choosing, vacations and time away from regular routines, fresh lemonade and homemade ice cream. I may be mixing up actual childhood memories with some adult nostalgia, but summertime in spite of the heat, at least where I grew up, doesn't have any fearsome connotations for me.

And again, I wasn't black and living in Tulsa on Juneteenth, which we just celebrated a couple days ago, 105 years ago when a white mob burned down 40 square blocks of African American homes and businesses and killed still unknown numbers of innocent people. And I don't think much about it if I head to a convenience store on a summer evening or jog to a neighborhood. When on the rare occasion, I police cars lights start flashing behind me. I might mutter something not very nice under my breath, but it doesn't occur to me that anything bad might happen to me. So my family, though diminished in number and most almost all elderly, live quietly in their own homes and are in relatively good shape. And I don't worry about a drone suddenly turning their peaceful existence upside down.

However, idyllic its associations any summer can in fact be scary. And lived in New Orleans for so long, hurricane season is still always in the back of my mind.

So our readings are actually fitting. In the first, the prophet Jeremiah lives literally in fear of his life. Those who are once his friends are unhappy with the things Jeremiah has been saying in the name of God, things about the faithlessness of Israel, about their obligation to widow and orphan, to the poor and downtrodden. The responsible Psalm follows suit, once again, sincere worship with the heart and not just with the mouth brings trouble to the psalmist. I have borne reproach, shame has covered my face.

When the Gospel reading begins, fear no one, fear. And the phrase, be not afraid, recurs throughout the passage. Indeed, be not afraid is a constant refrain in the Gospel and throughout the whole Bible. To Abram, God said, do not be afraid, I am your shield. To the prophets, do not be afraid, I am with you. To Mary, the angel said, do not be afraid. To the apostles, Jesus said, do not be afraid. To Paul, the Lord said, do not be afraid. To all his disciples, Jesus said, do not be afraid, little flock.

Summer, winter, spring, or fall, fear is a powerful factor in the life of every human being, every creature. Children are sometimes afraid of the dark. Teenagers are often afraid of themselves, of potential love interests, of life itself. Women may fear for their well-being or about being treated equally in the workplace. And men often have fears about living up to expectations about failing in their manly obligations. And men often have, especially providing for their families, especially providing for their families.

Connected to that on this Father's Day, I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention a father's or any parent's natural fear for their children. It goes with the territory. But again, in our society, the fact is some fathers just have to worry more about their kids.

Finally, maybe the people who are most debilitated by fear are those who pretend to have no fear at all. But in young and old alike, fear can express itself as shyness, feelings of inferiority, aggression, and most painful of all, anxiety. As in the case of Jeremiah, fear and anxiety can even push us to seek vengeance.

Anxiety is a generalized form of fear, fear of nothing in particular, but of everything in general. Often our anxieties center on future troubles rather than present ones. What will I do if this happens? How will I manage if that occurs? The sources of anxiety are limitless, really, if we give ourselves over to them.

What do we do about it? Well, if it's other people, then we may tell them, don't worry, don't be afraid, or give others such advice that we can't follow ourselves.

So having painted this fairly bleak summer picture, is there anything I can tell you that might help, help with a problem so pervasive, so inescapably human? Well, yes. As someone who's had to deal with my own fair share of fear and anxiety, I think so.

Today's gospel reading, and in their own way, all the others too, offers substantial support, more substantial support than a half-hearted appeal to don't worry. It does not say, don't be afraid it won't happen. It says something more like, don't be afraid. It could happen. It may well happen. But when it does happen, you will not be destroyed, and you are not alone.

This is the difference between optimism and hope. The 14th century English mystic Julian of Norwich put it clearly when she wrote about Jesus, he did not say, you will not be tempted, you will not be troubled, you will not be distressed. But he said, you will not be overcome.

And indeed, Jesus tells us fear no one. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not be made known. The truth, in other words, will win out. Justice will prevail. Maybe not according to our preferred timetable, but it will triumph. Some fears at least will pass away. There are no hidden traps or hiding places. In the ultimate stakes, everything will stand in the full light of truth.

Everything, even the details, even the hairs on your head are counted. Jesus, my friends, gives ground for hope. There is a Father who cares about us, about what we do and what happens to us. As Jesus says in St. Luke's gospel, do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

From the beginning and throughout the ages, Christians have found strength in this. For example, St. Paul, who had good reason for fear on many occasions, but wrote to the Corinthians, thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.