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 gospel reading for today is taken from that

extraordinary high priestly discourse of Jesus during the last supper in the

gospel of John. You know how in John it's in chapter six that we have the

Eucharistic teaching because we don't really have in John's account of the

last supper an institution narrative or an account of the Eucharist. What we do

have though is this extremely rich, densely complex, lengthy sermon of Jesus.

In fact, along with the sermon on the Mount, it's the longest sustained speech of

Jesus in the New Testament, which is why theologians and spiritual teachers

over the centuries have paid very close attention to it. I think to grasp the

dynamics of this speech is to grasp almost the whole of Christian spirituality.

Can I encourage all of you? Take the time to sit down with the gospel of John,

his account of the last supper and read through this high priestly prayer.

Well, there's a particular line toward the end of this passage that's a kind of

key that unlocks the whole thing. I think if we grasp this, we unlock many of

the mysteries and peculiarities of Christianity. Here's what Jesus said. It was

...