Pastoral Reflections Finding God In Ourselves by Msgr. Don Fischer

Gospel John 17:11b-19 Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.” Reflection There are two phrases in this passage that I would like to talk about. What does it mean to be in your name? And what does it mean to be in the truth? God reveals himself as He is. His identity is made clear in Jesus. When we hear in your name, we're talking about in the very person of God, who he really is. Not misconceptions about him, but truth. And there we see the word truth is used in terms of the message that God has come into the world to reveal to us. And when something is consecrated, it is something that is dedicated to the work of bringing about wholeness, holiness. In all three we have something to ponder about who God truly is. Closing Prayer Father, the work that you've given us to do is to understand fully the simple truth of who you are, who Jesus is, and what we're here for. Nothing is more important for us to ponder these questions, but not to come up with the answers ourselves, but to listen to our heart. And that's where we'll find the answer. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel  John 17:1-11a Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.” Reflection There are few places in Scripture that make it clearer that God is in Jesus, and Jesus is in God. They are one, yet they are two. It's a great mystery of the Trinity. But the most important thing for you and for me to understand when we look at Jesus is we are seeing God the Father, a vision of God the Father that was not present in the Old Testament. And when we see the disciples following Jesus and understanding him and growing in their conviction of everything that he taught. We see them receiving glory. Glory is when we accomplish what we are here to do. It's when we do it with truth, with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and with integrity. Closing Prayer Father, we fail so often to understand the fact that we are not here to accomplish the things you tell us we should become. They are not within our realm to be able to accomplish, but they are only given, only shared. And our only task is to believe in them. Help us when we do not believe. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel John 16:29-33 The disciples said to Jesus, "Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God." Jesus answered them, "Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Reflection Jesus knows his disciples. He loves them, and he recognizes that they need something that he and only he can give them, as he returns to the father and then sends the Holy Spirit. And one of the gifts that he wants them to have is faith. They think they have it now in this story, and what it is, is nothing more than a decision. I believe that you are who you say you are. But when the test comes, there's something quite different. The response is not, I believe, but I'm afraid. I don't know what's going to happen. So I want us to think that faith is not simply a knowledge that something is true or not, but it's really a gift, a transformation, a gift of the Holy Spirit poured into us. And we can accept anything because we believe the words that Jesus really said. I have conquered the world. You will never be destroyed. Closing Prayer Father, your teaching is always calling us to become who you long for us to be, and we have to be careful. And help us not to figure it out as something that we have to do or have to have, but something that we have got to be given. We have to receive. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel Luke 1:39-56 Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached  my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And Mary said:  “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;             my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,             for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed:             the Almighty has done great things for me,             and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him             in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm,             he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,             and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things,             and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel             for he has remembered his promise of mercy,             the promise he made to our fathers,             to Abraham and his children for ever.” Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. Reflection We have in this story two women uniquely touched with something that seems so appropriate as we are at the moment in history when the New Kingdom is being established. It's about a new birth, about a system that was for years and years struggling to do what it was supposed to do and never did it. It's about the mysterious overshadowing of the Holy Spirit manifesting itself inside of us with new birth and new life. It's a beautiful reminder of a time that we now live in, the time of this spirit. The spirit of truth, and it brings us to new life. Closing Prayer Father, you continually awaken in us new insights, new thoughts, new understanding of what it is to be a follower of yours. To proclaim your spirit of truth to the world. Bless us with confidence that you are guiding us, that you will use our humble struggles to accomplish great things. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel John 16:20-23 Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” Reflection Jesus is again talking about the time when he will not be available to the disciples, as they have be grown accustomed to him being there, and there will be times of darkness. And I love the image of the woman giving birth to a child and being in deep pain, and yet once the pain is over and the child is born, we forget the pain. We have to understand that the darkness that comes and goes in our spiritual journey is essential. And when there is darkness, there is always somehow hidden within it a new birth, a new understanding, a new awareness, a transformation. Closing Prayer Father, the beauty of this image of new birth is a perfect way for us to imagine what we ask you for. We need you to be there for us when we are on this journey of transformation. It is not an easy journey. It doesn't add one new idea to another new idea, to another new idea. No, it is something to do with dying and rising. Losing and finding. From darkness to light. Give us strength to accomplish this. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel John 16:16-20 Jesus said to his disciples: “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,' and ‘Because I am going to the Father'?” So they said, “What is this ‘little while' of which he speaks? We do not know what he means.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.” Reflection The little while that is spoken in this gospel is the time that Jesus was not with his disciples. It was before he returned to the father and sent the advocate. What I think is important about this period of time is that this is a way in which we grow in our understanding of mystery. We get an insight, we think we understand it, and then we lose that insight and there's nothing but darkness, fear.  And then we come back with greater understanding. The little while is that time when we're not certain, when we're not sure, but we keep trusting. And that's what's necessary in order to grow in our understanding of these mysteries. Closing Prayer Father, help us during the times that are dark, when we don't have a sense of purpose or meaning, we're confused, we're afraid, we're back in some kind of shame and anger. Those are the times when we need to be in touch with what we're feeling because that is the way in which we grow. We leave what we've known, and we enter into a deeper understanding of what is unknown. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel John 16:12-15 Jesus said to his disciples: "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” Reflection The fascinating thing about the work of these young disciples of Jesus is that they had to learn through their experiences of ministry and the work that they were called to do, to grow in their understanding of who God is, who Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is. It takes time. It takes diligence. And when we see the work of the advocate as being the one who continues to be the teacher, to be the one who awakens people to what they don't see, there is hope. Because even though Jesus doesn't walk this earth, the Holy Spirit surrounds us, awakens us to all that is true. Closing Prayer Father, we have a task. The task is to open ourselves to what is real. What is true. And we know that if we ever think that we've got it down, that we know everything we need to know, we're in trouble. Open us consistently to learn more and more about who you are and who we are in this world with you. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel  John 16:5-11 Jesus said to his disciples: "Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.” Reflection The disciples had learned to lean on the presence of Jesus as their teacher. And he's now telling them that he's going to leave them, and they're distraught and worried and afraid. And what he reminds them is that his promise has always been to be with them, and he will be with him as the Holy Spirit. The third person of the Blessed Trinity. And the most exciting thing that he's saying to his disciples, is that now that Jesus has died and returned to the father and sent the advocate, the Holy Spirit, sin has been condemned. Exposed. Revealed. And we are much closer now than ever to the Kingdom of God being established. Closing Prayer Father, there's a way in which we hear so much about all that is going on in the world that is negative. And it's easy to fear that the world is getting worse when in truth it is getting better. It is continuing to move in the direction of light and life. That's the promise that God has made to the disciples and to each of us. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 I try to put my mind in the place of the disciples minds and thinking, they're so excited about the teaching that Jesus has given them. And they have no real idea of what it's like to teach what Jesus is taught them. And so Jesus caring for them as he does, he wants so much for them to recognize that things are going to be very, very difficult. But I want you to know, that I've told you this to prepare you for it, and I will be with you. The advocate will be with you. Closing Prayer Father, to speak the truth is never been easy, especially when there are people living the lie. Bless us with the kind of conviction that we need to have of what is true, and help us to be strong, and to proclaim it with the conviction that it is the very necessary thing that we have to have in order to find peace. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Jesus is using very strong language as he warns the disciples that they're following him, is going to cost them everything. It's beautiful the way he implies that those who serve him will have to endure what Jesus endured. They will have to go through a transformation of giving everything to the father. It underscores the commitment that God is asking from his disciples, and he asks it from all of us in a sense. That we deal with suffering in a way that somehow believes that it brings about something good, something valuable to us in our relationship with God and each other. Suffering is not an enemy, but it is essential to help us to become who are called to be. Closing Prayer Father, give us courage. Give us hope. Give us the ability to endure all that is not yet what we long for it to be, knowing one day everything will be revealed as it was intended to be. And all of it will be good. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel John 15:12-17 Jesus said to his disciples: "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” Reflection I really like the distinction between someone who is our master and we are their slave, and someone who is a friend. Masters are usually not loved, depending upon how kind they are. But the one thing that is so clear that when you have a master slave relationship, you're not on the same plane in any way, shape or form. One is more powerful than the other. But in friendship there is something so radically different. It's not about one being better than the other. It's about a mutual conviction that each has power, wisdom, goodness. It's a world of equals. We're not really equal to God in that sense, but we are made like him. We are from him. We, if we open our hearts, will understand him. He is our friend and we are friends with each other. Closing Prayer Father, you have made us for community. For being one with each other. And it's a shame that we find ourselves so often judging each other and criticizing and not opening ourselves to the honesty and the truthfulness that true friendship really establishes as its root, as its groundedness. Help us to be open to one another. Help us to be vulnerable as we seek union with each other. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel John 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 When I was ordained, I made my own holy card. That was something big in the 60s. And I drew it, and then I wrote the words on it, that Christianity is joy, peace and love. What I didn't realize at the time is what each of those words meant. But I think I know now about this mysterious thing called joy because it's not happiness. It has something to do with the deep inner awareness of the beauty of everything. Not just the holy things or not just the rituals and things like that. But everything is holy. Everything is alive. Everything is connected. And when you feel it and see it around you, it is joyous. It is something that overflows from inside of you. When you say, why do I ever judge? Why do I ever criticize? Why do I ever think that something is of no value? Everything has value. Everything brings joy. Closing Prayer  Father, awareness. A way of seeing. A way of knowing. These are all signs of your goodness to us. Bless us with the eyes that truly see. To know what you created. To understand its beauty and its depths. We long for this. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 It's clear that as Jesus was teaching his disciples he kept going back to the father, and he makes it clear that the Father and Jesus are one and what he wants, what Jesus wants is that we have the same kind of feeling that God and us are one. Not that we are God, but that somehow he works within us so that we can become everything we were intended to be and accomplish great things for him. To be fruitful is a way of awakening other people to the beauty and the goodness of a God who dwells within us and longs for nothing more than we become who he created us to be. That is what glorifies God. That we become who we are and share that with those around us. Closing Prayer Father, there's a way in which we can imagine ourselves as wonderful in the eyes of God, by doing something spectacular, something important that changes the world. When it's so much simpler than that. Each of us have a destiny. Each of us have the work that we're called to do. And when we trust that that work will be done through the power of God, then we know we'll have peace. A freedom from anxiety. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 If there's anything that is essential about the teaching of Jesus to his disciples is he's asking them to trust, to have some kind of deep conviction that no matter what's going on around you or what you're feeling, there's a promise that's been made to you that this God is there for you. And what that means is that there is never a chance that you could say that whatever is going on in your life will lead to some destruction. There are difficulties. There are painful things, but they're always there for a purpose, that is somehow part of what it means to be past our fears. Fear is based in an unknown that is terrifying because we don't know what will happen and what we need to know, no matter what happens, that it will never, ever destroy us. Closing Prayer Father, there is much to rob us of a peaceful well being. As we look at the world today. But what we have to remember is that God has made a promise that suffering. Dealing with that which we can't control or we can't understand fully. That's part of the work of becoming a man, woman who trusts implicitly in God. That's the challenge. When everything's falling apart. We can still be convinced that what looks like destruction is actually construction deepening, awakening our deep trust in God's plan that always brings goodness. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 It's hard to imagine how the disciples understood these words of Jesus. Even today, with all the theology that has been written and all the explanations, we still have to look carefully at what Jesus is saying. And it holds within it a secret. And the secret is that this thing we're asked to do is not about doing, but about being. Love is the answer to everything. Love is God. Jesus is manifesting the love of God. But the most powerful thing in this reading is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Often described as the love between God and His Son, Jesus. But what it underscores is that we have within us this indwelling presence of a way of seeing and understanding and living that has to be revealed to us. It's not something we can come up with ourselves. So to be a person who ponders and who wonders is the key to unlocking the power of the Word of God. Closing Prayer Father, logic is important. But so often we're asked to let go of logic or the way we think the world works and open ourselves to a great mystery. The mystery is all about God in us, doing the most amazing things through us. The pressure is not on us to do anything more than to trust and to believe all that God can do through us. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 interesting how Jesus has backed up so many of the things that he's tried to teach his disciples that are beyond their comprehension, beyond their wildest imagination. And he always uses the same thing. Look at the works that I do. Look at the blind the see, the deaf that hear, the leper that is cleansed. Look at Lazarus who came back to life. Why do you doubt my words? And we can see clearly that he is a man filled with the power unlike any other man. And when he says that he's sharing it with us, that he wants us to participate with him in it, the joy of being a healer is ours. If we understand the role that we have with him dwelling within us. Closing Prayer Father, we need your grace, your presence within us so that we can do this work that is so important to your church, to your ministry in the world today. Help us to resonate always love, truthfulness, generosity. Care. It seems so easy in a sense, if we just recognize how powerful our actions are in terms of bringing God's presence more awakened in the hearts of everyone. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 It's interesting that Jesus is working with people who do believe in God, but they don't understand who Jesus is. They cannot grasp the fact that he is a human being filled with divinity, and this divinity within him is something that he longs for us to have. And so he won it for us through his death on the cross. So what he's trying to say to his disciples, and in particular to Thomas, is you have to understand that if you look at me and I tell you that the father is in me, and that he and he alone is the source of all truth and life and light, and that no one can understand and know the father unless they see him in me, in a human being. And it's so interesting to me that it's the same way today. If you want to ask someone if they believe in God, I will tell you if, from my experience, if they have been loved by a human being, deeply loved in a self-sacrificing love, they're much more ready to accept that is who also God is. Closing Prayer Father, awaken us the privilege. The responsibility that we have to manifest you to others. When someone is loved deeply by another human being, they taste and feel the love of the father. And the more we are able to love one another, that way, the more the faith in this God who is love and who calls us to love, grows and deepens. We have a deep responsibility, but we have also a privileged place of bringing life and light and truth into one another. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel John 13:16-20 When Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, he said to them: "Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me. From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Reflection Jesus is talking about one of his disciples. Judas. Who simply wasn't engaged in what we would call service to the community. He was stealing from the community. And choosing himself over the service, he was called to give. And what I find so interesting about the nature of why was there someone like Judas in the group? And what it is, is a way of making clear, a teaching that Jesus longs for us to see and to feel. The greatest role that we have in life is service. Service to one another, which is service to God. And so what he's saying is, look at me, I am a servant and I am giving you something. And what I give you is my father's presence. What an incredible role that he has as a servant. It reminds us of how important we are to his work, of always presenting something greater than ourselves to those around us. Our belief, our faith in God, our trust in all that he has promised us. Closing Prayer Father, we tend to want to be served. But awaken us to the beauty and the power of the role that you had, bringing the father to us. Help us always to love those around us. And when we do, we are bringing God to each other. His mercy, his presence, his power. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel John 15:9-17 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. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you:  love one another.” Reflection It's not unusual for us to live in a world where we feel we have to perform for people in order to win their esteem or their respect, or even their love. And the same was true in the Old Testament, and the New Testament to the people were struggling to understand what is it that the message of Jesus is going to bring to us? Its promise to bring joy, happiness, fullness. And it's so interesting that it primarily works like this. If you allow God to love you as he longs to love you, you will be changed and you will be able to love those around you with a new energy and resonance. You have to be loved in order to love. And that's why Jesus is so insistent in helping people to realize that the God who created them is the God who loves them, no matter who they are. He is their God, their father, their friend, their lover. Closing Prayer All of us struggle with self esteem. And we live in a culture that tells us that we should be a certain thing, or have a certain thing, or look a certain way, and that's all normal. But what we see in Jesus is a message that he knows heals the hearts of so many people that are feeling empty or not enough. He loves us as we are, knowing that, really realizing that, believing that with our whole heart and soul is what grace intends to accomplish. And what is grace? Unmerited love. That's what we need to feel flowing from God, our father. We ask this in Jesus' name. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 When someone tells us something that we have not thought of before, or that involves some kind of information that we don't yet have, and we simply don't hear what they're saying, we don't grasp it. We don't understand it. And it seems that was so much what was going on when Jesus would be teaching in the temple. People would listen to him and be intrigued by what he was saying, but they wouldn't believe it because they couldn't understand it. And then he makes something so clear, and yet this would be way beyond their pay grade, so to speak. He's saying to them, you have to understand that the father, God Himself, is in me. And when you see me, you see the father. When you hear me, you hear the father. That was so out of their range of understanding. And in truth, it's out of the range of many of us who don't understand the mystery of the indwelling presence of God, the intimacy of God within us. It is a source of the love that we long for, that heals the world and changes hearts and brings them into the light of life. Closing Prayer Father, we long to know who we are in you and with you. Open our hearts to understand this in a way that goes beyond logic, beyond what we think of as normal, and be open to mystery and mysticism. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Reflection It's amazing to me how this call on the part of Jesus to all of us to understand that love is what this kingdom is all about. How clearly it is that we just don't seem to grasp the fullness of this. It's not unusual for people in positions of authority within the church to judge and condemn people for an action they might perform. And yet it's clear that the job that we have is to love those who fail, those who are evil, knowing that that is a powerful healing element in this whole process of living in the Kingdom. To love someone is to give them an energy, a grace, the presence of God, to help heal them of whatever evil they have done. Closing Prayer Father, give us a keen awareness of where judgment flares up inside of us, when we see someone or hear something that someone has done. Train us to realize that the only obligation we have is not so much to change people, but to love them and believe that loving them is the greatest power to change them. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel Matthew 5:20-26 Jesus said to his disciples:  “I tell you,  unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, Raqa,  will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.” Reflection Jesus had such a hard time with the judgment against him from the scribes and the Pharisees, and he's warning his disciples that they should not ever fall into the trap of judgment against someone. It's like he's saying, you have to understand that the kingdom of God is about a flow of energy that goes between God in Jesus, to other people, and when that is not a loving, forgiving, nurturing presence, the kingdom cannot happen. So whether you've offended someone or someone has offended you, whatever is causing division among you before you can truly be a worshiper of God, you need to make peace with everyone. Closing Prayer Father, one might say that forgiveness is one of the major teachings that we have coming from the lips of Jesus. It is the mark of whether or not we are in the kingdom of God. Bless us with awareness of that and motivate us, perhaps by the very selfish notion that we would want to be treated better. Why do we treat someone in a way that is less than we would want? It's one of the key teachings of the kingdom and we need to follow it. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel Matthew 7:7-12 Jesus said to his disciples: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asked for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asked for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.” Reflection The Kingdom of God is our work here on this planet. We are here to participate in its becoming. And it doesn't just come to people. There's something within us that longs to understand it. So it's a beautiful way that Jesus is talking about how we participate in the Kingdom. We need to ask for wisdom. We need to seek answers. We need to ponder questions. And most especially when we do this, the promise is that we will knock on the door of the kingdom and we will be allowed in. Closing Prayer Father, you make it clear that the kingdom is something that is experienced, both now and forever. And as we participate in its being founded on this earth, we are reminded that there's a simple rule that you could use, and that simply do to other people what you would like them to do to you. It's so simple, but yet so powerful. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gospel Luke 11:29-32 While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here." Reflection Jesus talks about the kingdom of God and what it means to believe in it. What is this sign that we're looking for? It's so interesting that Jesus, when he looks at the generation around him that's always asking for signs, he points out what the core sign truly is, the sign of Jonah. And what does that mean? It means that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, three days he was in the stomach of the whale, and then he was released. He lived. That image is the image of what Jesus has come into the world to establish. The end of evil's power, to destroy. And basically, what we see in Jesus is his own death, he gives in to evil. Everyone thinks there again, evil has done something awful and destroyed the good it was in Jesus. And what we need to realize, no he rose three days later. He destroys the death that evil could cause before our redemption. Closing Prayer It's so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that things are going in the wrong direction. That is evil is winning. Nothing is further from the truth. Evil, when it's exposed, is vulnerable. And the vulnerability that is there is the realization, in the believer's, that they know that evil has been destroyed and there is no fear of evil. Only hope and trust in the mystery of the sign of Jonah. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices