This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next few 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 happy new year. Today, the first

Sunday of Advent is the beginning of liturgical year. And what an extraordinary commencement

to this year we have with the readings for today. We are as it were slapped in the face

by Luke's version of Jesus' apocalyptic speech, concerning the end of all things. Here's

something now from our Gospel. There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars.

On the earth, nations will be in anguish. Men will die of fright in anticipation of what

is coming on the earth. The powers in the heavens will be shaken. Now, I wonder if that's

what you were expecting on the first Sunday of Advent. What we hear is a kind of unraveling

of Genesis. Go back to the very beginning of the Bible. God drew order out of chaos. He

put the sun and moon gently in the sky, distinguishing dry land from the sea, putting our first

parents in a peaceful garden. All that symbolic language is evoking the orderliness of God's

creation. What Jesus is predicting here is the reversal of all this. Sun and moon shaken

and darkened. The earth rocking and waves overwhelming the dry land. Political order collapsing

so the reversal of the peacefulness of the garden. It's a reversal, unraveling of Eden.

But then we hear in the midst of all this chaos, the sun of man will come on a cloud with

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