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, notice please how the gospel for today commences.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him,

Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Well, anyone who's clued into

biblical spirituality knows things are off to a very bad start. Whenever we commence to

tell Jesus what we want him to do for us, we are Ipsophacto in a bad spiritual space.

Think of Martha, you know, in the famous story Martha and Mary, who tells Jesus what to do.

You should be doing this. That's automatically the wrong space to be in. As I've often said,

your life is not about you. We have to move from the Ego drama to the Theodrama from the play that

we are writing, directing and starring into the play that God is directing. So the proper biblical

attitude is always speak Lord. I'm listening. You tell me what to do. It's not I who've chosen you.

You've chosen me. See, that reversal is just fundamental in a biblical spirituality. So right away,

we're prepared for things to go badly and they do. So listen now as Jesus patients says,

okay, what do you want me to do for you? They say, grant that in your glory, we may sit,

one at your right and the other at your left. They're asking of course for two of the classic

four substitutes for God, wealth, pleasure, power and honor. They're asking specifically for the

last two for power and honor. They want to be in these thrones of glory, these thrones of power

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