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. Peace be with you. Friends today is

New Year's Day. I mean that in the liturgical sense of the term. With the first

Sunday of Advent, we commence the liturgical year of 2019. And New Year's Day is

always a good time for resolutions, taking stock, starting over again. What I

want to do is interpret our readings for the Sunday, kind of in that spirit, is

we're starting the New Year, we're starting a fresh, we're getting back to

some spiritual basics. And the readings I think really help us with this. The

gospel now is taken from Luke. We'll be reading from Luke all during this liturgical

year. And of course, Luke is such a delight because he's a great literary

artist and great theological master. But in this passage, Luke portrays Jesus in

full apocalyptic mode. What I mean is he's speaking about the end of the world.

Here's one little passage from his speech. There will be signs in the sun, the moon,

and the stars. And on earth, nations will be in dismay. People will die of fright

in anticipation of what is coming upon the world.

Not bracing stuff, isn't it? From the very beginning of the church, people have

interpreted texts such as this. And many others can be found in the

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