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, our marvelous first reading for this weekend is taken

from the second chapter of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel and it recounts

Ezekiel's prophetic call, the moment when the Lord summoned him to prophecy.

So it's a parallel text to chapter one of Jeremiah. Remember before I formed you

in the womb I knew you a prophet to the nations I appointed you. It's also

parallel with chapter six of the prophet Isaiah. That's when we hear of his

prophetic call and the Lord was suddenly present to him in the temple and so on.

Now it's very important that we all attend to these stories. Why? Well, because

every baptized person is a prophet. It's called upon in some way to speak the

Word of God. So these are not just curiosities from an ancient time. They're

about us. So the church invites us to listen attentively. Here's how it begins.

He, the Lord, said to me, Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to

you. There's a lot packed into that little line. See, standing was the attitude of

prayer and worship in ancient Israel. You would stand in the synagogue or stand

in the temple to pray. That's why the person that Jesus cures bent over for a

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