Good morning, this is Cardinal Francis George, and I invite you to join me for the next few minutes to reflect with Father Robert Baron on the Word of God, which is the Word on Fire.

Father Baron will challenge 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, who we might speak with love about the one who is love.

The Archdiocese of Chicago through the generosity of Sacred Heart Parishing Winnetka now presents the Word on Fire.

Peace be with you. Friends, today I want to talk to you about the Spiritual Life, as it is laid out in the Scriptures.

I think if you go through the Scriptures, Old Testament and New, there's a kind of basic form to the Spiritual Life, and I think it involves the walking along three paths.

First path, finding the center. Second path, knowing you're a sinner. Third path, realizing your life is not about you.

One of the best examples of this is in the Gospel of Luke, the account of the call of Simon Peter. We can see all three paths very clearly laid out.

Let me read to you from the beginning of this passage.

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the Word of God, he was standing by the lake of Ginezzarate.

He saw two boats alongside the lake. The fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.

Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.

Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

After he finished speaking, he said to Simon,

put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.

Simon said in reply, Master, we worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were tearing.

Now, what's the first thing we can notice about this passage?

I think it's almost a comical detail. Jesus just gets in Peter's boat.

Now, mind you, Peter's a fisherman. The boat is his livelihood. It's a very important thing for him.

What if your car were parked in a parking lot, and you saw someone just get into it?

Without asking, without being invited, just gets in the car. Well, you'd be appalled.

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