“First, I give thanks to my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all, because your faith is spoken of in the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make a commemoration of you; always in my prayers making request, if by any means now at length I may have a prosperous journey, by the will of God, to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual grace, to strengthen you: That is to say, that I may be comforted together in you, by that which is common to us both, your faith and mine.”
Look, Theophila, upon the affectionate greeting of the great St. Paul. A heart that is softened by love is receptive to all that the lover has to say; “grace is poured abroad in thy lips” (Psalm 44:3), and St. Paul begins his great letter by showing his appreciation for the things taking place amongst the Romans. It is also important to realize that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you through the words of Holy Scripture, and your Beloved here expresses his thankfulness for your life of faith, that the grace and love He offered to you was accepted, and now you live for Him “whom having not seen, you love” (1 Peter 1:8). This is the grace of God through Jesus, and so thanks are returned by St. Paul to God through Jesus for the gift that is you and the beauty of your Christian walk: “How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince’s daughter” (Song 7:1). That your walk is of this loveliness is of particular joy to the teachers and spiritual parents that bring it about: “I have no greater grace than this, to hear that my children walk in truth” (3 John 1:4). This joy is directed towards each and every person aspiring towards Christ, because the knowing soul realizes they are on a journey of love, within the throes of a great romance, and “the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy” (John 3:29). Now, there is no greater charity or alms than to pray for others, and St. Paul, who loves his station as a servant of Christ Jesus, constantly held the dear Romans in his heart. So too, is it important to know that a loving pursuit of the Savior answers all the request of the heart; the salvation of family, friends, people encountered, all this is in your heart, which is in the hands of Jesus. He does not fail to reward those who devote themselves entirely to Him, for He is the most gracious of givers. This is what it means to pray without ceasing, for a life directed entirely to God is a life of prayer, and that which is in the heart is seen by the Lord, who answers all prayers of the heart: “He that searcheth the hearts, knoweth what the Spirit desireth” (Romans 8:27). St. Paul then expresses his desire to see the Romans, because while prayer is the greatest of alms, affection also needs to be expressed in tangible ways that our neighbor may feel like the gift that they are. Love needs expression, and giving it every possible expression is the duty of the Christian. He seeks to visit the Romans to fan the flames of their love, “that I may impart unto you some spiritual grace,” not that it was not present before, but for the deepening of the love of the Romans. It is beautiful to think of everyone in the midst of their own love story with God, to whom you may be a wonderful side character, being a vessel of spiritual grace for all, that they may fall more in love with Jesus as you move back to the sideline: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). However, he also desires to see them for the sake of beautiful friendship: “That I may be comforted together in you.” A friendship built on Christ is the most magnificent, with conversations about God being the cause of many fervent ecstasies in the lives of the saints. For on the one hand there is the warning, “Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good, to the edification of faith, that it may administer grace to the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29), and on the other, the Lord so delights in talk that is filled with wisdom and meaning: “Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, honey and milk are under thy tongue” (Song 4:11), and it is a great consolation to spend time with someone filled with the Holy Spirit, that you may warm your hands by the fire in their heart.