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 Parishing Winnetka now presents the Word on Fire.

Peace be with you.

Friends, one of the great themes in the Christian spiritual masters over the centuries is the theme of detachment.

The Greek Father's call it apaphaya, apathy, we might say. Ignatiously I would call it indifference, indifference.

What this means is a detachment from all the goods of the world that are less than God.

The spiritual masters know that the soul is wired for God.

Our joy is found and got alone.

Therefore, when the soul gets hooked onto something less than God, something created, it becomes sick.

The solution to this is detachment from all these goods, whether it's sex or money or power.

The Gospel today talks about one of the most powerful and pernicious attachments that we get into.

Honor, glory, the esteem of others, having a great name, being highly thought of, ambition, however you want to name it.

This desire for honor becomes in itself an attachment, making the soul sick and twisting it away from God.

You know what's interesting?

You can see some people who, even if they have a lot of money, aren't particularly attached to money or people that have a lot of power but aren't particularly attached to it.

But are attached to honor.

They want to be noticed. They want to be celebrated. They want people to see and appreciate them.

I always think of Oscar Wilde's great line. Remember, he said, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

Now, that's someone who is hooked on ambition or honor. They need to be noticed.

You know, to be fair about this, honor, ambition, like sex, money, material, things, power is extremely attractive.

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