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, I

want to focus my attention this weekend on the magnificent first reading taken

from the pivotal ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. I say pivotal

because this is the chapter in which the conversion of Saul is recounted. And

Saul, Paul, is arguably after Jesus himself the most important figure in the

formation of the early church. Indeed, you know, how wonderful it is that to

this day, you know, we still read so regularly from the writings of this early

early figure in the life of the church. Hansur is von Baltazar, John Paul II's

favorite theologian, refers to Paul as one of the great archetypes in the life

of the church. Meaning he's one of the basic forms that we enter into and

living the Christian life. And so we can benefit always from a close study of his

life and his manner of discipleship. And you know, the Acts of the Apostles, it's

been referred to as the Pauliad. You know, you've got the Aniyad and you have

these great epic works in the ancient world. It's this is the Pauliad. It's the

story of Paul's life and work and so on. So it it draws us into this careful study

of him. So as we all know, Saul was a terrifying persecutor of the early Christian

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