Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Friday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time

Original Post Date: August 2, 2024 === Gospel Matthew 13:54-58 Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, "Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?" And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house." And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith. Reflection In some ways, the kingdom of God is too simple, too natural, too within our own reach. It's not about becoming some spectacular miracle worker or somebody who walks around and heals everyone around them. No, it's about human beings living out their own destiny, becoming authentically who they are. And in that process, aligning their wills to God and doing the most natural thing. Care for people. Nurture people. Tend to their needs. Shepherd them. It is a beautiful image of something that is within our ability to accomplish. Closing Prayer Father, help us to understand the naturalness of your work within us. Give us the hope that comes from knowing that we are moving everyone that we love and know into a deeper understanding of who you are. When we simply will it and want it and desire it. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Thursday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time

Original Post Date: August 1, 2024 === Gospel Matthew 13:47-53 Jesus said to the disciples: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." "Do you understand all these things?" They answered, "Yes." And he replied, "Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old." When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there. Reflection The promised kingdom of heaven will happen. It is not if it will happen or when it will happen. We just need to know that it will happen. And there will be a time in the history of the human race when God will enter into it, and he will destroy all evil. That's the promise. Without believing in that, we can fall into a trap of thinking somehow, maybe if we're not doing what we should, the whole thing is going to implode and God will have lost. There is no way that God will lose. Closing Prayer God, you teach us over and over to believe, to have faith, to trust. And what you're telling us is that you are in charge, and you will make sure that the kingdom will come and that evil will be destroyed. Help us to be infused with that conviction, so that the shame and the fear of our sins will never overwhelm your power to save. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

Original Post Date: July 29, 2024  === Gospel John 11:19-27 Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died]. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” Reflection Jesus had raised other people from the dead, but there was something about his raising of Lazarus that had a tremendous impact on people. He had been in the tomb three days. His body was decaying, and he came into the lives of these two women, Mary and Martha, and promised that he would do what he's always said he would do. And that is not allowed death to separate someone from us, from God, from themselves. It was powerful, and he wanted so much before he died to get people to believe in him. And there's something in this story when you follow it all the way through, that he really was deeply worried and concerned and perturbed that they yet did not believe. But Martha makes it clear. It's a process, they're coming to believe. Closing Prayer Father, you've made so many promises to us. And we want to believe them with all our heart. And we can say in our head we believe, we believe, and yet we still doubt. We still fear. Help us in this process. Give us patience, knowing that this is the human condition and we will always be growing and changing and becoming more and more like you. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Tuesday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time

Original Post Date: July 30, 2024 === Gospel Matthew 13:36-43 Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Reflection The story of Adam and Eve can lead one to misunderstand something very essential. God has not created people in a way that they are evil. God's creation is goodness. Wholeness. Fullness. Light. Life. And what he wants his disciples to understand with this parable he said, I want you to know that evil exists in the world. It does not come from you, but it is there, planted there by some evil force. And the work that we have is to first and foremost understand its goal. The goal of evil is to separate us from God, himself and from others. When we feel that, when we see that, that's when we call upon the grace of God to say, please help me understand that I am made to be one with you, with myself and my brothers and sisters. Closing Prayer Father, shame is a big part of our lives, and when we do participate in something that is wrong, that goes against our nature, we tend to begin to feel that we are somehow evil or broken or unacceptable. Help us to get past that shame and enter into the kingdom where we can see and feel the beauty and the dignity of every human being. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Monday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time

Original Post Date: July 31, 2023 === Gospel Matthew 13:31-35 Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. "The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches." He spoke to them another parable. "The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened." All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. Reflection The power of a parable is that it's a thought that you are given, that you stay with. You pay attention to an image. And what you do when you see that and turn it over and over again, it slowly grows and grows. And if it's the truth, it becomes part of who you are. And then there's something so important, so big in your life. It's a image, I think, of freedom that the gospel holds within it, but it needs to be pondered. And when it's pondered, it is so effective. So stay with ideas that are small and turn them over and over and listen to what they have to teach. Closing Prayer Father, you speak to us daily, incident after incident, words after words. We see something. We hear something. Keep us alert and attentive to what these things are. Gifts from you to help us grow into the freedom of God's children. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]