Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

Gospel John 15:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
Reflection Jesus continues to teach his disciples the heart of what he has established his kingdom. The kingdom is one in which he lives in you, you live in him, and the goodness that you have, through that union is what you give to the world. It's called love, acceptance, encouragement, hope. The fruitfulness that God wants each of us to have is nourishing our brothers and sisters and ourselves through this mysterious, indwelling presence of God.
Without connection to that, we have no real capacity to give life to anyone.
Closing Prayer Father, we can become overwhelmed when we look around us and see the things that we would like to see change. And if we do our work and try to fix them, it is even more discouraging because we are not the ones who can fix this world or improve the way people treat each other. It's only you. You are the gift. Help us to trust in the gift of you, in me, in all of us, and resonate that, intend it for the world and know that it is more than enough. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel John 14:27-31a
Jesus said to his disciples: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, 'I am going away and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”
Reflection Jesus is preparing his disciples for his death and resurrection. They have no real understanding of what it is and what it will do for them. But he does make something clear that it's about a sense of well-being, about a sense of peace, knowing that things are the way they need to be, but not necessarily the way we think they should be.
Jesus makes it clear that the peace that he offers is not the same kind of peace that we in the world want. The way we want it is no tension, no problems, everything working the way we think it should work. When he's saying, No if you surrender to all that God has planned for you, you will find peace.
Just as he says, That my love for the father has enabled me to do whatever he has commanded me. And that's a reference to his death and resurrection.
Closing Prayer Father, give us the faith to trust in the way our life unfolds. You love us so intensely that you know what we need more than we know that. And when you do not answer our prayers, give us the wisdom to seek the answer that is there, is promised the answer. Help us to believe in that promise. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel John 14:21-26
Jesus said to his disciples: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him." Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, "Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.
"I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name -- he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”
Reflection The change that Jesus wanted to bring to the world is something that’s always been difficult for us to understand. What we can understand is that the rules and regulations have to be done, and if we do them, then we will receive something. But Jesus doesn't talk that way. He doesn't talk about doing something. He talks about being someone.
And the being you have to be is the one who has responded perfectly to what God commands. And what he commands is that you love him. If you love him, you will have a gift, and the gift is the fullness of who he is, as revealed in Jesus. God the father is our creator. Jesus is the one that reveals who the father is.
And then the Holy Spirit comes along and says, I am here to teach you, remind you, show you over and over and over again. Because the work of being in love, in a state of being that you know you are loved is a thing that we work on all the time. It's not, we get it and we've got it.
We just evolve and evolve and evolve until we become the kingdom of God.
Closing Prayer Let us pray. Father, we have a hard time dealing with things that we can't fully understand. But we do know what love is. We do know what it feels like to love someone or to have them love us. Help us to realize this is the major commandment that God has called us to be. Lovers, caretakers, people that support one another. That's the work. That's the goal of all faith and truth. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel John 14:7-14
Jesus said to his disciples: “If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”
Reflection It's a challenge to believe that we have a destiny like the Christ. Jesus a human being, as we are human beings, was touched by God, filled with the spirit of the Father.
And out of that spirit and through that spirit, he was able to do all the marvelous things he was doing and to teach the truth in a way that had never been proclaimed before to the human race. And yet we are told we will participate in that same kind of life. To be an instrument of God's grace. That is what gives God the glory.
That's all He wants our permission and for us to be the source of the things the world needs. It's a privilege, but it's also the will of God. So we know it will work.
Closing Prayer Father, it's so natural for us when we see something that needs our help or needs our advice. We try to do the best that we can, and so often we're using just our own mind and our ego trying to figure out what's the right thing to do? What's the best thing to do? We have to do in place of that is make an intention that whatever is needed will be done not by us, but by the spirit flowing through us that we believe will do and accomplish whatever needs to be done. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel John 14:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Reflection Jesus has challenged his disciples to go out and to teach, to preach, to bring life to others. But they are often troubled. They don't know how to do it. And Thomas is the doubter. He's the one always wondering, What if I can't do it? What if it doesn't work? And what God is saying through Jesus so beautifully is, Look, you have to understand this mystery.
I no longer just live in that holy of holies in the temple, I live in you. I am with you wherever you go. I am there to dwell within you, to give you the direction you need, to give you the abilities you need to do the work of establishing the kingdom. I am going to show you the way.
I will reveal to you the truth and you will experience life.
Closing Prayer Doubt is not necessarily a bad thing. Lord, when we doubt we have an option to remain in that doubt or to seek the confidence that you promised to share with us. Everything that you ask us to give to others is first given from you to us. Keep us always in that union and communion as we go about our work of loving and caring and healing. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel Mark 16:15-20
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
Reflection Imagine yourself in this scene. The resurrected Jesus is standing there before you. You understand him. He's been teaching you since he rose from the dead, and he's been amazingly clear to you as to what it is he wants from you.
It's not just that you have this gift for you, but you must give it to other people. Speak a new language to them. The language of love, not the language of law, and heal them from their darkness and from their depression. And most especially from fear. This is the beginning of the work that we have promised we will participate in to establish the Kingdom of God here and now.
Closing Prayer Father, often we're timid about proclaiming you to other people, but help us to realize that you gave us such a perfect model. It's not so much of what we say, it's but who we are when we resonate a joy, when we resonate, a feeling of hopefulness. And when we resonate love, we are doing the work of speaking a new language. We are doing the work we're called to do. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel John 12:44-50
Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”
Reflection Jesus is trying to point out, to the Scribes and Pharisees that the one that they are refusing to accept is God Himself. Jesus is filled with God, and God's presence is something the Pharisees do not experience.
They're judgmental. They're constantly condemning people for not following the law. And here is Jesus crying out that He is nothing but light. He wants people to live. He is not interested in condemning anyone. He doesn't want to inflict punishment on anyone. He wants only that they not be in the place they are because sin has its own intrinsic punishment.
To choose darkness is to live in darkness. To choose light is to live in light.
Closing Prayer Father, we always resist something new. But we see in the example of the Scribes and Pharisees the absolute insanity of turning away from that which is life and light. Open us to see and to hear the fullness of your message so we can truly live in and continue to manifest the Kingdom of God. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel John 10:22-30
The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
Reflection This encounter between the Pharisees and Jesus happens on a feast day that remembers the dedication of the temple. The temple was everything to the Jews. It was a sign of their strength and their power. And it was grounded in a story of the Old Testament, an Old Covenant. And the rigidity of that covenant was found in the law and Jesus came to destroy the law and open up a different way of approaching life and no longer looking to something you're told to do, but rather open to something that God wants you to become. The truth.
You are free of the law, you are encountering on a daily basis the holy of holies that was hidden, kept from many in the center of the temple. The temple is now your heart and God lives there.
Closing Prayer Father, give us patience with those who refuse to see the truth. Let us pray for them and ask God to bless them, to break open the place they are hiding in. They don't want to be free. They don't want to see. Help us to be agents that free them so they can experience the fullness of the teaching of God, the fullness of love. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel John 10:1-10
Jesus said: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers." Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
Reflection Jesus uses the role of Shepherd to instill within his disciples an understanding of who they will be once Jesus fills them with the truth. God is the source of all truth. Jesus is filled with God. The way you enter into the Kingdom of God is through an acknowledgment of what is true, what is real, what is unchangeable.
And what we see in this story is that Jesus is also saying that those who have not opened their heart to the truth are thieves and robbers when they try to take care of people. And he is obviously talking about the people of the temple. The Scribes and Pharisees were thieves and robbers keeping people from truth. And God has come in the form of Jesus to change all of that.
Closing Prayer Father, so many voices speak to us about who you are and what you call us to be. Ground us in your truth. So we hear your truth, we will open our hearts to it, when we hear lies and half truths, we will turn away. Bless us with wisdom to know the difference. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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