Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer Msgr. Don Fischer

Gospel John 15:26—16:4a
Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
"I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”
Reflection We're coming to the end of Jesus ministry with his disciples. And what he's promising them is something really important. He's saying, I'm not really leaving you. My father and I are one, and we are there for you. And the form that we take is this mysterious thing called the advocate.
The Holy Spirit. And it's the power of God continually to work with each individual, and open their eyes to the mystery that we are faced with. Understand fully the redemption that Jesus won for us. We need that teacher.
Closing Prayer Father, as we ponder the mystery of who you are in our life, we know that we long to understand this mystery more and more. So help us to be open to the ways in which you will guide us. Let us surrender to the insights that you share with us as we continue to live the word of God. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Gospel John 15:18-21
Jesus said to his disciples: "If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, 'No slave is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”
Reflection There's something hopeful in realizing that as we have continued to preach and teach this beautiful message of God flowing to us through Jesus and explained through the Holy Spirit that what we're really receiving is an understanding of who we really are. God is asking us to be nothing other than who he created us to be. And when we bring that truth to someone who is caught in the lies that they have created, there's always going to be hatred and a desire to destroy the one who speaks the truth.
Closing Prayer Father, help us never to be discouraged. The world is changing. Is moving more and more into being what God intends it to be. Help us to see that and to take courage in simply being the truth. Being a person who is able to understand that they are vehicles of God's grace, changing the world we live in. Making it into the Kingdom of God. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Gospel John 14:6-14
Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 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 him, "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 clear from the way this story unfolds that the disciples had a hard time believing, trusting, and they really had a hard time believing that they were being called to act in the world, just as Jesus acted in the world and became a healer. And one of the things that’s clear in this work that Jesus is describing is he's not asking each of us to go out there and do this work to help people.
He's asking us to believe that he is in us, and we need to allow him, through us to do his work. It's so important that you see that you are not the source of the goodness that God has intended you to be able to give to others. It is his presence in you that is the healing force.
Closing Prayer Father, we wonder what is it that we should be asking you that pleases you? And nothing seems clearer to me then if we say to you, use me. Work through me. Let me be an instrument that is the vehicle through which you do the work of salvation. It keeps us humble, thankful, and radically excited about what we see being done for those that we love. Your work through us, in them. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Gospel Mark 15:9-11
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.”
Reflection The commandments that Jesus is referring to is the heart of the law. To love God, to love your neighbor, and to love yourself. The beautiful thing about being human is that when we are loved, we learn how to love. We have to understand how much God loves each of us as we are, as he created us, and having that conviction of our value.
We have that sense that there is something in us that we can offer to another, that our love has a quality that is needed and always appreciated.
Closing Prayer Father, free us from all those voices in our past that have told us that if we're not doing something as we're supposed to, that we will be rejected. There is no rejection on the part of God to anyone that he has created. He's there to support, to tell us we're valuable, to tell us that we have a gift within us. His love that he longs for us to share with the world. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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.