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. Friends, our readings for this weekend

are all about humility, which is such a fundamental virtue in the moral life, the spiritual life.

I think I've told you before, but St. Bernard of Clairville was once asked, what are the three

most important elements in the spiritual life? He said humility, humility, and humility.

St. Catharine Siena, I've been reading a lot of her recently. In the next to see a prayer,

she once heard the Lord say to her, remember that I am and you are not. Now, don't take it

literally to suggest that we don't exist, but take it in its spiritual and indeed metaphysical

significance. God is the one who is. Everything we have, everything we are is therefore a gift from

God. Indeed, God is and we are not. And so whatever we have is grace, gift. St. Augustine said,

well, we've all been made from nothing, ex nihilo, and therefore we tend to nothing. We carry about

within us the heritage of non-being. We see it, of course, in our frailty, our sin, our mortality.

St. Paul summed it up, what do you have that you've not received? So why do you boast? It's a good

question, isn't it? Everything we have, we've received. So why should we boast in what we have

as though it's our unique accomplishment? Well, to believe in God, everybody is to know these

truths. To live out of them is to live in the attitude of what the church calls humility.

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