Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

Gospel  Luke 6:12-19 Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all. Reflection We see in this passage the humanity of Jesus always turning to God His Father for advice, for direction. He's on a mountain and he prays for the answer to who should become apostles, he receives it, and then we see them doing the work that God is empowering them to do. They come down to the level of humanity. They come down to a level stretch, and there's the great crowd of people longing for something. And what they're longing for is best described as a kind of healing process, where they're given everything that they need in order to build the kingdom of God. That's the work of the apostles, to empower with spirit. That's the work of the church, who empowers with spirit to do the work. Closing Prayer Father, in this story, everyone longed to touch you. To feel the presence of God within you, and it was healing. Awaken us that we too have this power of God dwelling in us. And when our intention is that we want people around us to have the fullness of life that God calls them to, we resonate a healing power. Help us to continue in our intention to be there for others. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Gospel Luke 6:6-11 On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him. But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up and stand before us." And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" Looking around at them all, he then said to him, "Stretch out your hand." He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus. Reflection It seems to me that the Pharisees are the shadow of all religion, an institution that takes power over you and takes away your freedom. And so when Jesus is dealing with the Pharisees, he's there as a healer. They're there as judges. And when we see Jesus pointing out their faults, their response is not to wonder or ponder or try to figure out what he was saying. No, they have only one desire. A desire that comes from fear. They're being attacked and they want to destroy. Closing Prayer Father, your authority dwells within our hearts. You call us to discern how and why we are here and what we should do. So bless us with an attitude of openness to all the things we don't see. Help us to be open to changing the way we see, when you show us a new truth. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

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Gospel Luke 6:1-5 While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” Reflection When you listen to Jesus’ response to the Pharisees and the scribes, it's clear that they have one major failing. They put the law above the needs of a human being, and it led to all kinds of abuse. And so what we need to understand is that when God has created in us a place for him to dwell, he's giving us the authority to make decisions that bypass the law. Love is more important than the law. Take this time to reflect on these thoughts and now will close with the prayer. Closing Prayer Father, at the heart of your message is a continual refrain of loving those who we are dealing with, helping them, focusing on them above any law or rule or regulation. Bless us with the awareness of this obligation to love, not to control. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Gospel Luke 5:33-39 The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” Reflection Jesus opened a new world to all of us, and it was very difficult for those who heard it for the first time. And what Jesus is pointing out in this parable, is what first has to happen before you can embrace the teaching of Jesus, that was so radically different than the teaching of the temple, is you have to be changed. Something has to shift. You have to become new. And that's exactly what happened when he died on the cross. It's called redemption. It's called a new way, a new openness to everything that we never imagined could be. That's the gift of grace.  Closing Prayer Father, give us patience. It's not easy to change something we've always believed when something new comes into the world. Something new comes into our life and we know it's true, but it's not what we always did or how we always saw something. It takes time to change. There's no rush in our evolution of consciousness. It just needs to be moving always in a direction away from illusion and more and more into truth. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]