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 and 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 wonderful readings for the second Sunday of Easter.

Speak to us of three of the Apostles of Jesus, three pillars of the Church, namely Peter,

John, and Thomas. Now each one functions, I'll argue, as an archetype for an essential

feature of the life of the Church. So somehow these figures symbolize a dimension of the

Church that's present up and down the ages. So let's look first at Peter. The one who

just days before had been cowardly, vacillating, afraid even to admit that he knew Jesus is

now we hear clearly the leader of the Church, admired by both believers and nonbelievers.

And what's he up to as we read now in the Acts of the Apostles? Well we hear that he's

working signs and wonders among the people. In fact, so convinced where they have Peter's

miraculous power that they place the sick in his path so that even his shadow might

pass over them. We hear that people brought the sick from all over the region as well

as those troubled by unclean spirits and that all of them were cured. Now I fully realize

that today we might be a bit skeptical of all this miraculous carrying on. But you know,

it's hard to deny that Jesus was certainly known as a healer and a miracle worker. And

there's abundant evidence that the performance of miracles was a major reason why the first

preachers were taken seriously. So you think about that for a second, you see in Paul

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