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, all

this liturgical year we're reading from the gospel of Matthew and Matthew was

written precisely for a Jewish audience which is why we find over and over again

Matthew especially puts Jesus within an Old Testament context. He uses the

text of the Old Testament to explain who Jesus is and what he's doing. Now

it's marvelous and we need to do a little bit of unpacking though to understand

what's up. Well in our readings for this weekend the church juxtaposes this

passage from Matthew with a parallel passage from Isaiah but listen now to what

we hear in Matthew. He Jesus left Nazareth and went to live in

a pernum by the sea in the region of Zebulin and Naftali that what had been

said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled and here's now the first

reading. Land of Zebulin, land of Naftali, the way to the sea beyond the Jordan

Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light

on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death. Light has arisen. Now I'd

submit but most of us that doesn't mean very much that passage but for Matthew's

audience for 1st century Jews they knew exactly what he was talking about. So

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