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, we come once again to this

holy season of Lent. This time of purification and of spiritual clarification. How important

this is. We find versions of Lent in practically every great spiritual tradition, think of Ramadan

among the Muslims. Times when we have to find out in the deepest sense who we are, times of

denial of temptation and trial, times when we force ourselves up against it so we can discover

who we are at the deepest level. Blaze Pascale, the great Catholic theologian, talked about

diviartissement, diversions or distractions. He said most of us spend most of our lives distracting

ourselves from the great questions. Who is God? Who are we? What does God want? What is eternal life?

How do I avoid going to hell? How do I get to heaven? These great questions, they're so overwhelming

that we distract ourselves. Lent is the time when we set diviartissement aside, diversions. See,

that's why we fast. That's why we give up things. That's why we simplify our lives. That's why we

pray and fast and give alms. Not just because, well, that's difficult and I'll try to challenge

myself. They're meant to set aside the diversions so that we can look with a kind of brutal honesty at

how we are doing vis-a-vis God. And we imitate the Lord Himself who is led, we hear, by the Holy

Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Every first Sunday of Lent, every year of the

...