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 first reading is that wonderful, wonderful story of Elijah and the widow of Zarifeth.

It's one of my favorites.

It's a kind of hidden gem, I think, in the Old Testament.

Like so many of the stories in the Bible, it is very laconically stated, very understated, but chockful of spiritual meaning.

To get it, though, we have to back up a little bit to understand Elijah and what he's all about.

Remember, Elijah emerges as the great critic of Ahab, King of Israel, who is described as the worst of all the kings

of Israel, which means he's a pretty bad guy. He's married to Jezebel, and through Jezebel,

he gives the country over to the worship of false gods, which in the Bible is always the wrong

thing to do. So Elijah challenges him. Ahab says, I'm having none of it. And so Elijah

declares a drought. Now, as always in the Bible, this is not God being capricious. It's a spiritual

symbol. Turning away from God means turning away from the source of life. Just as Adam and Eve are kicked

out of a garden and they go into a desert, not God being

difficult or punitive, it's spiritual logic. If you turn away from the source of life, life is going to

dry up. So same thing here. This great drought descends upon the land. Well, Elijah finds himself

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