What Makes a Good Citizen?
March 12, 2025
Fr. John Riccardo
Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord (Philippians 3:17-4:1).
What does it mean to say “our citizenship is in heaven”?
We might better understand Paul’s words if we better understood the people to whom he was writing. Philippi was a most significant Roman colony, especially renowned perhaps as the place where Mark Antony and Octavius – soon to be Augustus – defeated Cassius and Brutus after their assassination of Julius Caesar. Though it was founded long before Rome came to power, by the time of Paul the city had been thoroughly “romanized.” It was also home to scores of veterans of the Roman Legion, as well as a cohort of Caesar’s own personal body guard – the praetorians. Philippi was also the first Christian church in Europe, and unlike Paul’s missions before this, had a mostly Gentile population. Being aware of this can help us understand what Paul was saying to the small Christian community there and to us here and now.
The Roman Empire grew by imposing its culture on everyone it conquered. Needless to say, this was done by force, through military conquest. Everything the Empire conquered, like Philippi, was “romanized.” Roman citizens living in Philippi, or any other city outside of Rome, had no expectation of moving back to the capitol one day. Rather, their “mission” was to be an agent of the Empire where they were. As one scholar notes, “The Roman citizens who lived in Philippi looked to Rome as the source of their sense of identity, allegiance, and security. Indeed, they even worshiped the emperor as ‘Lord’ and ‘Savior’.” This insight helps us understand not only what Paul wanted the Christian community there to know, but what the Holy Spirit wants us to know.
Dennis Hamm, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, ed. Peter S. Williamson and Mary Healy, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 136.
The Christians in Philippi, and us – wherever we are – are like a “colony” of the kingdom of God. Our ultimate identity does not stem from our nationality or where we live, or what team we root for, though that’s not to say those things don’t matter. Instead, our identity comes from being an adopted son or daughter of God. Likewise, our ultimate allegiance is to Jesus, and Him alone – this is what it means to acknowledge Him as “Lord.” This is a word with immense political ramifications. To acknowledge Jesus as Lord is deeply personal and intimate, to be sure, but it is far from private. What is the reason for this allegiance? Simply this: no one and nothing has done for us what He has done. And what has He done? He has rescued us from the powers of Death, Sin and Satan by His life, death and resurrection. And one real day, when He returns, as the true “Emperor” coming to his colonies, it will not be to take us away but rather to make all things new.
What is our task in the meantime? Well, it is both like and unlike the Roman citizens in Philippi and other colonies in the Empire. It’s like theirs in that our mission is to advance the Kingdom of God wherever we live and in whatever we do, to make everything more genuinely human, more in accord with how God created things to be. But it’s unlike theirs in that we don’t do it by force. Pope John Paul II often repeated that the Church, and Christians in the Church, do not impose but propose. In other words, we don’t expand by violence; we expand by attraction, by the beauty of our lives. Or at least we are supposed to expand this way.
As we continue these early stages of our Lenten journey, let’s seriously consider where our identity is truly found, where our ultimate allegiance really lies, and how we can today advance the Kingdom of God by the joyful and beautiful power of attraction.
ACTS XXIX Prayer Intentions
March 2025
For Archbishop Edward Weisenburger, our new shepherd for the Archdiocese of Detroit, who will be installed on March 18, 2025. Please pray for him and the entire archdiocese in this time of transition and his leadership in the years to come. St. Anne, pray for us.
For the Chaldean presbyterate retreat, that our time together would be an occasion of refreshment and renewal for them.
For the students of Ave Maria University in Florida, that our retreat with these young men and women would lead them to an ever deeper encounter with Jesus and in their identity as beloved sons and daughters of the Father.
For the Rescue LIVE revival in Lafayette, Louisiana, that the Holy Spirit would fall afresh on all those gathered together, that everyone would be overwhelmed by the power of the gospel, surrender their lives to Jesus and be mobilized for mission.
For the lay leaders from across the country who will be joining us on campus for a Leadership Immersive, that their time with ACTS XXIX will bear fruit in their respective missions and lives.
For our partners across the globe, that God would richly reward them for the variety of ways their partnership makes the mission of ACTS XXIX possible.
For God’s protection upon Fr. John Riccardo and the ACTS XXIX family.
