Word on Fire is brought to you by Catholic cemeteries, serving the Chicago area since 1837.

This is Cardinal Francis George, and 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.

Father Barron 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, who we might speak with

love about the One who is love.

The Archdiocese of Chicago through the generosity of Sacred Heart Parish and Winetka now presents

the Word on Fire.

Peace be with you.

Friends, our reading for today, our Gospel for today, ends with what for my money is one

of the most disturbing lines in the New Testament.

Jesus tells this parable, and then He says this,

When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

Jesus came to light a fire on the earth, the fire of the Holy Spirit, the fire of faith,

and the fact that we exist now as a church 2,000 years later is a sign of the preridurems

of that fire.

But this question, which is left disturbingly open, anticipates the second coming of the

Lord, the final coming of Christ.

When He returns to the earth, will He find faith, a couple disturbing facts, we are always

one generation away from the extinction of the faith.

The faith is caught like a contagion.

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