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, all three of our readings for this weekend speak of a

primordial spiritual truth. One that I've mentioned frequently, maybe I've even

harped on it with you, but that's okay because I think it's so fundamental in

the spiritual life. I'm talking about the need to detach oneself from the

goods of the world. Let me say it again to detach oneself from the goods of the

world. Now mind you, this has nothing to do with a hatred of the world. This is

not a what they call the Fuga Mundi, a flight from the world spirituality. This

is not Puritanism. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about knowing how to

wear the goods of the world lightly because they're not our ultimate good.

They are good. They're wonderful. They're lovely. They're all kinds of good, true,

and beautiful things in the world, but they're not the ultimate good and we're

not meant to cling to them as though they were. I think the Bible and the great

spiritual tradition teach this truth over and over again because we don't get it.

Now let's begin with the first reading, which I love this book of

Kohalith from the Old Testament. Missum, older folks might remember who's called

...