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 and 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 Baron as he preaches

the gospel and shares the warmth and light of Christ with each of us.

Peace be with you. Friends, for this fourth Sunday of Lent, we have the privilege of hearing

what I've always called the greatest story ever told, the greatest of Jesus' parables,

the parable of the prodigal son. What is it about this? That is so beguile of us. To

this day, I've heard it a thousand times in the course of my life, but you want to hear

it again and you're drawn into its power. Upstairs in my house, I have a reproduction of

Rembrandt's famous depiction of the scene. What is it about that painting? I'm sure you'll

know it. That's just endlessly fascinating. The details keep singing to us. Painting

by Rembrandt, the end of his life when he was a very old man, his eyesight failing, but

it's one of the most eloquent moving paintings in the Western tradition. Well, it's the

power of this story. And what a great story for Lent when we're getting in touch with

our own sinfulness, but also with the mercy of God. See, that's reached us out to us. So

let's look at some of the features of this great story. So Jesus tells us the man had two sons.

The younger says to the father, father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.

What's interesting to me there is three separate times he manages to reference himself. Give

me the share that's coming to me or give me my share of the inheritance coming to me.

Me, me, me, mine. If the father is God, now this shows the way a lot of us relate to God.

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