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, our second reading for this weekend taken from the

second chapter of the letter of James. Addresses an issue which has deeply

divided and continues to divide Christians in the West. I'm talking about the

question of the relation between faith and works. You know I'm sure how this

problem was absolutely central to the life and work of Martin Luther, the

anguished young Augustinian monk at the beginning of the 16th century who was

trying as hard as he could to assure himself of salvation. How? By doing all the

good things that monks were supposed to do, mass, confession, pious practices,

works of charity, etc. But young man Luther found that the harder he tried, the

less certain he became of his salvation. He would often confess his sins in

infinite detail, receive absolution, but then return in a few moments to the

confessional convinced he was overlooking something. His famous line, if ever

a monk was saved by monkishness, I was that monk. He was trying. He was on the

path of righteous works to assure himself of salvation. One day, sometime

probably in 1515 or 1516, Luther had an experience that changed his own life and

...