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, you know St. John is a consummate literary

master. All the scenes in his gospels are carefully constructed icons, I call them. They're

sacred pictures in which we're meant to contemplate some aspect of our relationship with the

Lord. Walk through John's gospel in that very meditative spirit. Think of each scene as the

sacred picture now and you're meant to kneel before it, sit before it, contemplate it. Well,

the scene for today's icon is the vicinity of the Jordan, where John the Baptist is baptizing.

We hear he's standing with two of his disciples and he sees Jesus walk by. Without hesitation, he

tells his followers, behold, the Lamb of God. There's a term we use, of course, of the mass.

When the priest holds up the consecrated elements and he says, behold, the Lamb of God. There's

something, of course, terrible in that description. For John is telling them that Jesus is the one

who will be sacrificed for the sins of the world. This is not a gentle and meek image. It's a very

harsh, even violent image as they bring the lambs into the temple for slaughter. So Jesus will be

put to death for the sins of the world. But the young men with John, his two disciples,

and think, you know, friends, they're probably kids. They're probably no more than, I don't know,

18 or 19, people didn't live that long in the ancient world. So someone just kind of getting started,

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