Word on Fire Reflection

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today’s Gospel gives us the Our Father. It asks that God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven,” but biblical cosmology sees these two realms as interpenetrating fields of force. Heaven, the arena of God and the angels, touches upon and calls out to earth, the arena of … Read moreThursday, June 16, 2022

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus prescribes the essential disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Let’s focus on fasting and almsgiving. The appetites for food and drink are so pressing, so elemental, that, unless they are quelled and disciplined, they will simply take over the soul. They are like children who clamor constantly … Read moreWednesday, June 15, 2022

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord commands us to love our enemies. What is the test of love? Jesus couldn’t be clearer in the discourse he delivers the night before he died. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” If … Read moreTuesday, June 14, 2022

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord exhorts us to nonresistance to evil. Martin Luther King Jr. was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s techniques, and Gandhi learned them, largely, from the Sermon on the Mount. Both Gandhi and King appreciated that the text dealing with the nonresistance to evil … Read moreMonday, June 13, 2022

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church through time. “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” Since Jesus is the Son is God, … Read moreSunday, June 12, 2022

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, the Lord teaches his way about oaths and vows. Although Jesus prohibited oath-taking, the tradition of the Church has allowed oaths “made for grave and right reasons,” for example, in court. But the Church has traditionally employed vows to sustain the commitments of priests and religious so that … Read moreSaturday, June 11, 2022

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel from the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord prohibits divorce. Is there any better description of sex anywhere in the literature of the world than that provocative line, “The two of them become one flesh?” In a Jewish context, flesh carries the sense of the whole person. Hence … Read moreFriday, June 10, 2022

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that if a brother has something against us, we must be reconciled with him before we offer our gift at the altar. This reconciling requires a change of heart and mind. The word often misleadingly translated as “repent” is metanoiete. This Greek term is based upon … Read moreThursday, June 9, 2022

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus promises that he has not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. Matthew says that Jesus went up a mountain, sat down, and commenced to teach, calling to mind Moses, who went up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments from God.  Therefore, Jesus is … Read moreWednesday, June 8, 2022

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls his followers salt and light, thus exhorting them to evangelize their culture. The theme of Jesus’ “inaugural address” is conversion: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” And the motif of his final words is mission: “Go, therefore, and make … Read moreTuesday, June 7, 2022