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 and 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 Baron as he preaches

the gospel and shares the warmth and light of Christ with each of us.

Peace be with you. Friends, I love the acts of the Apostles. In fact, I've often recommended

it to those who are approaching the Bible for the first time. Because you know, it's

filled with colorful narratives and very human stories, lots of adventure, martyrdom,

persecution, journeys by sea, etc. etc. This is very lively book. So if you're just kind

of getting into the Bible, I recommend that you read it. And during the Easter season

now we hear a lot from the acts of the Apostles. But you know, I love especially about it.

Is it shows the excitement of being a follower of Jesus? So go back now to this time, the

first century. And this is now long before there were parishes or dioceses or the Vatican

or any institutional structures. There was just this band of brothers and sisters who were

so overwhelmed and energized by the fact of the resurrection that they went careening

around the world and to their deaths with the mess of Jesus. And you know, even the most

skeptical historian, I have a hard time denying that out of Palestine come these people without

a lot of background education and all that. But there they were planting the seeds of this faith

and going to their deaths in most cases. And you catch it, I've never read the Acts of the Apostles

without sensing that excitement. You know, well, it also features I think some wonderful examples

of Christian preaching because we hear now in the Acts. Some of these scholars call

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