Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

Gospel  John 20:11-18 Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he had told her. Reflection The period after Jesus died is so important to understand, what did he want to say? What did he want to teach? In this particular passage, he really speaks clearly that what he longs for is an open heart, a heart filled with wisdom, and Mary had that heart. And so he first appears to her, tells her to tell the others that he is alive. But he also shares a great mystery. The fullness of what Jesus accomplished was finished in a sense, at Pentecost, when His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, entered into humanity. And what he says here is, I have to return to my father. It's hard to understand exactly what that means or how to interpret it, but it means there was a plan, and the plan includes the ending, and the ending is God inside of you, God unifying you with your brothers and sisters through His presence. Closing Prayer Father, over and over again, we see those that were most intimately connected with you, being challenged to believe in the things that you said as they are revealed, and as they are experienced. Bless us with faith and trust. We don't need to understand how things work, but we do need to understand what it is that God has planned for us. 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 | Monday in the Octave of Easter

Gospel Matthew 28:8-15 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce the news 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.” While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the  present day. Reflection It's interesting to see the influences that worked against what Jesus was trying to establish. A community of believers that were filled with his presence, and they knew that he cared deeply for them and he would be with them in their journey. And the other powers that be, be it the institutional church or the institution of politics, whatever those things are get involved with it, it's always somehow a major obstacle. Who really has the ultimate authority? An institution called the church? The government? No, the real authority is in God, and he promises his presence. He is the one that we surrender to. Closing Prayer Father, your presence within us is the gift that you have given us through your death and resurrection. Help us always to rely upon that wisdom that you promise. Guide us so that we can truly live the lives that we have been called to live. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

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]