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 nonprofit ministry at the forefront of Catholic evangelization

using new media to spread the faith on 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 art styles of

Chicago now present Word on fire. Feast be with you. Friends, we have the special privilege this year

of celebrating the feast of Peter and Paul on a Sunday. And it gives us the opportunity to reflect

on these two absolutely pivotal figures. You know, there are many key players in the early days of

the church. One thinks of James and John, Timothy and Titus, of Barnabas and Silas, of Thomas and

Mary Magdalene, but the indispensable players, the ones without whom Christianity would never have

gotten off the ground. We're clearly Peter and Paul. They were in so many ways different. Peter

was a professional fisherman from the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Hardly rich, but not exactly poor.

He'd be like a small businessman, we might say, in our terms today. He would have received probably

very little formal education. He spoke his native Aramaic and maybe a smattering of Greek for

business purposes. He was a man with a big heart. I mean, that comes through, doesn't it, in all

the gospel stories. He wouldn't maybe praise him for his fine education and intelligence, but

you'd notice this big, expansive heart. Now, Paul, on the other hand, was from the Jewish diaspora

in Tarsus and Asia Minor, in present-day, a southeastern Turkey. He was very well-educated.

Both in the Hellenistic culture of his time, so young Saul would have read Plato and Aristotle

and Escholist and the Greek playwrights and poets. He was also very cultured in his native Judaism.

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