Welcome to Finding God in Our Hearts. The following production Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a weekly program of deep spiritual insight on Scripture, revealing the indwelling presence of God. Monsignor Fisher is a Catholic priest, a member of the Diocese of Dallas, and founder of the Pastoral Reflections Institute, a nonprofit in Dallas, Texas, dedicated to to enriching your spiritual journey. We appreciate your listenership and if you find this program valuable, please subscribe and share with your friends. This program is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you make your donation@pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com Good morning. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

The Opening Prayer Almighty Ever Living God we humbly implore your majesty that just as your only begotten Son was presented on this day in the temple in the substance of our flesh, so by your grace we may be presented to you with minds made pure through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. A Reading from the Old Testament from the book of the Prophet Malachi, third chapter, first to the fourth verse. Thus says the Lord, Lo, I am sending my messenger. Prepare the way before me, and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

But who will endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver. He will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver, that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord. Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in the days of old, as in years gone by. The word of the Lord who is the King of glory?

It is the Lord. A Reading from the New Testament from the Letter to the Hebrews, Second Chapter 14:18 since the children share in blood and flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life. Surely he did not help angels, but rather the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way. He might be a merciful, faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people, because he himself was tested. Through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

The Word of The Lord. Hallelujah. Verse A light of revelation to the Gentiles. The glory of your people Israel. When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Just as it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons in accordance with the dictates of the law of the Lord.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit to the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him in his arms and blessed God, saying, now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared in the sight of all peoples. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel.

The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted, and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. There was also a prophetess, Anah, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer and coming forward. At that time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. The Gospel of the Lord Sam. Satan. In place of the ordinary Sundays of the year, we have a feast. It falls on Sunday, and the church draws our attention to this feast as we put aside the fourth Sunday of ordinary time.

And we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. It’s an interesting feast. It’s the day upon which the church blesses candles that they use throughout the year in all the different rituals. And what’s interesting about that image is that there is in this feast the whole notion of a Messiah who comes into the world, who is recognized by a figure, Simeon. His name means God has heard. It’s like God has heard the longing in the heart of Simeon.

He hears the longing in your heart. My heart. For wholeness, fullness. Somehow there’s something about us that knows we’re made for something. Often so much more than what we’re experiencing. And we try all kinds of things to fill that hole.

But somehow, deep down inside of us, we know something. We are aware of, something that’s often hidden. And it seems that this feast, which is following a ritual that was part of the Jewish tradition of bringing a firstborn child to the temple and asking that the mother be purified, that the Son be consecrated to the Lord, that there’s something in this whole notion of this presentation that makes it clear that we both have longed for something. And that this thing that we long for is here in our midst, is here. There’s a three part image that’s in this event in the temple. There’s the temple itself.

There is the law that they’re fulfilling. And then there’s this figure that is promised to the world, that is light, spirit, truth. What’s fascinating to me is that we know in the teaching of Jesus, that he tells us that one day we will no longer need the law. And the fulfillment of a prophecy in the Old Testament, that this law will ultimately be written on our hearts, that somehow we no longer need the temple because God has created in us a temple where he dwells. So we see this radical change coming into the world, this radical change of a figure who is going to awaken us to a new way, a new paradigm of seeing the world. And, you know, it seems that that new way is still unfolding, still revealing itself.

So what is this new heaven, this new earth that God is calling us into through his coming into the world and becoming one with us? And why is it that we have in the first reading, this image, that when this figure comes, people are going to have a really hard time with this figure because it’s going to be like fire, like fuller’s lye, which bleaches things like. Like taking a bath in Clorox or being burned. It’s a weird image, but what it’s really saying is that there’s something about this process of growing into who we really are. It’s about purification. And then the purification is described in the first reading as something that’s very, very difficult, very painful, Very, very easy to resist.

And also we see in the letter to the Hebrews that this image that we have of this transformation is compared to death. In order to enter into a world that God has revealed to us in Jesus, we have to die in order to enter into that world. These are not the images you might see. Think about first, because if somebody comes and tells you, I’m going to tell you something so wonderful and so beautiful about life. And all you got to do is believe it and enter into it. And you’d think everybody would go, yeah, great.

I want to be that way. I’ll enter into that world. But human beings, we’re very interesting creatures. We have a brain which can be trained, and the brain is usually trained by the culture, by our family of origin. And we see the world in a particular way. And since the brain is there to guide us through life, to protect us, One of the strongest instincts of the brain is the most ancient brain, the reptilian brain, that is there to make sure that we stay alive no matter what.

To fight or to flee. Whenever there’s something that looks attractive or something that looks like it’s dangerous, there’s something core in us that knows that we need to go for that which is life. But if we don’t understand what life is, if the mind’s been told a lie or bought into an illusion where somehow, maybe being in control is the only way to find some kind of life in this world, or avoiding all those things that are painful or difficult, then maybe that’s what we should be doing in life. But it’s so clear that the teaching of this Messiah that comes into the world says, no, no, it’s different than that. It’s not about achieving the goals that so often we have been told are the right ones. It’s about listening to the heart that knows this ancient, awesome, spiritual part of us.

I’m using the heart as both kind of literally and also symbolic. Because the heart resonates so much out into the world that who we really are and what we really think is usually resonated through the heart. Even though our brains can hide things that we want people to see, act in ways that we think will please people, even though our heart is far from it. Anyone else with an advanced ability to read people sees through that in a minute. So one of the things it seems that the heart is longing for, and we said this in the opening prayer, is some kind of purity, purity of heart. Now, let’s go back to the image that I started with, the image of coming to the temple to be purified, or the image in the first reading that says that when the truth comes, it purifies the mind, but it’s like lie, it’s like fire, so it’s painful.

And then in the Hebrews, it talks about this mysterious thing that people do not change, do not grow, because they live in fear, fear of death. If you live in fear of death, you’ll remain a slave to whatever your mind thinks. Because changing it sometimes feels like everything you’ve based your life on, everything that you believe is being questioned and your mind kicks in and says, this is too terrifying. This is too frightening. I won’t know anything. I won’t know who I am, where I’m going.

I won’t know what to do. When you’re afraid of that, when you are afraid of entering into a completely new paradigm for who you are and what you’re about and who God is and what he’s about, you can’t grow. You can’t be transformed. So this Messiah comes into the world to say, this is so hard. This is so difficult for you to give up your notions of the way you think life really is. So I’m going to do something for you.

I’m going to save you by going through what you need to go through. So look at the death of Christ as I often speak to you about it. It’s certainly not just about the pain he suffered. The pain is more symbolic. But think about his own notion of his own way of imagining what his life would be like. And he thought he would be successful.

He had to think he was going to be successful. I mean, if he’s fully human. God gave him an amazing teaching. He gave it to him so that he’d share it with people. And he shared it with people. And they didn’t accept it.

They couldn’t figure it out. They couldn’t get to it. The people he came to change in terms of the leaders of the religion that he longed to transform, were so angry and frightened and enslaved in what they thought, that the thoughts of Jesus were so radical and so different that they could only do one thing. They fell back to the reptilian brain and killed him because they were terrified of what he was saying. It’s still the same. People are terrified in ways.

What Jesus is really saying, he’s not saying what our brains have been taught to think. That there’s this simple thing of cause and effect. You do this and then that’ll happen. Next you Clean up the edges of your life. You worship, which is absolutely wonderful. Wonderful.

You worship. You go through that whole process and you decide you’re going to discipline yourself into being a better person. And you’re in control, you’re in charge. And it feels wonderful. It feels good, even. You feel that you’re even better than other people because you’ve got it down.

But the truth is that what Jesus is inviting us into is a world that is so mysterious, unseen, where cause and effect are not the way things work. In the spiritual world, there’s something else that moves and changes everything. And I can’t even describe it other than to say that it’s a spirit. It’s not a material thing. It doesn’t work just the way the material world works. We have an awareness of the world as maybe 7% of what’s really there.

According to scientists, we see a fraction of what’s real. We see a fraction of how the world is operating. We don’t see all the atoms that are in every single thing that exists moving around, being in relationship to each other. We don’t see what quantum physics teaches us about everything being connected, everything being capable of being changed by intention. Those are things that we. That’s not the world we grow up in.

That’s not the way the world works, that we live in the ordinary life. So to leave that ordinary life and enter into something radically different is terrifying. It really is. It’s scary because you’re not in charge anymore. There’s no way, if you enter into the world that God is inviting you into, you allow him into your life. You partner with him to be an instrument of love in the world.

Love being the one intention that changes everything. To enter into that world when you’re so used to having a nice, neat world of time. I go to church for this long. I spend this many minutes a day in prayer. And I do these four things this month that are going to be my trying to be purified of all my weaknesses and my shortcomings. You know, that’s all so easy to do, in a sense.

But how about recognizing that into the world comes something so radically new that it changes the paradigm for all of us. And we begin to enter into a world that is not of our making, not in our control. And the only way you can do that is by trusting in someone who promises that they will guide us through this and they will awaken us. Gifts and talents that will be able to do things for each other that go so far beyond our imagination. That line in Scripture that always, always catches me. And I keep saying, what does it mean?

All the miracles that Jesus did, all those transformations that didn’t seem to have any natural causes, he did all that by his love. And we’re told by him that you can do exactly what I did. And you know what? You can do even greater things than I do. I mean, how can he say that to us? And yet we stay in this material world of simple cause and effect.

And how many times have I prayed for someone and said, wouldn’t it be great if there was a miracle? But there probably won’t be. I mean, that’s the world I lived in. You know, just the cause and effect world. It just doesn’t see. I don’t know how it’s going to work.

How’s it going to change? But if I change, if I see the world differently, if I believe in what this Messiah is bringing into the world, if I surrender my fear to a world that I do not know and cannot control, if I die to myself on that level and then enter into this new birth, then everything is different. And we’re in this thing that’s called the kingdom. And we’re in this thing where fear doesn’t exist because love overrides it. And we end up being engaged in things that we never dreamt we could. Things begin to fit together.

We begin to intuit things. And have you ever wondered why some people who have these we call maybe psychic gifts? You know, some people are much more intuitive than others. Some people have an easier way of talking with those that are deceased. And, you know, we kind of write those people off. Maybe you do, maybe I did.

You know, like. Well, it’s. I think what most interesting thing is, people will say, well, that’s devil. That’s the. That’s demonic. Is if only the devil works in that world of mystery.

No, that’s the world we’re born into, the world that has that ability to go beyond the limits that we so often lay upon us in terms of the way the world works or what I can do or what I can accomplish, what a radically different way of living in the world. When you’re open to this mystery of the way grace Jesus enters into you and me, empowering us to do things that are just wonderful, wonderful. So miracles aren’t really things, then? In the tradition of Christianity, in the tradition of most religions, miracles are not things that are just so rare and unique, but they’re the way the spiritual world works. And so we need to get past that sort of narrow view that anything that goes beyond the normal cause and effect world that we live in is somehow only for very special saints, or only something the devil’s in charge of. We have to get rid of all that and realize, no.

When you enter into the world of the heart, when you enter into the world of spirit, you just have to sit back and marvel. Marvel at the things happening, smile, thank God every day for a feeling that you have and that I have that says how important we are, how powerful we are, how important it is to love. Sat closing prayer Father, on this celebration that marks a moment in the history of your Son in this world with us, you present him to us as a light, as our hope, open our hearts to receive him as he is, to receive most especially the gift that he came to win for us so that we can enter into the world that is the world you have created, the world that we’re called to live so that we can find the peace, the stillness of your kingdom within us. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. The music in our program was composed and produced by Ryan Harner for this show. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher, a listener supported program is archived and available on our website pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com and available anytime, anywhere and for free on our podcast Finding God in Our Hearts.

You can search and subscribe to Finding God in Our Hearts anywhere you download your podcasts. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you. You can make a one time or recurring tax deductible donation on our website pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com we thank you for your listenership and your continued support. Without it, this program would not be possible. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a production of the Pastoral Reflections Institute, a non profit in Dallas, Texas dedicated to enriching your spiritual journey. Executive Producer Monsignor Don Fisher Produced by Kyle Cross and recorded in Pastoral Reflections Institute Studios.

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