Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Saturday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel Mark 3:20-21 Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” Reflection How did Jesus deal with his critics? I think it might have been easier for him to deal with the critics of the temple because they were seen in his mind as those who were very, very dangerous and needed to be silenced. But this opens up another way of understanding the tension that he lived in, and that is to lose his family's support, to be called crazy, out of your mind. It just reminds us that when we are taught to be the instrument of God's teaching, we need to have a commitment that isn't weakened by criticism. We expect to be criticized when we speak the truth by those who live in lies. Closing Prayer Father, give us the confidence in the commitment that you have given to us to manifest your teaching your truth to those around us. Help us to do it, not so much by telling them where they're wrong, but by awakening them to something they see within us. Help us to be the message, not just talk about it. 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 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel Mark 3:13-19 Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles, that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons: He appointed the Twelve: Simon, whom he named Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Reflection It's clear that Jesus wanted his message to continue and he needed teachers. And the best way to describe the word apostle is that they are the ones who do the teaching. But before they can become apostles, they have to be disciples. Disciples are learners. And when you think about these 12, they had the experience on a daily basis for a very long time to be around Jesus. I think it's interesting that they learned more by watching him wondering about him than they did about his telling them what to say. It's the same with us. We have to first listen and learn, and that experience. Closing Prayer Father, you give us two roles that we never, never lose. We're always learning and we're always proclaiming what we learn, what we believe in, what we trust in. Help us to sense the gifts that you have given us. We are always working with you for the world. That is the thing that gives us purpose. That is the thing that gives us value. 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 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel Mark 3:7-12 Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known. Reflection It was more difficult for people to understand the heart of the teaching of Jesus, that he was really presenting himself as the son of man, a human being filled with divinity. And when they wanted to make him God, that was blocking the whole notion of what he’s come to reveal. He's not telling us that we can be gods. Nor is he saying all that God needs to do is come here and heal and fix everybody. No, the work is us being filled with divinity and then doing what Jesus did. That's the heart of the message to become an instrument of healing through us, not from us. Closing Prayer God's plan is not that we become perfect. That we lose our humanity. Our humanity is a key ingredient, our sinfulness, are our shortcomings are key ingredients in keeping us in the place that God longs for us to be as an instrument of his power, working through us, and not that we become the source of the power. 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 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel Mark 3:1-6 Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up here before us." Then he said to the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death. Reflection It's rare in a gospel passage that we have an insight into what Jesus was feeling. This one is very interesting. He was experiencing the resistance from the church that he came to transform, and it made him sad and he was grieving it. At the same time, he was really angry. And what I believe is so important in this is to realize that Jesus had the same longings that we have for the freedom from those things around us that seem to be blocking us from the greatness, the beauty of who God is in our life. It's all right to be angry and to be sad that the world is where it is and teaches the things that it teaches that keep us from the kingdom. But you have to know that you have, as Jesus did, the power to heal and to bring life.  Closing Prayer Hypocrisy was one of the things that we could see clearly that Jesus was revealing as he worked with the Pharisees. They acted as if they were living the life that God had called them to through the temple discipline. But they weren't anywhere near what they were supposed to be. This was the sadness in Jesus, not so much that they didn't believe in him, but that they wouldn't receive what he offered. 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 | Tuesday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel  Mark 2:23-28 As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” Reflection Religion can become a burden. It can rob us of what the heart of the gospel is proclaiming. Rules, regulations and laws, that was the heart of the Old Testament, and yet it still becomes attractive to so many of us when we think if we only to what we're told, that's enough. But in doing that, we often limit ourselves from who we really are called to become. It's not about knowing what to do and doing it because we're told to. It's about becoming someone and understanding who we are. We move from the law and regulations to true wisdom. That's the promise of healthy religion. Closing Prayer For many people, religion is a burden and often has been something they went to and felt that they were being robbed of the rights that they had or the dignity that they have. Bless us with wisdom not to get caught in that and know that the freedom that God has called us to is always going to be focused on what is life giving for us. Nothing is asked of us that robs us of our value or our dignity. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]