This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next two minutes to reflect

with Father Robert Barron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire. Word on Fire Catholic

Ministries is a non-profit ministry at the forefront of Catholic evangelization, using

new media to spread the faith and every continent. Father Barron challenges us to open our hearts

to the Word on Fire, which is God's Word of Love for each of us. If our hearts are open,

the Lord can change and transform us so that we might speak with love about the one who

is love. The global benefactors of Word on Fire with the support of the Archdiocese of

Chicago now present Word on Fire. Peace be with you. Friends, this third Sunday of

Lent gives us a couple of trees to think about. First of all, a bush that burns and secondly,

a tree that gives no fruit. The first image comes, of course, from the third chapter of the

book of Exodus. We hear that Moses has been tending the flock of his Father-in-law and has

come to the vicinity of Horeb, the mountain of God, another name for Mount Sinai. He spies—here's

the line from the Scripture—a fire flaming out of a bush. He was surprised to see that the

bush, though on Fire, was not consumed. We are told that this is the manner in which the presence

of Yahweh made itself felt. In Greek and Roman mythology, when the gods appear within the

ambit of the world, they appear destructively, competitively. Something of the earthly has to

give way in order to allow them to enter. In those old myths, when people see the gods in their

proper form, they are consumed. But it is otherwise with the God of Israel. There's a very important

point here I want you to see. The bush stands for the realm of creatures. When God comes close,

the bush is on fire, but it is not consumed. This means now that God's presence to us makes us

radiant and does not destroy us. When God, the true God, comes close, we are rendered more beautiful,

more perfect, more fully ourselves. And as I mentioned last week, we become a source of

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