Empire Within
Ancient Roman Soldier, by Andrea Mazzocchetti Propers: The Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost ( Lectionary 29 ), AD 2026 A Homily: Lord, we pray for the preacher, for you know his sins are great. Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. How do you resist an empire, when it’s a part of you, and you’re a part of it? The genius of Rome was her knack for conversion. Rome wasn’t simply a place, but an idea, a vision for the remaking of a new world order, imperium sine fine . And ideas can have a life all their own. They grow, they spread, they reproduce; and some of them are predatory. When Rome conquered an enemy, she did not outright destroy them, nor sell them all into slavery. No, Rome made them part of the imperial system. She incorporated them into herself, so that they had skin in the game, so that they had something at stake. All of her society was a ladder, a hierarchy, such that someone was always above you—for even the ...
