Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent

Gospel Mark 12:28-34 One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." And no one dared to ask him any more questions. Reflection It's clear in this passage that Jesus has a clear message as to what the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God is going to be like. It's a constant evolution of consciousness that moves people more and more into one single focus to love, to love God, to love who we are, to love our brothers and sisters, to love everything that God has created. Love is the most important thing because it is the one thing that brings the essence of the Kingdom of God together. It's called Union Communion. Oneness. That's what we long for. An end to the isolation, the fear, the anger, the shame that keeps us separated. Love unites us. Everything else tends to divide us. Closing Prayer Father, you give us a prayer that we are taught to recite over and over. It's the only time you taught us how to pray. And one of the key lines in it is we pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So bless us with knowing and also longing for this union and communion that love can bring to your kingdom and make it real for all of 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 | Thursday of the 3rd Week of Lent

Gospel Luke 11:14-23 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed. Some of them said, "By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons." Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Reflection Jesus knew that the message that he was giving was difficult. And in this passage, he’s speaking to the crowds and all he is pleading for is one simple thing. I want you to somehow trust me. I want you to join me, not be against me in this work that I have for you, which is to open your heart and mind to a truth you cannot yet see. So I love the way it ends when he's simply saying, If you are with me, then you're not in any way, shape, or form resisting me. Just trust in my words, trust that they're true, even though you can't yet fully understand them. You see that I have power over evil. That is all you need to be with me on. We together. Me and you have power over evil. Closing Prayer Father, your power is beyond our imagining, and what we long for is the ability to be a person who is engaged with you in all that you call us to do and to be. We know there is weaknesses with us, we know that we are prone to doing the wrong thing. But if we trust in your power within us, overcoming all those evil, dark places that are there, we will find the fullness of light. 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 3rd Week in Lent

Gospel Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” Reflection The Jews had developed along with to Ten Commandments another over 600 regulations and rules. Jesus is not talking about them. He's talking about the heart of the law and the heart of the message of the prophets. The law is to love God yourself and others, and the words of the Prophet were always the truth. So all he's saying is that the kingdom of Heaven is going to be based always in what is absolutely true. And when one lives more and more in the truth, one creates this beautiful thing called the Kingdom of Heaven. Closing Prayer Father, open our hearts to the fullness of who you are as a teacher, opening our hearts to the most fundamental truths that when we embrace them, understand them, obey them, we find this beautiful place that God has called us to, The Kingdom of Heaven, a place where there is peace and unity and joy. 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 3rd Week of Lent

Gospel  Matthew 18:21-35 Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” Reflection In our relationship with God, it seems to me it all begins when you understand who He is and who he is for us. This God loves, cares for us. Longs for nothing more than we grow and change and evolve. That's his compassionate heart. And when one is not touched by that, if one does not feel that compassion, one cannot understand the demand from the gospel that we must always be people filled with forgiveness. This man that's in this story is not touched by the kindness of God. He doesn't feel that as a compassionate act, just as something that helped him out, that something that gave him more of what he wanted. He was totally wrapped up in himself. In his ego and what was good for him. So the first and most important thing for each of us is to understand the love that God has for us, and once we feel it, once we have it in our heart, we will always give it to others. Closing Prayer Father, you're the source of everything for us. You are the one who creates within us compassion, empathy, love, forgiveness. Help us to be open to this gift. Help us to know that without you, we can fall into the trap of being fully focused on ourself and whatever works for us. But we need your compassion in our hearts. 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 3rd Week in Lent

Gospel Luke 4:24-30 Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away. Reflection When the people of Nazareth realized that Jesus had a gift, he spoke with authority and they recognized him as the young boy that grew up in their midst, and he was even by many, considered to be illegitimate. So they didn't have any way of accepting the uniqueness that he displayed. And their response was anger, because he simply said, You aren’t listening to me. It's interesting how anger can be a response to a criticism when we're afraid of what it’s demanding of us. Jesus demands we change. And when we are seeing in Scripture ourselves being examples of what we shouldn't be, we need to receive it generously, and open hearted desiring to change. Closing Prayer Father, our daily lives are often filled with situations where we are criticizing ourselves or being criticized by others, and let us always have an open heart to that. Make sure that we listen to see if there's any truth in that criticism and not be like the people of Nazareth who became angry and attacked the one who brought the criticism to light. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]