Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2

Of all Paul’s letters, his epistle to the Christians in Rome has long held a place of pride. It is the longest and most systematic unfolding of the apostle’s thought, expounding the gospel of God’s righteousness that saves all who believe (Rom 1:16–17); it reflects a universal outlook, with special implications for Israel’s relation to the church (Rom 9–11). Yet, like all of Paul’s letters, Romans arose from a specific situation. He wrote it from Greece, likely Corinth, between A.D. 56 and 58 (cf. Acts 20:2–3).

Paul at that time was about to leave for Jerusalem with a collection of funds for the impoverished Jewish Christian believers there, taken up from his predominantly Gentile congregations (Rom 15:25–27). He planned then to travel on to Rome and to enlist support there for a mission to Spain (Rom 15:24, 28). Such a journey had long been on his mind (Rom 1:9–13; 15:23). Now, with much missionary preaching successfully accomplished in the East (Rom 15:19), he sought new opportunities in the West (Rom 15:20–21), in order to complete the divine plan of evangelization in the Roman world. Yet he recognized that the visit to Jerusalem would be hazardous (Rom 15:30–32), and we know from Acts that Paul was arrested there and came to Rome only in chains, as a prisoner(Acts 21–28, especially Acts 21:30–33 and Acts 28:14, 30–31).

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The Apostle invites us to worship God in a spiritual way, as befitting the new status Baptism has given us. Christians are the new people of God and they are members of Christ in such a way that “through Baptism all of us have been made priests of our lives, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:15). Everything we do can be an expression of our obedience to God’s will and so perpetuate the mission of the God-Man”.

Paul explains the various “gifts” or charisms to be found in the Church, suing the simile of a body to get across the variety of roles: each person has his or hers own role and contributions to the welfare of all while seeking personal spiritual good (cf 1 Cor 12;12-31).

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“Hence the laity, dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit may be produced in them. For all their works, prayers, apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, and relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in Spirit – indeed even the hardships of life if patiently born – all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God, everywhere offering worship by the holiness of their lives.”