Word on Fire Reflection

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says that a disciple must carry his own cross and follow him. All of us sinners tend to see the universe turning around our ego, our needs, our projects, our plans, and our likes and dislikes. True conversion—the metanoia that Jesus talks about—is so much more than … Read moreWednesday, November 8, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of a man giving a great dinner. His sending out of servants to gather those invited parallels our call to be evangelizers.  The risen Lord calls the Apostles and us to go forth and to do the work of gathering in: “Go therefore and … Read moreTuesday, November 7, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us this extraordinary command to consider the weakest and most vulnerable in our society: “When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” This is one of his central concerns throughout the Gospels. Aliens, strangers, foreigners, widows, orphans, the poor—if these … Read moreMonday, November 6, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus turns his sharp eye and withering critique on the many ways that religious leaders fall into corruption. What precisely is bothering Jesus? Some religious leaders get their kicks from burdening people, laying the law on them heavily, making demands that are terrible, exulting in their own moral … Read moreSunday, November 5, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus notices people jockeying for the highest place at a banquet. And do you see what he does? He notices how this game interrupts God’s intention for his people and so he endeavors to interrupt the interruption. What he is urging in his parable is that we have … Read moreSaturday, November 4, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus heals a man on the sabbath, thus demonstrating his authority over the Law. The Jesus portrayed in the Gospels consistently speaks and acts in the very person of Yahweh, the God of Israel. On another occasion, defending his disciples against the charge of picking grain on the … Read moreFriday, November 3, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says that the Father promises eternal life for everyone who believes in the Son. Every human being is a subject of inestimable value, because he or she has been created by God and destined by God for eternal life. When Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman at … Read moreThursday, November 2, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. Many who have stood in the presence of the Gothic rose windows—brightly fashioned with images of the saints—have heard the windows sing. The Lord Jesus says, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life … Read moreWednesday, November 1, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says that the kingdom of God “is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” What’s the kingdom of heaven? It is God’s way of ordering things. How often the Bible contrasts … Read moreTuesday, October 31, 2023

Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus heals a woman who had been crippled for eighteen years. Can we see the power that flows from faith in rather obvious and spectacular ways?  Going back to Jesus himself, of course, and up through so many of the saints in the tradition, you will see the … Read moreMonday, October 30, 2023