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

first reading for today proposes a very serious challenge for people in our

culture. We're hearing sermon given by St. Peter himself in the acts of the

Apostles. Here's what the chief of the Apostles says. 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. Okay, pretty bracing stuff. Now, I'll

pass over those rather harsh words of judgment. Probably hard enough for people

today to take. I mean, when he says, you know, he's the stone rejected by you, the

builders. I mean, he's just naming their pain right off the bat. But let me go

directly to what people today would probably find most objectionable in this

little passage, namely the exclusivism. It's pretty unavoidable, right? There's

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. So is he saying Jesus is the only

way to salvation? There's no other name by which we can be saved. So no non-

Christian I'm gathering from this can possibly be saved. No Jew, no Hindu, no

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