This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next few 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, we commence ordinary time.

This is the second Sunday of ordinary time. Less week, the baptism of the Lord is the

real beginning of this period. But now it's the first weekend where we turn to these more

ordinary readings after the Christmas season. I want to focus on our second reading, which

is the very beginning of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. There's something now

in Paul's address that sums up in a very simple way what the Christian life is about.

The simple words we hear in the reading follow the rather conventional form of epistolary

salutation in the ancient world. This is the way people would address letters to people.

But if we pay attention to them, we uncover, I think, extraordinary richness. He commences

by identifying himself by name Paul. Of course, we know he was born Sha'ul, Saul. After his

conversion, he becomes Paul. Now he's taking a more Roman sounding name, maybe to make

his way more readily in the Roman world. There might be a pragmatic reason. But this

is in line, as you know, with a very ancient biblical approach, that after people encounter

the Lord and they find their vocation, they become someone different.

Hansur is von Balthazar, the great theologian, said, you don't know who you are until you

...