Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Friday of the 5th Week of Lent

Gospel John 10:31-42 The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘? If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came, and Scripture cannot be set aside, can you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Then they tried again to arrest him; but he escaped from their power. He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained. Many came to him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many there began to believe in him. Reflection The most important revelation that Jesus shared with all of us when he walked this earth is that when we see him, we for the first time see the fullness of who God the Father is. Jesus said the father is in me and I am in the Father. If you see me, you see the father. It's so, so important for us to understand this great mystery that the God who remains less visual in our minds can be seen fully in the person of Jesus. Help us to let go of the things of the past, particularly many images of the Old Testament, that keep us, from seeing the fullness of who Jesus reveals God to be. A lover, a friend, a companion, a source of love and life. Closing Prayer Father, as we near closer to Holy Week bless us with an awareness of the heart of Jesus’ message, he is fulfilling what the prophets spoke of throughout the Old Testament. Help us to put the story together and see Jesus as He really is. 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 5th Week of Lent

Gospel John 8:51-59 Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” So the Jews said to him, “Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area. Reflection Human beings have been evolving since they were created. And when you evolve, you see the possibility of things that you never thought could ever happen. We know now more about the nature of matter, of reality that could never have been known in the time of Jesus. So many of the words that Jesus would say, like no one is going to ever experience death make sense to us now, in light of what we know about the message of Jesus. The death he was talking about was not physical death, but the death he was worried about was the death that came from sin. And when you are freed from sin, you live forever with God. Closing Prayer Father, what you have created for us, the Kingdom of God, you living in us, resonating your love and your healing to the people around us. All these things are images that for most of us, we couldn't ever imagine you being this real to us, this powerful in us. So open our imaginations to the beauty and the fullness of your message so that we can go beyond the limitations that we so unfairly place on your promises. 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 | Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Gospel Luke 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. Reflection This story is a foreshadowing of what is coming. Mary, steeped in Scripture, knew some day there would be this miracle of God coming into the world, a messiah. And maybe that's why she seemed open to this miracle. But also she's a sign to all of us that we are all going to experience something like she experienced. The promise of God is that He will dwell within us, take root in our heart, and create in us a new person, a new being who is open to the impossible, who is filled with the same healing power that Jesus had, that we’d live a life that is beyond what we could ever imagine. That's the mystery of faith. To surrender to the impossible. Closing Prayer Father, your promise is beyond our understanding and even beyond our imaginations. That you would do this work of using us as your hands, your eyes, your feet, taking us into situations and being a life force for good, for love, for peace. Bless us with an acceptance of our task. 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 5th Week of Lent

Gospel John 8:21-20 Jesus said to the Pharisees: "I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come." So the Jews said, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?" He said to them, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins." So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world." They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him." Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him. Reflection Jesus asked his listeners where they belong. And it’s a very important question for us. Where do we belong? The world above is a world of truth, beauty, love and forgiveness. The world below is filled with lies. Division. Discord. It's clear that Jesus is saying, that's a choice. One brings life. One brings death. So as Jesus is about to end his ministry, he's saying, Please, please choose me. Choose my message. Choose the life that was destined for you. The Closing prayer Father, awaken us. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear and a mouth to speak truth, love and hope. The world is longing for these gifts. Make us instruments to bring them to the people that we love that are close to 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 | Monday of the 5th Week in Lent

Gospel John 8:1-11 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,  and all the people started coming to him,  and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman  who had been caught in adultery  and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught  in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin  be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Reflection I love the body language of Jesus in this story. When confronted with the law that was without mercy, and Jesus being addressed about this problem, he acts as if he's not interested. So he sort of stoops down and just is distracting himself by writing something on the ground. What is he saying? He's trying to remind all of us that in his teaching we are freed of our sin and there's nothing a sin can ever do to separate us from the love of God. We do that kind of separation. He never leaves us because of our sins. He knows we are going to be sinners. That's how he created us. And what I love in this story is the way he reminds those who were so rigidly caught in the law thinking as long as they did what they were told, they weren't actually ever sinning. They knew they were sinners. And those who create an unbelievable burden on all of us to not sin are always guilty of a sin. The sin of the absence of compassion and understanding. Closing Prayer Father, we need your compassion, your understanding. And I know we talk a lot about being forgiving to other people, but nothing is more important than looking in a mirror and forgiving ourselves for everything we feel that we have never been able to accomplish or things that we've done that we're filled with shame and guilt about. Give us this freedom with the excessive concern about our faults, and let us focus on what you long to see in us an openness, a desire for you, a desire that is longing for your love. We need to give you permission to love us as we are as a sinner. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]