Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Saturday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel Mark 8:1-10 In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.” His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets. There were about four thousand people. He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha. Reflection This is the only miracle that is found in all four of the Gospels. It what it is, is God caring for the physical needs of those who longed to follow him. When we think of it, we think maybe we are not supposed to pray for things like, you know, food or money or a better house or whatever. But there's nothing wrong with asking God to give us the things that enable us to live the life that we long to live for him. And it’s all right to pray for things that are material. That's the world we live in. That's the world Jesus recognizes as something that He wants to be a source of caring for our needs. Expect him to do that. Trust in him to answer your prayers. Closing Prayer Father, we are spiritual beings, but we are also physical beings that live in this world. Help us to know that you're interested in caring for us in both areas. You want us to grow as a spiritual being capable of doing your work and you want us to be comfortable and to live in a place that honors our dignity and our worth. 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 | Friday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel Mark 7:31-37 Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!") And immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, "He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Reflection It's rare that we see the emotional side of Jesus in the Scriptures, but in this miracle, he does something interesting. He groans. And to groan is something that is like a longing, a desire, a so deep a desire that it makes us sound. And the interesting thing about that is that even the way he heals the man by spitting and touching his tongue, there's a reference to the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is breath and spittle is a concrete image of the Spirit. So we see in this story is a beautiful way in which God infuses us with spirit. That’s his longing. And we know that in the teaching of the church, the Holy Spirit is the aspect of God in the world today, in your heart that also groans always to move in the direction of life, transformation, salvation, freedom to live as were called, to live. Closing Prayer Father, we have you as a father, as a brother, your son, and as this mystery, the Holy Spirit. We are told throughout the Scriptures that the Holy Spirit groans for our evolution, for our transformation, for our becoming who you call us to be. Help us to feel that energy of you longing in this presence of the spirit, to bring us to a place of wholeness and health. That it's not up to us to do this work. It's up to us to believe you can do this work and to enter into your desires, your will. Knowing and trusting everything going on around us is exactly as it should be. 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 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel Mark 7:24-30 Jesus went to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Reflection The gospel begins with an image of his wanting to be alone, wanting to have some down time. And still, when he was trying to do that, along comes someone who doesn't deserve, but according to the tradition of the temple, doesn't deserve anything from him.  And so he falls back to that. It's interesting. He said, I have no reason to even think about taking care of you because you don't belong to the house of Israel. And then she has this incredibly wonderful way of not responding with a negative answer, but simply saying, I know you can do this, I know you can do this, and that just melts Jesus resistance. I love the humanity of Jesus. He struggled to be as he knew he should be because he had a human nature. And we need to know that same human nature is within us and we don't have to expect ourselves to be in any way, shape or form perfect in what we do. And it's all right to try to find a restful place and say no to the needs around us. Closing Prayer Father, we know that you had a weakness, and the weakness was a person who genuinely believed that you could do exactly what you know you want to do for them. Give us that same conviction, knowing that whenever we doubt that you are there for us, please let us know that you are actually doing exactly what we need. Whether it seems like the answer or seems like a delay, it matters not, You, if we believe in you, have the capacity to heal us 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 | Wednesday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel Mark 7:14-23 Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” Reflection As Jesus continues to describe how He wants to save us, how this whole process of our being touched by him impacts us in a way that changes everything. And I love his reference here to the heart. He’s saying what enters your heart is what's really essential. And God has promised to enter into our hearts. And if we think about healing and transformation of grace, we need to understand that the heart, if it is the cause of those things that are destructive, the heart is what needs to be healed. In the heart is the presence of God within you. Once you allow him into your heart, believe he dwells there, no evil can possibly flow from your heart to others. But that's the place where we connect. Heart to heart. Intention to intention. And it needs to be pure. It needs to be life giving. Closing Prayer Father, your grace by it’s very presence is healing. Just as you, as you walk this earth had your healing presence known. Bless us with knowing that that same presence dwells in our hearts and through us. You can do this mysterious work of driving out that which destroys us and freeing us from all that robs us of life. 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 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel  Mark  7:1-13 When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, "Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?" He responded, "Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition." He went on to say, "How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, 'If someone says to father or mother, "Any support you might have had from me is qorban"' (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.” Reflection The indictment of Jesus against the Pharisees reminds us of a very important truth. We have many practices in our religion, many things that we think can not change, that we think are essential. But this gospel reminds us there is one core teaching in all of the practices of religion and that teaching is that you and I have been gifted with this gift of redemption. We’re freed of sin. We have no reason to try to earn anything from God by doing any rule or law. We are simply called to listen to the Spirit within us and to follow that spirit. That's what brings us life. It’s not about doing. It's about becoming someone infused with spirit. Closing Prayer Father, help us to make distinctions between things that are simply ways of helping us to become who we need to be. And your grace, your mysterious, powerful healing grace. It transforms us. We need to be aware and we need to be open to the transforming grace that you offer in Jesus. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]