This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next two 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 nonprofit 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 for this weekend is Matthew's version of the great

parable of the Saur. I've got a reproduction of Van Gogh's painting of this scene in my

room at the seminary, very beautiful lyrical picture that Van Gogh painted. Because for

me, it sums up the work I'm trying to do, which is sewing the Word. And you sew the Word,

you're not quite sure where it's going to land, but you sew anyway.

On Matthew's telling, Jesus goes down to the Sea of Galilee and he attracts an enormous

crowd of listeners. This is representative of that hunger I talk about all the time.

The hunger for the Word of God. They sense the power of God in Jesus and they wanted it

desperately with all their hearts. So it still goes with the Word of God. I can see it

even, I might even say, especially in those atheists who listen with such attention to

what I say on YouTube, I'm intrigued by that that very often atheists who claim to hate

religion, to not believe in God, but yet they come back over and over again to listen.

Well, so it goes with everybody up and down the ages. We're all wired for God. And so we

all want to listen. It says he spoke to them at length in parables. Interesting, isn't it?

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