Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

HOMILY • Easter Sunday

Original Airdate: April 12, 2020 Acts 10:34a, 37-43 | Colossians 3:1-4 | John 20:1-9 Oh God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature and still more wonderfully restored it, grant, we pray, that we who share in this divinity may share it with those that we are called to serve, and we ask this through Christ our Lord, amen.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter

Gospel Matthe 28:1-10 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Reflection The reaction of the angel is very interesting. Can you imagine walking to a place where you thought the person was still there? You knew he was dead, and you encounter a figure, a beautiful young man who simply says, He's not here, He's risen. And yet they were told that would happen. And so they were totally amazed. And the response is so interesting coming from the angel, why are you amazed? Did you not believe it? Did you not understand Jesus? And of course, that is the point. They did not understand Jesus’ teaching. They didn't fathom the fullness of what he would be until those many days, those beautiful 40 days after he rose and taught them, awakened them to the mystery of the God that wants to live within them. Closing Prayer Father, your promise to be with us, to be in us, to be for us, to forgive us. All these things are still struggles for us to be able to fully fathom what they are. Bless us with the kind of wisdom, the longing that Eve had at the very beginning of the human races relationship with God. She longed for wisdom. That's what we still need, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. And we asked this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Gospel John 18:1—19:42 Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and that they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe. For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled:             Not a bone of it will be broken. And again another passage says:             They will look upon him whom they have pierced. After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by. Reflection One of the great challenges is to move from the Old Testament, understanding its wisdom and its teaching, and then receive from the New Testament the fullness of the message of who God is. And we see here a situation where in John himself is saying, this is the way it had to happen, because this is the way it was written in the Old Testament that it would happen. Interesting. And how clearly it seems now to look at the disciples and see how they didn't understand all this, because they were never taught these things from the temple. The temple didn't seem to even pay attention to those kinds of predictions that would come and they didn't recognize Jesus. But if you listen to the Old Testament, you know who Jesus is. And it's so affirming that it's really the revelation of who God really is. Closing Prayer Father, give us wisdom. We cannot see you or understand your message without this gift of your presence within is enlightening our minds. Help us to see all of this as it was intended to be seen and be transformed by it, as God intended us to be. And we asked this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Holy Thursday - Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Gospel John 13:1-15 Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’  and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” Reflection It’s clear in the Scripture that the disciples did not understand the Kingdom that Jesus came to establish. It was a wonderful kingdom so different than the temple. It was not about people having authority over someone else, about each individual being cared for and honored for their dignity and their value. So it strikes me that what Jesus was giving them example of, is the Kingdom of God that's going to come is never going to be caught up and should never be caught up in a kind of servitude that it demands of others, but rather the institution, the work, the community has to be that of a servant. One who honors the person that they're serving and not having some kind of power over them. Closing Prayer Father, We are a church, each of us, without realizing it, perhaps. We represent who Christ is. That's our role here on this planet. And when we ever use our authority over people, when we tend to abuse them in any way by taking away their freedom or by simply controlling their life, we need to notice that, we need to be afraid of that kind of way of service. It's not really what people need. They don't need to be told what to do. They need to be honored for who they are. That's what we pray for. 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 Holy Week

Gospel Matthew 26:14-25 One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, "My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“ The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.” Reflection There is such an interesting image in this particular passage that always catches my imagination. And is, whose house was this? Who is this man who they were to find? He’s not named. They will offer his house to Jesus for the most important moment in his ministry, The Last Supper. And I think it's so interesting that the line in your house, I will celebrate the Passover. What is our house that God longs to enter? It is our heart. And what is the Passover other than the institution of the miracle of God dwelling in us, a Eucharistic presence that we take in every time we celebrate liturgy. When that is offered, we enter into that same moment of this is the house in which God has chosen to dwell. That's the hope for all of us. That's what we trust in. Closing Prayer Father, we face so many things alone. We feel like we need to do something in order to win your affection. But help us to see how clearly in these stories, particularly at the end of your ministry, you made clear to us that you long to dwell within us. You want to celebrate in our house, in our heart, your presence, your healing power, and your truth. Help us to keep that in mind, to believe in it. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]