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 an 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 Barron as he preaches the gospel and shares the

warmth and light of Christ with each one of us.

Peace be with you. Friends, for this fourth Sunday of Easter, I like to concentrate

on our second reading, which is from the first letter of Peter. It's a very

beautiful text by the way and we consulted only rarely in the course of the

liturgical calendar. Can I urge everybody get out your bibles and read the

first letter of Peter. It's very short, easily and read in about probably 20

minutes if that. But it's a gorgeous reading with all kinds of interesting

theology and spirituality in it. What seems eminently clear from the

totality of the letter is that it was written to a suffering and probably

persecuted church. Therefore, how to deal with adversity, negativity, even the

threat of death, was a very existential concern for the community that Peter was

writing to. Now, what he offers us in the reading for today is an

extraordinary and I think deeply Christian principle. Listen, beloved, if you are

patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. Again,

listen, beloved, if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, that

is a grace before God. See, if you suffer for doing something bad, well, that's just

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