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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

Join Bishop Robert Barron for a weekly podcast on faith and culture. Find more episodes at http://WordOnFireShow.com and submit your questions at http://AskBishopBarron.com.
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The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
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Now displaying: May, 2016
May 31, 2016

It's been widely hailed as the greatest sermon ever preached and a masterpiece of religious and social ethics. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7, commences with the "beatitudes", a series of eight blessings that Jesus gives to those who suffer, mourn, and express purity of heart. Bishop Barron walks through each beatitude and unveils its deeper meaning. A listener asks whether, according to Thomas Aquinas, God loves everyone the same or has a special hatred for sinners.

NOTE: Click here to donate to our new Pivotal Players series and receive your free gifts!

Topics Discussed

  • 0:26  - Bishop Barron's new film series, CATHOLICISM: The Pivotal Players
  • 1:34 - What does "beatitude" mean?
  • 4:35 - How the beatitudes of Jesus are different than other religious teachings
  • 6:25 - How can the "poor in spirit" be blessed?
  • 7:32 - How will those who mourn be comforted?
  • 9:15 - The future promise of comfort for those who mourn
  • 10:06 - What does it mean to be "meek"?
  • 11:21 - How will the meek "inherit the land"?
  • 12:12 -  How God satisfied those who "hunger and thirst for righteousness"
  • 13:49 - What "blessed are the merciful" means
  • 15:09 - How the mercy we express is tied to the mercy we receive
  • 16:55 - How do we become "clean of heart"?
  • 18:39 - Pornography and the "clean of heart"
  • 19:37 - Why peacemakers will become children of God
  • 20:55 - Cardinal George and the eschatological dimension of peacemaking
  • 22:51 - Why religious persecution can be a form of blessing
  • 25:27 - Question from listener: Does God love everyone the same or hate sinners?

Bonus Resources

 

Find bonus links and resources for this episode at http://WordOnFireShow.com and be sure to submit your questions at http://AskBishopBarron

May 24, 2016

We all face the Big Questions of life—it doesn't matter whether we're religious or not. We wonder about God, identity, meaning, morals, and death. Bishop Barron tackles some of the Big Questions and compares how the world generally answers them with how the Catholic Church responds. A listener asks about the relationship between God's providence and our free will.

Topics Discussed

  • 0:14  - The power of spiritual fatherhood
  • 2:44 - Father Barron, Bishop Barron, or Grandpa Barron?
  • 2:54 - Question #1 - Does God exist?
  • 6:19 - The big "why?" question
  • 8:40 - Question #2 - Who am I?
  • 12:05 - What about those who reduce all life to "genetic machines"?
  • 13:11 - Question #3 - What is the meaning of life?
  • 17:21 - Do we just make up meaning for ourselves?
  • 18:54 - Question #4 - What is moral?
  • 23:00 - How do we discover what's right and wrong?
  • 26:18 - Question #5 - What happens after death?
  • 30:22 - Bishop Barron's one-sentence answer to each Big Question
  • 31:27 - Question from listener: Where does God's providence end and our free will begin?

Find bonus links and resources for this episode at http://WordOnFireShow.com and be sure to submit your questions at http://AskBishopBarron

May 17, 2016

There's a common tendency to read the opening chapters of Genesis as scientific texts. But is this the best way? Or even the right way? Bishop Barron offers guidance on how to properly understand the Biblical creation story. A listener wonders how we should manage the relationship between Church and state.

Topics Discussed

  • 1:05 - The most surprising part about being a bishop
  • 2:29 - How do people often misread Genesis?
  • 5:01 - Why the Genesis narratives cannot be scientific
  • 6:23 - What genre is Genesis 1-2?
  • 7:43 - The main theological insights in Genesis 1-2
  • 9:41 - How Genesis 1-2 points forward to the non-violence of Jesus
  • 11:29 - The objects of creation are not worshiped
  • 14:39 - Why it's important that the world is created, not divine
  • 16:49 - What it means that man was made in God's "image and likeness"
  • 18:25 - The first man as the first philosopher
  • 20:24 - How the Church Fathers read Genesis
  • 21:58 - What Genesis 1-2 is ultimately trying to teach us
  • 23:16 - Question from listener: how do we balance the relationship between Church and state?

Bonus Resources

 

Find bonus links and resources for this episode at http://WordOnFireShow.com and be sure to submit your questions at http://AskBishopBarron

May 10, 2016

As Bishop Barron shows in his new book, Vibrant Paradoxes, Catholicism is both/and, not either/or. It celebrates the union of contraries—grace and nature, faith and reason, Scripture and tradition, body and soul—in a way that the full energy of each opposing element remains in place. In this episode, Bishop Barron explores several examples of this both/and embrace. A listener asks about the difficult passage in Acts 5 involving Ananias and Sapphira.

Topics Discussed

  • 0:22 - Exciting upcoming events for Bishop Barron
  • 2:04 - What does it mean to say Catholicism is "both/and"
  • 5:29 - G.K. Chesterton on red, white, and the Church's healthy hatred of pink
  • 7:42 - Why Catholics "want it all"
  • 8:38 - The extreme demands of sin and mercy
  • 11:25 - Why reason and faith are no mutually exclusive
  • 15:58 - Faith/reason in the realm of science
  • 17:59 - Bruce Jenner and the dichotomy of matter and spirit
  • 21:59 - How discipline leads to real freedom
  • 25:53 - The path from suffering to joy
  • 27:59 - Question from listener: how can we reconcile the loving, non-violent Jesus with the angry God who kills Ananias and Sapphira?

Bonus Resources

 

Find bonus links and resources for this episode at http://WordOnFireShow.com and be sure to submit your questions at http://AskBishopBarron

May 3, 2016

Thomas Aquinas not only shaped the Church, but influenced much of Western civilization. Who was this great saint? What are some of his important writings? And how should we begin to read his masterful Summa theologiae? Bishop Barron offers some answers in this week's episode. A bright 14-year-old listener asks about Bertrand Russell's famous criticism of Aquinas, and how to respond.

Topics Discussed

  • 0:27 - Updates from Bishop Barron's life
  • 1:53 - How did Bishop Barron discover Thomas Aquinas?
  • 3:23 -  Who was Thomas Aquinas?
  • 4:45 - Surveying Aquinas' major works
  • 7:42 - Best entry-level books on Thomas Aquinas
  • 10:03 - Aquinas' unique disputatio style
  • 13:07 - How Thomas Aquinas would engage the New Atheists
  • 15:36 - Why is it worth reading Thomas Aquinas?
  • 17:16 - How should we begin reading the Summa theologiae?
  • 19:40 - The landscape and structure of the Summa
  • 21:44 - Why Aquinas is a spiritual master
  • 24:40 - Question from listener: how to respond to Bertrand Russell's crtiqiue of Aquinas?

Bonus Resources

 

Find bonus links and resources for this episode at http://WordOnFireShow.com and be sure to submit your questions at http://AskBishopBarron

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