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 Gospel is from the

14th chapter of Luke this week, and it's one of my favorites, but I'm not going to spend

a lot of time with it because I've talked about it many times before. It's a great parable

about people coming in to the banquet and looking for the places of honor, looking for

the highest places, and Jesus has taken the lowest place. And then maybe the master will

say, come up higher. And the whole point of that is the way we love should not be a game

of expectation, of reward. I'll love you. That you might love me. I'll do something good

for you that you might repay me. Rather, when you hold a banquet, Jesus says, invite the

poor, the cripple, the lame, the blind, because of their inability to repay you. That's

the key, isn't it? See, when you love, that means you will the good of the other. But

what happens is we undermine love in this subtle way. By actually seeking your own good

through the other, I'll be kind to you that you might be kind to me. And that is so central

to the Gospel because that's the way God loves. That's the way God loves. He makes his son

to shine the good and bad alike. God loves you when you're a saint. He loves you when you're

a sinner. He loves you when you respond to him. He loves you. We don't respond to him.

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