This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next few 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. Friends, all three of our readings for this

fifth Sunday of Easter have to do with the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, though the connection might

not be obvious to us 21st century readers. As I've said to you many times before, the temple was the

central religious symbol and place for 1st century Jews. It was in practically a literal sense,

the dwelling place of the God of Israel and the focal point of all of Jewish life. It was,

if I put it this way, the privileged, tristing place between divinity and humanity. The temple

was where God and human beings met. Now, with this in mind, let's listen for some powerful echoes

of the temple in all three of our readings. At the end of our first reading from the Acts of

the Apostles and of course, we're reading from that wonderful text all during the Easter season.

We hear that a number of disciples in Jerusalem was increasing exponentially and then we hear

this quote, even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith. It's a very important

thing here. The priests, of course, were the key officials in the temple. Those who presided over

the sacrifices which were the whole wayzone debt of the temple. The priests, therefore,

were the privileged mediators between Yahweh and his holy people.

What had become eminently clear to the first Christians and you can see it really throughout the

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