This is Cardinal Francis George. I invite you to join me for the next few 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've come now to the very

end of the liturgical year, to the great feast of Christ the King. You know, it's exceptionally

difficult for us with our deeply democratic sensibilities to enter sympathetically into

this feast because we don't particularly like kings in our culture. Let's face it, our

nation was formed in a great act of rebellion against the tyranny of a king. Our whole

system of government evolved in such a way as to hold off any claim to absolute or king-like

authority. But I think friends, we have to get over this reticence. For kingship is a central

symbol for the Bible. And one of the primary ways that biblical authors attempted to express

the significance of Jesus. So we have to do a little act of cultural transplantation and get back

into the time of Jesus. Keep in mind that ancient peoples took kingship for granted. Even the

little tribes of the Amorites and the Jebusites and the Amalakites had kings. We think of them

today probably as more like street gangs, these little roving bands of warriors, but even they

had kings, the Bible says. And of course the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Romans,

the Egyptians all had kings. It was just the way things were structured. At a key moment in

this history, Israel asked for a king. God warned them against it, looking for Samuel to find

...