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 Baron,

as he preaches the gospel and shares the warmth and light of Christ with each of us.

Peace be with you. Friends, our second reading for this Sunday is taken from the sixth chapter

of Paul's Letter to the Romans. It is the most theologically sophisticated and spiritually

searching of Paul's letters. It's the first of Paul's letters listed in the New Testament.

Can I encourage you when you have a chance? Sit down and read through Paul's Letter to

the Romans. It's not the easiest reading in the world. Paul can be a somewhat dense and

difficult writer, but if you want to get the first great theological text in our tradition,

that's it. Written sometime in the decade of the 50s of the first century, this letter

lays out Paul's vision in its fullness. Read it sometime when you have a chance.

I want to comment now on these first lines from this reading. Paul says this,

are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death?

Don't you know that he's talking to a little community of baptized Christians. We think of the

church in Rome, the great church of the 21st century. Think of a very small community,

of some Jewish Christians, some Gentile converts, but very small group, and Paul's writing to them.

Don't you know that all of you who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Death. I spoke last week about what frightens us. What are we afraid of? Most of us would say

probably above all I'm afraid of dying. Christianity places death right at the beginning of the Christian

...