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. We appreciate your listenership and if you find this program valuable, please subscribe and share with your friends. Share this program is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you. Make your donation@pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com Merry Christmas today is Christmas Day. The opening Prayer O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature and still more wonderfully restored it, Grant, we pray, that we may share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever.

Amen. A reading from the book of Isaiah 52:7 10 how beautiful are the mountains of the feet of him who brings glad tidings Announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation and saying to Zion your God is king. Hark. Your sentinels raise a cry Together they shout for joy for they see directly before their eyes the Lord restoring Zion. Break out in song, O ruins of Jerusalem for the Lord comforts his people, he redeems Jerusalem. The Lord has barred his holy arm in the sight of all nations.

All the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God. The Word of the Lord Response Soil Psalm all the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God Sing to the Lord a new song for he has done wondrous deeds his great hand has won victory for him his holy arm. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God the Lord has made his salvation known in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice he has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God all the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of our Lord Sing joyfully to the Lord all you lands break into song Sing praise All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God Sing praise to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and melodious song with trumpets and sounds of horn Sing joyfully before the King, the Lord all the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God A Reading from the Book of Hebrews First Chapter first through the sixth verse Brothers and sisters, in times past God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets. In these last days he has spoken to us through the Son whom He has made heir of all things, and through him he created the Universe who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word. When he had accomplished purification for sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the majesty on high, as far as superior to the angels, as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, this day I have begotten you, or again I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. And again, when he leads the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. The Word of the Lord. Hallelujah. A holy day has dawned upon us. Come you nations, and adore the Lord, for today a great light has come upon the earth.

Alleluia. The Gospel for this Christmas Day is taken from St. John, first chapter, first to the 18th verse. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.

The true light which enlightens everyone, was coming to the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him. But the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own did not accept him. But to those who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God to those who believed in his name, who were born not by natural generation, nor by human choice, nor by a man’s decision, but of God. And the Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us.

And we saw his glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John testifies to him and cried out, saying, this was he whom I said, the one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me. From his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace. Because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only Son. God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

The Gospel of the Lord Please take a few moments to dwell on this awesome set of readings that lead us into an understanding of who God finally has revealed himself to be. I was just thinking, one of the wonderful things about being a priest, about being able to be in a position of helping people to understand the most amazing book, the Scriptures. They’re amazing, they’re filled with truth, but they can be used because there’s so much in it that you can take out of context. And you can become a person who preaches something that is provable only by a word or two, three lines. And you can be doing some tremendous harm. So I’m in awe of my responsibility.

I take it seriously. How can I as a human being be an instrument for God to reveal to the people that he has written this book for so that we can receive what is offered. And what is offered is an extraordinary testament. It’s interesting. We don’t call it the old story and the new story. We call it the Old Testament and the New Testament.

In both those mean that the word means that there is something that is being longed for, to be given from the one who makes the Testament. It’s usually when a person dies, they read the Testament, what do you want? How do you want your things, the thing that you, the wisdom you had, the money you had, where do you want it to go? And you want it to go to the people, to everyone. So think of the Old and New Testament as a message that has been given to those after this work was finished. And what’s so interesting about the Bible is it’s both anthropological and theological.

It teaches us about human beings nature and God’s nature. And it begins with a nature of God that is very much partial. And it’s so important to remember that the Old Testament is partially who God really is. Partially. That’s the word in Hebrews. What does that mean?

It means very much that we’re looking at the whole story of the Bible. And it’s about God revealing himself to humans and human beings, responding to that. And the process is to bring human beings into who they were called to be. We’re called to be like God. He created us like him, but gave us the most extraordinary gift of free will so that we can do whatever we want with this thing we call ourselves. We can support it, love it, encourage ourselves to take care of the things that are most essential for us.

Or we can be using our power as a human being for destruction, for evil. You wonder, why did God create us with free will? And it strikes me that he did it because he’s created so many things that are so beautiful and perfect and self sustaining in A sense meaning they don’t have to be looked after. You don’t have to remind the leaves to put their leaves back out, it’s spring. But human beings need constant reminders. We have to be told over and over again, reminded over and over again of who we really are intended to be.

And so if you look at the Old Testament, what part of God is revealed? Well, it’s the part of God that is for justice. He’s there because he longs for his people to understand something about their nature. We evolve from creatures of a lower consciousness where we are basically self centered, maybe only concerned about ourselves and our own family, our own tribe, our own friends, and everyone else is valueless. And we keep evolving from that point. And so one of the things that God starts his relationship with us with is a call to gather a people together and form a community and call it his own.

And then he takes care of them. And the world of the Old Testament was a world of great violence. And so the way that God manifest himself to people who had hundreds of gods to choose from, he wanted them to believe, believe that he was the only God. And he did it by his might, his strong arm helping them in a violent world to be protected from their enemies. And God had no problem destroying the enemies of his people. But he also didn’t have any qualms or any hesitation to also destroy those who he called his own, who would turn against him and choose another God.

So he was a God of violence in some ways. Yet over and over again there’s glimpses of what’s coming, recognition that this isn’t complete, that there’s someone coming, a Messiah that will change the world. And how will he change it? Well, God gave the law in the Old Testament and he spoke mostly through prophets. And the prophets would tell people what to do. So you see in the Old Testament, it’s based on a God who is willing to destroy enemies or you if you didn’t believe in him.

And he also was a God that was very much interested in us doing what we’re told. And what we were told is to pay attention to him as the only God and to deal with our brothers and sisters with a kind of right behavior. No, don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t break your promises, be satisfied with who you are, wonderful wisdom and an ideal to follow. But if we didn’t, if we didn’t in the Old Testament, if they didn’t follow would be destruction, rejection. And just know that those commandments were then transformed into 600 or 360 rules and laws. So people in the Old Testament live with the God of justice.

They were told what to do. If they didn’t do what they were told, they were destroyed. That is carried over in the New Testament. At least it was in my life. I was told as a young boy that if I did something bad, God didn’t like bad little boys and he would send them to hell. So it’s like there’s this hangover from the Old Testament into the New Testament.

Yet we need to look at what the New Testament is really saying, because without it, we end up still returning to a kind of violent religion where God is a God who looks at you and you’re not who you should be. And he’s disgusted, he’s discouraged, he walks away. We have to do everything we can to fix ourselves so that he will like us again, he will love us again, if we only stop doing the bad things we do. That’s all Old Testament. But listen to this new, wonderful Testament. What?

Jesus, the son of God, who is God, who sits now with God at his side. He’s the one that was there at the very beginning of creation. He’s always existed. It’s a great mystery. But think of him simply as a way of seeing the God who fully is who he is. And we weren’t ready for that God because we couldn’t, as we were in our evolution, we weren’t ready to take on something as beautiful and as marvelous as the power of love.

We move from the Old Testament from law to the New Testament of love, acceptance, forgiveness. But there’s something you need to pay attention to in this beautiful Gospel of John, who saw Jesus, I think, more clearly than the other disciples, and he had some intuitive sense of the mystery of all of this. He knew there was something extraordinary about this man that was more than just his miracles. And what it is, is that he is literally Jesus is the Word, the Word made flesh. And what is the Word? The Word, in this sense, I think, is truth.

The truth of who God is, is Jesus. And what he longs for you to feel in this revelation is that this thing that he is is a power that he infuses into us so that divinity becomes for the first time in our humanity. Before, divinity was outside our humanity, demanding things. Now it’s inside of us, empowering us to do things. It’s a radical shift, and I love the images of what this insight, this Word made flesh, come with what comes with it. And what comes with it is A recognition of what life really is.

And the life that you lead is filled with this divinity. And then you’re called light, life of God in you. And then you are the light. You enlighten people by your very presence. It’s a marvelous way of imagining how radically different the Old Testament is from the New Testament. There’s a violence to the Old Testament.

Judgment is everywhere in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, there is not judgment, there is reconciliation, forgiveness, understanding, empowerment. And when you think about these gifts, we know that they are something human nature responds to. Many people are afraid to tell people that they can be so easily forgiven. People have a mentality that’s still in the Old Testament. And justice has to be served.

No one can get away with having done something wrong and having God write it off. They want people to be punished. And it’s interesting that that’s an instinct in human beings that comes from a lower level of consciousness. And when we move up higher into that consciousness, we begin to see the beauty of this, how wonderful it is to experience that kind of response to our weaknesses, our frailty, our brokenness, and to know that all he wants is fullness, fullness in us. And I don’t know why we doubt the effect of this kind of love and would rather control people with laws and rules. And I think perhaps it’s because many people maybe are at such a lower level of consciousness that they have to be dealt with that way.

That may be true, but it’s also true that people can be transformed by being given a gift that is beyond measure. Christmas is the gift giving time. If you wonder why we give gifts at Christmas, it’s partly because the Magi offered gifts, but still, it’s really, I think, an underscoring of the gift that we have received. The abundance of this light that is dwelling in us. Resonating love, forgiveness, interest, a longing for others to grow and to evolve and change without being competitive, without being judgmental. And if we think that that’s easy for human beings to do, we miss the point that the human beings were made for partnership with divinity.

It’s a perfect blend. And without it, we fall back into the Old Testament. So my gift to you on this Christmas Day is this gift of awareness of the life that you are invited to live because of the love that God has for you, the light in you that is able to bring that love to other people. And then you know you’re living in the truth of this beautiful book called the Bible. God bless you. The closing prayer.

Father, you are life. You are love. These are not things you do. This is who you are. And what I ask you to open our hearts to is the goodness that you have within you for us, the love you have for us, the desire you have that we grow and become exactly who you intended us to be. Give us conviction in this truth and patience as it slowly evolves and we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

I want to take a moment to thank so many of you who have made year end contributions to our work. It’s a wonderful connection with me and you as my audience and my congregation, my flock and I always love hearing from you. So thank you for your donations, let us know how you are receiving the message and I again want you to know that you are a source of strength for me and thank you for your trust and for your listenership. The music in our program was composed and produced by Ryan Harner for this show. 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 NonProfit 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. Copyright 2022 SAM.