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 first reading for this

second Sunday of land is, frankly, one of the most dreadful in the entire Bible. I don't

mean poorly written. I mean, the heart of it is just something of terrible. It's the story

of what the ancient Israelites called the Achaedah, the binding of Isaac. The story is terrible.

Not simply because it involves human sacrifice, not only because it involves a father's willingness

to kill his own son. It's above all terrible because it seems to set God against God. Look,

Isaac was the son of the promise, the son of Abraham's impossibly old age, the one through

whom Abraham would become the father of many nations. We remember the story well, hoping

against hope. Abraham continued to have faith in God's promise, even as he and his wife

became old and then ancient. Finally, his faith was justified as Sarah became pregnant in

a birth to Isaac. Then, oh, some 12 years later, just when Isaac was coming of age, Abraham

heard a voice, commanding him to sacrifice this son, this beloved, this bearer of the promise

of God, to sacrifice him to God. Do you see why this story cut to the heart of Israelite religion?

It appeared as though God were not only mocking Abraham. That seems bad enough, but even undermining

himself. I mean, how could the God who promised life precisely through Isaac now demand that child

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