Word on Fire is brought to you by Catholic cemeteries, serving the Chicago area since 1837.

This is Cardinal Francis George, and I invite you to join me for the next few minutes to reflect with Father Robert Barron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire.

Father Barron will challenge 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, who we might speak with love about the one who is love.

The Archdiocese of Chicago, through the generosity of Sacred Heart Parish in Winetka, now presents the Word on Fire.

Peace be with you. Friends, today is the great feast of epiphany. It's been all my life one of my favorite feasts, maybe because I just remember the three kings appearing there at the crash in the parish.

But you know, this feast has captivated Christian poets, artists, painters up and down the centuries.

How come? Well, it's a great story. You know, it's full of drama, full of pathos, great characters, life and death struggle.

But there's more to it than that. I think this story of the epiphany expresses some very elemental truths in the Christian faith.

Last year on this feast, I reflected with you on the relationship between Jesus and the other great world religions.

This story is often seen as a starting point for that conversation. Well, today I want to look at a slightly different angle.

This story also tells us a great deal about the relationship between Jesus Christ and the nations. Jesus Christ and the nations.

Well, here's something rather extraordinary as this story gets underway.

Magi from the East. Again, what are magi? We don't really know. Magoi is the word used in the Greek.

Magicians, astrologers, astronomers, all those have been proposed as translations. We don't know.

But they probably came from Babylon, where there was a well-established tradition of star gazing.

We'd say probably a combination of astrology and astronomy, but looking up at the stars to determine the will of God.

Were they from Babylon? Possibly. These magoi, these magi. But here's the point I want to emphasize.

They left their own country in search of a new king.

And mind you, not their own king. They left their country in search of the king of Israel.

Hmm. We're so accustomed to hearing this story that maybe we lose how odd that is.

That Babylonians might go on a journey to visit the newborn king of Babylon.

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