Friends, welcome to Word on Fire, Catholic Ministries. Word on Fire is an

apostolate dedicated to the mission of evangelization using media both old and

new to share the faith on every continent and to facilitate an encounter with

Christ and His Church. The efforts of Word on Fire engage the culture and bring

the transformative power of God's Word where it is most needed. Today we invite

you to join Bishop Robert Barron as he preaches the gospel and shares the

warmth and light of Christ with each one of us. Friends, the gospel for today

gives us three classic parables of Jesus. Each one exploring the notion which is

at the very heart of the spiritual life. Namely, the God is the one who searches

for us. I can't say this often enough. The everyday spirituality today will

say, oh no, it's our quest for God. We're going to search for the Lord, help me

to find the path. Find as far as it goes, but that isn't the Bible. The Bible is

about God's quest for us. The deepest truth is that our quest is but a pale

echo. It's like a vague reflection of God's passionate over the top unrelenting

quest for us. I think your whole spiritual life will change once that idea really

gets into your heart. Quit the heart of the spiritual life. Therefore be this.

Not so much finding God but allowing yourself to be found. If that makes sense.

I think now of your prayer life and your moral life, etc. It's all under the

rubric of letting yourself be found. Okay? A feature of all three of the stories

for today is what I'd call the sheer craziness, loopiness of the searcher. So

Jesus says to the crowd listening, what man among you? Having a hundred

sheep and losing one wouldn't leave the 99 and go after the lost one till he finds

...