Friends, welcome to Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. Word on Fire is an

apostolate dedicated to the mission of evangelization using media both old and

new to share the faith on every continent and to facilitate an encounter with

Christ and His Church. The efforts of Word on Fire engage the culture and bring

the transformative power of God's Word where it is most needed. Today we invite

you to join Bishop Robert Barron as he preaches the gospel and shares the

warmth and light of Christ with each one of us.

Peace be with you.

Friends, the books of Ezra Nihemiah are among the most interesting and intriguing

in the Bible though they're often overlooked. They describe a key moment

in Israelite history. When the exiles were trickling home from Babylon and

seeking to reestablish their lives, to me one of the most heartbreaking scenes in

the whole Bible is Nihemiah's description of Jerusalem which had once been a

stately city now lying in waste as the conquerors had left it years before.

To get the feeling of that, think of a Parisian returning to the ruins of

Paris. Let's say it had been devastated by a foreign invader or an ancient Roman

returning to the ruins of Rome after a barbarian invasion or bring it closer to

home. Think of a Chicagoan returning to the ruins of Chicago if it had been

devastated by an army or a natural disaster. That's what it felt like to

Nihemiah Ezra and the other Israelites as they came back to once beautiful

Jerusalem. Now at the very heart of the disaster was the fact that the walls of

the city had been compromised. In the ancient world and indeed practically up

...