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 today is the Great Feast of Pentecost, one of the greatest

feasts in the Church Year. Easily as important as Christmas and Easter, the Great Feast of

the Holy Spirit, the Feast of the Birthday of the Church, all that is taking place on Pentecost.

Can I suggest you a go into understand Pentecost is to see it in close relation to the Feast from

last Sunday, namely the Ascension of the Lord, the Ascension and Pentecost are closely tied.

The Ascension celebrates the fact that the risen Jesus went to heaven and is now seated at the

right hand of the Father. Right away, we have to be careful that we understand what these

words mean. The trouble is that we tend to think of heaven and earth in a more Greek or

gnostic way. The philosophers and theologians out there understand what I mean. It's a simple

idea. For the Greeks, for the gnastics, heaven and earth are poles apart to entirely discreet

separate realms. And again, for Greeks like Plato, the gnastics too, the whole point of the

spiritual life is to escape from the world of manner, to get out of this world and go to the

higher world. So as I say, we have a tendency to read the Ascension in a rather Greek mode. So

thank God Jesus has finally left this lowly world and is gone up to heaven. But that might be

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