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 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, one of the great privileges of my life has been the opportunity over the past

several years to work closely with the text of Second Samuel in preparation for a lengthy

theological commentary that I'm writing. I've been reading all sorts of books, commentaries

around Second Samuel, and it's one of the most extraordinary texts to come down to us

from the ancient world. Fill with wonderful stories, psychological perceptiveness, and

tremendous theological depth. Second Samuel has to do with King David. So the rise of David

is covered largely in First Samuel. Second Samuel is all about King David. Well, the

passage that is our first reading for today is the hinge. It's the turning point of Second

Samuel. And one of the most decisive moments in the life of King David. But to understand

now, we need a little bit of background. At the beginning of Chapter 11 of Second Samuel,

we're told that time of year when kings go on campaign, David was home in his palace.

Now this is already a very bad site. So the author is saying that time of year, it meant

the spring time. That's when the winter rains were over and armies could move again. So

that time of year when kings go on campaign, David's out on campaign, right? No, no, he's

...