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 to be with you. Friends, we come to the wonderful feast today of the ascension of the Lord, a very important feast

and one that has all sorts of interesting

theological and spiritual implications.

I want to draw your attention first.

It's our first reading from the acts of the apostles

very beginning of that great text. The risen Christ has gathered with his disciples on the mountain.

Listen now, when they had gathered together they asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

So here they are, they've witnessed the resurrection.

They know this man has been preaching the coming of the kingdom,

and so this must be the moment.

Jesus answered them, it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has

established by his own authority.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and to all the world.

Now here's the important thing for us. Like the disciples

we very often want to ask the Lord, okay Lord, when is all this going to come to

fruition?

So we're living in this time of struggle and difficulty and we're trying to live the moral

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