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 come to the second Sunday of Advent,

and there's a lot of talk about building highways.

Now, what is going on there, and why is that being used as a spiritual symbol?

Well, first of all, remember the importance in the Bible, both Old Testament

and New, of this theme of exile. Very often Israel finds itself in exile. Think of the slavery

in Egypt. Think of the Assyrian exile of the northern tribes. Think of the Babylonian exile of

the southern tribes. Israel being sent away from

its own promised land. And so a great hope, and you hear it throughout the Bible, is that one day

the exiles and the slaves will return. They'll come back to their homeland. So exile and return is a major motif. Well,

listen now, our first reading is from the prophet Baruch. Baruch was a friend of Jeremiah. He was a kind

of secretary to Jeremiah. Listen to this. Up Jerusalem, stand upon the heights, look to the east, and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One.

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