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 readings for this weekend

give us two stories of cure and conversion. And as is almost always the case with the Scriptures,

these accounts are to be read at several levels, first at a literal level, but also at a deeper,

more symbolic level. They are microcosms of the spiritual life of the spiritual journey.

The Gospel is that well-known story of the ten lepers who are healed, but only one, a

Samaritan, returns to give thanks. Again, a kind of typical motif in the Gospels of the

Stranger, the outsider who actually responds more than in Israelite. It gives you a hint here of

that universal trajectory that's within the Gospels. Christ comes to his own people to Israel,

but Israel is meant to be the magnet to all the nations. So we see that trajectory in this story.

But the narrative calls to mind a remarkable story from the Old Testament,

from the second book of kings, and a passage from that section is our first reading. The church

as usual is juxtaposing the Gospel with an Old Testament reading. This story from the second

book of kings has to do with Naaman. Naaman was the commander of the army of the King of Syria.

A short way of saying, someone who was very powerful and very successful.

But, we hear that underneath the success, there is a thorn in the flesh, for he suffers from

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