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, our readings for this weekend are each one of them magnificent.

And each one I think speaks the same central theme. Reading one is taken from the somewhat

frightening book of Leviticus, as he's frightening, this book having to do with Levites

or priests. I say frightening because it has to do with a lot of legal moral liturgical

prescriptions that can seem kind of strange and alien to us. And a lot of the book of

Leviticus seems more or less fussy. But this little passage cuts right to the heart

of the matter, spiritually speaking. Listen. The Lord said to Moses,

speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them, be holy for I the Lord your God

and holy. Well, everybody, that's the whole spiritual life. Everything else is a commentary.

You want what's it all about? Biblical spirituality. Is it? Be holy for I the Lord your

God and holy. We're meant to have the divine life in us and having that life makes us holy.

Finally, prayer, liturgy, the sacraments, religious practices, the moral life, the example of

the saints, the great art and architecture of Catholicism, all preaching come down to

this to place holiness within our hearts. Okay. Now, the word for holy in the Old Testament

is Kaddosh, which as you know, has the sense of separate or set apart. So be holy for

I the Lord your God and holy. We could render that as be set apart for I the Lord your God

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