Word on Fire is brought to you by Catholic cemeteries, serving the Chicago area since 1837, and FSP dedicated to food service excellence.

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, so that we might speak with love about the One who is Love.

The Archdiocese of Chicago through the generosity of Sacred Heart Parish and Winetka now presents the Word on Fire.

Peace be with you.

Our first day for today is the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ.

But I want to focus today on the blood of Christ, because the feast really is about both body and blood, and frankly, the readings the church proposes for us are dripping in blood.

Listen to a little bit now from the first reading, from the book of Exodus.

Moses has just received ordinances from the Lord, and he wants to seal the people now in this covenant.

Having sent certain young men of the Israelites to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord, Moses took half of the blood, put it in large bulls.

The other half he splashed on the altar.

Taking the book of the covenant, he read aloud to the people who answered, all the Lord has said, we will heed and do.

Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people.

Imagine now these bulls have been slaughtered. Their blood has been placed in bulls. Some of it splashed on the altar, and the other half sprinkled on the people themselves.

Isn't it surprising? Even a little bit off-putting.

Now the letter to the Hebrews, our second reading, talks all about the temple in Jerusalem, and the sacrifices that took place there.

You know, historians have said the temple in Jerusalem would have smelled and looked a lot like a slaughterhouse.

People bringing by the thousands, animals to be sacrificed.

In fact, so many were being sacrificed that at the height of the holy seasons, blood was carried out of the temple by these great sluices, extraordinary, isn't it?

The place was a slaughterhouse. Blood pouring out of it, literally.

The author of the letter to Hebrew says that Jesus is the perfect and final sacrifice.

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