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.

Friends, today is the great feast of the baptism of the Lord, and provides the occasion for

speaking about the meaning of our own baptism. It's been said truly enough that the most

important day of your life was the day of your baptism. The day when you were grafted onto Christ

conformed to Jesus who is priest, prophet, and king. When I was in a parish full time and did a

lot of baptism, I was really struck by that chrysmation of the child. We'd use the chrysm oil.

That was the royal anointing. The anointing of the king. Every baptized person is anointed,

is a little Messiah, a little Christ, and that means a priest, that means a prophet, and a king.

If you want to see this in the Church of the official teaching, go to the Documents of Vatican 2.

You see it laid out very clearly. How every single baptized Christian shares in these three

offices. So, what does it mean to say that every baptized person is a priest? Well, a priest is

someone who prays for others, who intercedes, who performs sacrifices. Old Testament priests include

Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Ezekiel, Moses, many others. For centuries, in the great Jerusalem

temple, Jewish priests perform sacrifices. And of course, Christ is Himself, the high priest.

Priests are border walkers. Walk the border between heaven and earth. They're mediators.

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