Good morning, this is Cardinal Francis George, and I invite you to join me for the next few minutes to reflect with Father Robert Baron on the word of God, which is the word on fire.

Father Baron will challenge 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 Archdiocese of Chicago through the generosity of Sacred Heart Parish in Winetka now presents the word on fire.

Peace be with you. Friends, I want to talk to you today about the cross of Jesus Christ, and this is a very strange subject.

St. Paul, when he was talking to some of the earliest Christians in Corinth, said this,

I preach one thing, Christ and Him crucified.

That's a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles.

That's Paul's shorthand way of saying, here's something that nobody understands.

Here's something that the whole world finds strange.

I think unless we are unnerved by the cross of Christ, unless we're deeply bothered, confused by it,

unless we shake our heads in wonder at it, we don't entirely get it.

The cross of Jesus turns everything upside down. It's the reversal of all of our values, the reversal of all of our expectations.

Let me get at it this way.

Suppose I were to ask parents or grandparents who were listening.

What is your image of success for your son, for your daughter, for your grandson?

Let me say something like this.

Well, I'd like him to go to a fine school, get an advanced degree, become a doctor, a lawyer, become an important member of a business firm,

rise up through the hierarchy, and at the height of his career to be well respected by his peers,

we have titles, privilege, position, to be surrounded by material things and comfort.

Wouldn't most of us say, yeah, that's the image of success. That's what we want for our children, our grandchildren.

And suppose I were to say to you, in fact, this is what will happen to your son.

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