Friends, welcome to Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. Word on Fire is an

apostolate dedicated to the mission of evangelization using media both old and

new to share the faith on every continent and to facilitate an encounter with

Christ and His Church. The efforts of Word on Fire engage the culture and bring

the transformative power of God's Word where it is most needed. Today we invite

you to join Bishop Robert Barron as he preaches the gospel and shares the

warmth and light of Christ with each one of us.

Peace be with you. Friends, we come to Epiphany Sunday and that marvelous story

from the gospel of Matthew, the journey of the Magi, the wise men coming to see

the Christ child. Of course it's beguiled artists and poets and preachers for

centuries. I think we can distill some marvelous spiritual lessons from this

perhaps overly familiar story. Let me walk through it and see if we can find

the spiritual richness. You know, first of all it has to do with what the

gospel calls Magi, the Magi. I think the word magician would be related to that.

The Magi were probably some kind of combination what we would call

astronomers and astrologers. So in the cultures to the east of the Holy Land

there was a well-developed culture of stargazing. Now part of it for

scientific purpose, if we would say, but their deepest purpose was to discern in

the stars and the heavenly bodies signs of God's intention and God's purpose.

So hold in your mind's eye the Magi, night after night in season and out,

gazing up at the stars, trying to discern the purpose of God. There's less than

one. Be attentive. Be attentive in the spiritual order. We spend so much time

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