Word on Fire is brought to you by Catholic cemeteries, serving the Chicago area since 1837.

This is Cardinal Francis George, and I invite you to join me for the next few minutes to reflect with Father Robert Baron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire.

Father Baron will challenge 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, who we might speak with love about the one who is love.

The Archdiocese of Chicago through the generosity of Sacred Heart Parish and Winetka now presents the Word on Fire.

Peace be with you.

Friends, the Gospel passage for today is taken from the second chapter of Mark's Gospel.

People wonder why Jesus and His disciples don't fast, when John, that means John the Baptist and His disciples do.

Well, it's a good question. It's a fair question.

See, Jesus, by comparison with many other religious figures of his time, had a much freer, more worldly, less obviously religious style.

For example, he didn't sequester himself like the Essenes.

You know, those who kept the Dead Sea scrolls. The Essenes were a kind of proto-monastic community.

They left the world, living by themselves in a kind of religious isolation.

Well, Jesus didn't do that. He wasn't in a scene.

Furthermore, he didn't insist on ritual and legal purity like the Pharisees.

That was a major preoccupation. We hear it over and over again in the Gospels of the Pharisees.

Well, Jesus wasn't like that. In fact, his lack of fussiness about those things bothered the Pharisees.

And finally, he didn't fast or live a life of particular austerity like John the Baptist and his followers.

Rather, Jesus moved rather freely in society, even allowing himself to be accompanied by women.

And that was very unusual in his time.

More to it, Jesus was not a formally trained and recognized rabbi or scholar of the law.

Now, he's called rabbi from time to time. That's more of a title of respect.

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