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, we return this Sunday to ordinary time and the

church gives us a rather extraordinary reading. It's taken from the first

chapter of the gospel John and has to do with John the Baptist. Now I've told

him before but it's worth noting again. It's very important when the when the

gospels give us John the Baptist because they're compelling us to see Jesus

through him. He provides a kind of interpretive lens for understanding Jesus.

So whenever John is operative when he's speaking we should pay very close

attention. And here's what he says famously we repeat it at every single mass.

Listen, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold the

Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now as I say we hear that we

Catholics hear that all the time. It's said at every single mass. But I would

submit to you a lot of us. A lot of Christians, even those who are pretty

attentive to the faith don't really know what that phrase means. I did a little

informal surveys many years ago now but I just asked a number of Catholics.

When John the Baptist says that and we say it at mass behold the Lamb of God.

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