This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next two minutes to reflect

with Father Robert Barron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire. Word on Fire Catholic

Ministries is a non-profit ministry at the forefront of Catholic evangelization, using

new media to spread the faith and every continent. Father Barron challenges us to open our hearts

to the Word on Fire, which is God's Word of Love for each of us. If our hearts are open,

the Lord can change and transform us so that we might speak with love about the one who is

love. The global benefactors of Word on Fire with the support of the Archdiocese of Chicago

now present Word on Fire. Peace be with you. And this wonderful feast of epiphany. What

isn't about this feast that always grabs our attention as it has grabbed the imaginations

of artists and poets over the centuries? I don't know. There's something sort of magical

and romantic and so spiritually uplifting about this feast. I think once again we see a juxtaposition

between Herod and someone else, Herod's vision and another way of seeing the world. Here

we're suspected that as the stories of ordinary politics and family and culture unfold, all

things that we customarily pay attention to. There's actually a real story that's being missed.

Do you ever think as our eyes are fixed on the things that we hold to be very important?

There's actually someone else whose eyes are fixed on what really matters. Two great stories

being told, the story of ordinary things, story of history, story of journalism and current

events, and then some deeper, stranger, more compelling story. Which one are we paying attention

to? Matthew's account of the visit of the Meijai purposely juxtaposes, just as it commences,

King Herod, and these mysterious magoi, he calls them from the east, Meijai, we say, astrologers,

astronomers, wise men, kings, different ways of rendering that mysterious word. As I

explained last week, Herod was the consummate political survivor. He was a canny realist

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