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 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. Francis weekend, we continue our

reading of the sermon on the Mount that summary statement of Jesus preaching and teaching.

What a magnificent passage we have today. There's just an insisive, cutting quality to Jesus

words. He gets to the hearts and the bone more than any other teacher I know. Look at all the

spiritual masters and all their wisdom and insight. There's something about Jesus words that just

cut to the heart of things. He tells us first, he's come not to abolish the prophets, but to fulfill

them. Jesus stands in continuity with Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and company. Like them, he calls

for justice, for compassion, for love, for nonviolence. I mean, all those themes can be found in the

great prophets. He's not undoing any of their basic concerns, just the contrary. He is intensifying

and deepening them. That's how I take fulfillment here. He's not opposed to the prophets. He's

intensifying their teaching, deepening their teaching. Here's what I mean. Whereas the ancient

sages of Israel focused on actions, Jesus will focus on the interior space from which actions come.

That's why we can say he's radical in his speaking. For he gets to the roots of things.

Rodics in Latin means root, radish. A root comes from that. He won't simply address the external

manifestation of the problem. He will address the root of it in the merceness of a dysfunctional

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