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 continue our exploration of these wonderful old

Testament readings for Mass. The one for this weekend taken from the 55th chapter

of the book of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah arguably the greatest of the Israelite

prophets and his book, of course, has been of enormous significance in the

Jewish and Christian spiritual traditions. The passage for today is taken from

what the scholars often call Dudero Isaiah, meaning second Isaiah. They

speculate that the first 39 chapters of the book that we have are written by one

figure and then this second section, like 40 through 55, written by a figure,

they speculate who is writing around the time of the return of Israel after the

Babylonian captivity. And that's why this beautiful section, and can I recommend

you when you get home, read Isaiah chapters 40 through 55. So it's not that long.

Some of the most lyrical poetry and I would say some of the deepest theology in

the Old Testament is found precisely in these chapters. So our passage is from

the 55th, the very end of this section, Dudero Isaiah. And here's the line I want

to focus on. Thus says the Lord, all you who are thirsty come to the water. You who

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