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 a

very deep mystery opens up when we meditate upon our first reading from the

book of the prophet Jeremiah. I remember that Jeremiah is writing and

prophesying at a very difficult time in Israelite history. The Babylonians are

hemming in Jerusalem, threatening the nation with extinction. It's pretty hard for

us to grasp what that meant for ancient peoples but when a city, especially

capital city, is under siege, it was a disaster and then you know no food, no

water was coming in and then the army this this foreign army is threatening

you are very existence. That's the situation when Jeremiah is writing. Now we

know Jeremiah would often rail against the bad leadership of his time, the King

and his courtiers who would abandon the ways of the Lord and led the nation

down the wrong path. This is why he shouts in our reading today, listen,

woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture. You have

scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them. The

references to scattering by the way are illusions to the exiles that Israel had

undergone in his history and was about to undergo. Jeremiah knew that a

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