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 Palm Sunday and the

reading of the Passion. The story of Jesus' suffering and death haunted the minds of the first

Christians. All the gospels center around it. They all tend toward it. They all find their fulfillment

in it. Somehow, this story of the death of Jesus is what it's about. Well, this year, we're

privileged to read St. Luke's account of the Passion. A special emphasis in Luke and each one of

the evangelists has a special focus in their account. One of Luke's is Jesus the King in his struggle

with the false kingdoms of the world. What we find here in a kind of climactic way is a battle

between rival conceptions of power. What does it mean to be a king? What's the nature of true

kingship? This story of the Passion in Luke shows us. We hear first that Jesus entered Jerusalem

as a king. The way the prophet Zechariah said he would, on the full of an ass in humility and

meatness. But see, mind you, he's coming as a Davidic king. Just as David took possession of

Jerusalem, so Jesus now in Palm Sunday, takes possession of the Holy City. But he doesn't do it

in a worldly way like a warrior full of pomp and display and violence. He doesn't come

charging his way into Jerusalem. Notice something too in interesting detail. The people

swayed and danced and sang as Jesus entered the Holy City. Any first century Jew hearing this story

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