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, we have a privilege this year because all Souls Day, November

2nd, falls on a Sunday, so we can really spend some time reflecting on this wonderful feast,

which means a lot to Catholic people. I know all my years are doing pastoral ministry, my years in the parish.

All Souls Day means a lot. A time to pray for our beloved dead.

And I wonder if I could begin by just reflecting a bit on soul. Why we speak of the Soul, all Souls Day.

Well, I go right back to the book of Genesis, the very beginning, that first account of creation.

What do we find? We find that God makes Adam from the dust of the earth, from the mud, the clay of the earth,

and then breathes into him, like he's a mannequin or a doll, but then breathes into him the breath of life.

And that word breath in Hebrew is one that's often translated as soul.

But see what that's that poetic image is communicating.

There's a dimension of us that belongs irreducibly to the earth.

We are animals. We're close cousins to many animals. All living things are related to us. We come from the earth.

Remember your dust, and to dust you shall return. We have these emotions that we share with many of the animals and reactions and the nerves and muscles and all of that.

We get hungry and thirsty and we get tired and we have to sleep, and there's an earthiness about us that can't be denied, shouldn't be denied. It's part of God's creation,

what God wanted. He didn't make us angels. He did make angels. They've got their own manner

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