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, we must read the Gospel for today in strict continuity with

the Gospel from last week, the story of the confession of Peter and the founding of the

Church. We heard that Jesus will build his new community on the rock foundation of Peter's

confession. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. And that this church called out

from the world, remember Ecclesia, Eccaleo, called out from, will be a militant church because

it's coming after the gates of hell. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We're

a church on the march trying to invade the sinful world with the power of God's grace.

Now today is the passage just following that. Jesus lays out the cost in no uncertain

terms. Listen, from that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem

and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed

and on the third day be raised. He will go, in other words, as the bearer of the divine

love, as the Christ, to the capital of the nation, and there he will be opposed, yes, even

to the point of death. Hard message but a true one. In a world gone wrong, here's the

principle, in a world gone wrong, the divine love will typically meet with resistance.

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