Word on Fire is brought to you by Catholic Cemetery's, serving the Chicago area since 1837.

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 Winnicka now presents the Word on Fire.

Peace be with you, and happy Easter to all.

Friends, maybe it's something a little bit peculiar about me, but I've always loved to visit the graves of famous people.

I don't know why, maybe it's a sense of history or a sense of connection to these heroes, a form of paying tribute to them.

I don't know, but something has always drawn me to the graves of the great figures.

I've done a lot of traveling around the world in my life, in my various places of study.

When I was at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., many years ago, I had a favorite spot.

It was that Ridge just below the Custis Lee mansion at Arlington National Cemetery.

It's where the Kennedy brothers are buried.

I used to go there a lot, pray for them, and then I would sit on that Ridge and look out over the city.

It was a remarkably beautiful panoramic view.

It was a great meditative place for me, and I went there a lot.

Also during those years, I would travel down the Potomac to Mount Vernon, George Washington's house.

You see the sarcophagus of George Washington, and there I would meditate in mues and ponder.

You go a little further inland, you come to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's house, and you go to his simple grave,

in a very small cemetery behind the house, and there too I would sit, think, mues, pray.

I was a student for three years in Paris.

During those years, too, I'd go to the graves of famous people.

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