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

The Archdiocese of Chicago through the generosity of Sacred Heart Parish in Winetka now presents the word on fire.

Peace be with you. Friends, today can I start with a parable?

I'd like you to imagine something with me. Imagine the author of a great long and complex novel.

He's taken the pages of this novel, and he's going up in a balloon. He's now thousands of feet above the earth.

It's a wildly windy day, and he takes all these thousands of pages of this complex novel, and he holds them out to the wild winds.

So the pages are scattered, and they're taken all over the world.

Some of these scattered pages land on mountain tops. Some of the pages land in valleys and open spaces.

Some land in streams and are carried far away. Some land in very hidden places.

Some of the pages are destroyed in the way down. They'll never be read.

Some are taken up in the jet stream, and they're carried out over the ocean to distant continents where they eventually fall to the ground.

Now, imagine people gradually finding these mysterious pages.

Someone comes across a page, and there's this text that tells one tiny snippet of the story.

But it's so well written and so captivating that the person is intrigued.

Now, other of these pages are found here and there across the country around the world.

Some pages are taken from upbeat, comical, delightful parts of the novel.

Others are taken from dark and foreboding passages.

Some pages give a pretty vivid sketch of a character.

Some pages are so out of context that they are simply mysterious.

Now, where begins to spread? The rumor spreads that people are finding these scattered pages.

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