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, our readings for this

weekend are really fascinating because they set up a tension that runs right through

the Bible, runs right into the Christian theological tradition. I mean the tension between

law and grace. On the one hand, our tradition, going back now to ancient times, going back to

ancient Israel, loves the law. On the other hand, there's a kind of freedom from the law.

Think of the letters of Paul. That's one of the basic themes and Paul's letters is that we are

not justified, set right with God by the law, but now there's a freedom from the law through

the grace of Christ. Well, okay, you want to say which one is it? Are you a religion of law?

Are you a religion of grace? Are you both and somehow? How do you make sense of it? Well,

here's how the readings for today set it up. The first one is from the book of Deuteronomy.

And of course, that word itself, Deuteronomy, just means the second law because the book of

Exodus lays out the law of the Ten Commandments. And then in Deuteronomy, we have kind of a

reiteration and elaboration of the law. So it's the second law. So in the very title of the book,

there's the primacy of law. We hear now Moses speaking to the people. Now Israel, here are the

statutes and decrees, which I am teaching you to observe that you may live and may enter in and

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