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, the most important teaching

in the Bible is the primacy of grace. God's love comes first. When we get this wrong,

everything else in the spiritual life is thrown off-kilter. Listen to how St. John expresses

this love of pre-delection to give it its technical name in our first reading. Listen

out, John. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and

sent his son as the expiation of our sins. In today's Gospel, Jesus himself expresses

the very same idea. Listen, it was not you who chose me, but I who chose you. That's

the Grazia Prima principle that grace comes first. If we play the game of loving God in

order to get God to love us, then we are lost. If we think we can earn our salvation to work

our way into God's heart, then we are lost. Here's a way to think about it. We would not

even exist where it not for God's love. That's because God needs nothing. Therefore, God

has no self-interest. Therefore, whatever exists outside of God exists simply because God

desires some good for it. That's what love is to desire the good of the other. That means

the existence of everything from archangels to worms is a sign of the love of pre-delection

that love has come first. Love precedes our intelligence. It precedes our courage. It

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