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, for this fourth Sunday of Easter, our first reading is

from one of the magnificent early caracomatic sermons of St. Peter. So the

Carigma means the basic proclamation. So here's Peter in the earliest days

talking about the meaning of Christianity. And here's here are a few lines that I

submit to you are kind of troubling for a lot of people today. Listen, he, Christ,

is the stone rejected by you the builders which has become the cornerstone.

There is no salvation through anyone else nor is there any other name

under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved. Pretty blunt

stuff, huh? Pretty exclusive sounding. You know, we put such a premium on non-judgmentalism

and inclusivity and everyone gets around the table. Well, here's some pretty

uncompromising words. There is no salvation apart from this name. It seems no

Jew, no Hindu, no Buddhist, no Muslim, no agnostic, no atheist could possibly be

saved. That no one gets into heaven except explicit Christians. As I say, it runs

counter to so many of our cultural instincts today. And furthermore, it seems to

play into a lot of our worst religious instincts, namely us against them.

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