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, there's a wonderful parallel between our first reading

and our gospel for this week. The first reading is taken from the sixth chapter of

the book of the prophet Isaiah. Can I encourage everybody this week take out your

Bible and open to Isaiah chapter six, the very beginning of it. And you'll find

this wonderful account of the call of the prophet Isaiah. The gospel is from

the beginning of the fifth chapter of Luke and it deals with something very

similar, namely the call of the first disciples of Jesus. So take out the

Bible's when you have a chance. Look at Isaiah six, Luke five, read those two

stories together in a kind of prayerful way because I think in many ways the

essential dynamics of the spiritual life are on display in these two stories. So

let's listen first to Isaiah. He's sitting in the Holy Temple. I love the fact

that he remembers exactly when it was. He tells us the year King Uzziah died.

There's something about very powerful spiritual experiences. We don't forget

them. They mark and define our lives. I've often spoken about when I was a 14-year-old

kid and first heard one of Aquinas' arguments for God's existence. I can tell

...