Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Friday of the 4th Week of Lent

Gospel John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 Jesus moved about within Galilee; he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him. But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret. Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, "Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ? But we know where he is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from." So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, "You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come. Reflection Jesus is coming to the end of his public ministry and he realizes that there's little hope for these men to change their minds and open their hearts to him. And so, in a way, he screams out things to them. Such as you think you know me? You don't know me at all. And they say, No we know a messiah, we know about him and you're not him. So it's interesting that expectations that we have about who God is and how he works are so crucial to be in line with the truth. We want to know who this Jesus is and how he works in our life today. That's our task. That's the work of Lent. Closing Prayer Father, expectations of who you are is crucial for us in terms of being receptive of the great gift to your indwelling presence. Help us to let go of preconceived notions and make us open to the fullness of who you are. 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 | Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Gospel  Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ. Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. Reflection I often wonder how much Joseph and Mary knew who Jesus would be as he grew and proclaimed a new truth, a new awareness of God. I don't believe they did know the fullness of who He would be. And it reminds me so much that when we are dealing with him and asking him to guide our life, he's taking us step by step, not directly to the end and the purpose of our fullness of life, but rather each step is something that is one more step toward the fullness of who he wants us to be. Takes time, reflection, and wonder, and the imagination that somehow in each of our lives we have a goal to complete and we will never know fully the fullness of that until we’re with God in heaven forever. Closing Prayer Father, you speak to us in so many ways through dreams, through other signs, through a person's experiences they share with us. Help us always to be eagerly listening to how you are revealing to us the role that we're asked to play in this world. 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 | Wednesday of the 4th Week in Lent

Gospel John 5:17-30 Jesus answered the Jews: "My Father is at work until now, so I am at work." For this reason they tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God. Jesus answered and said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation. "I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” Reflection When one thinks about the ways in which the Pharisees and scribes heard the message of Jesus. The message contained in this passage is easy to see that it was something they could not fathom. Jesus, a man saying that he is one with God the Father. In the tradition of the Old Testament, God could never get close to humans. Human could not get close to Gods because there was such distance between them. But in the New Testament we see the most marvelous revelation. God is like us. God is one who wants to be in us, with us, for us. This intimacy with God was considered to be blasphemous, and for many it remains kind of mute in their spiritual life because they can't quite fully grasp the fact that God truly dwells within our hearts. It is from there that He guides us. Yes, the stories of Scripture are important, and the works of the church are so important, but nothing is more potent than God living within your heart, guiding you, directing you, enabling you to judge with compassion, understanding, and to find peace. Closing Prayer Father, indwelling presence is everything for us as we listen attentively to the Kingdom of Heaven that God so beautifully describes in the words of Jesus. A place where we are filled with His capacity for love and forgiveness and understanding and healing. So keep us in touch with this great gift. 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 4th Week of Lent

Gospel  John 5:1-16 There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." He answered them, "The man who made me well told me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?" The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there. After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, "Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you." The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath. Reflection It's fascinating to look at the different ways in which Jesus used his power to heal. Sometimes people begged him to do it. Sometimes someone touched him and he didn't even know that he was then healing them. And there's this story where this man just was simply asked, Would you like to be better? But you like to be healed? The man didn't ask him for that. So what I'm hearing in this is that there's this way in which this love that God has for you and me is so connected to the healing power that he had. It is not something that has to be earned or worked for as much as it's simply something that has to be believed in. Do you want God to heal you of things? Do you want to change? Do you want to let go of patterns of behavior that have been part of you, but you know somehow they're not healthy for you? That's all we need to have, giving him permission to do his work. Closing Prayer Father, during the season of Lent, give us that wisdom that we need to have in terms of reflection on things that we might be caught up in that we need to be released from. Help us always to put more trust in your work in us, than in our work trying to fix ourselves to be pleasing to 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 | Monday of the 4th Week in Lent

Gospel John 4:43-54 At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place. When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had gone to the feast. Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. While the man was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.” The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his whole household came to believe. Now this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea. Reflection Jesus was used to people constantly looking at him, wondering who he was, and they wanted some kind of proof that he was who said he was. And it was tiring to Jesus to constantly prove before anyone would believe in him that he was who he said he was. What's different here is this man looked at Jesus and knew who he was, knew the power he had, believed he had it, and simply said, Please come before my child dies. And Jesus knew the difference in a moment. He was not asking for Jesus to prove who he was. He was simply asking Jesus to do what he came into the world to do. It's a beautiful way of understanding what belief and faith really is in Jesus. Closing Prayer Father, confidence. Confidence is you are in our life giving us all that we need. Enabling us to do the things we’re called to do. Help us to be always conscious of this presence within us that will always accomplish what is necessary. It is not we who do your work, it is you who do your work through us. That's our confidence, always in you and in your presence. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]