Come Away By Yourselves

The Baptism of Jesus speaks to us of his incredible humility.  Without being a sinner, Jesus plays the role of one by letting himself be baptized by John the Baptist.  Humility unlocks our ability to love God and others.  It protects our peace and joy.   

The Magi follow the light of a star to reach Bethlehem and worship Christ.  We too must be aware of the lights that God sends us to bring us closer to Jesus.  These lights vary in nature and appearance.  To be constant in following the light that is Christ, we also need to be aware of other lights that could lead us away from Him.  To contact us, please write to comeawaybyyourselves@gmail.com.   P...

Christmas puts before us the Virgin Mary loving and caring for her Divine Son.  It's a scene that we can enter into in our prayer and in our life.  Jesus says that we too are "his mother" insofar as we do God's will.  God allows Mary and all of us to love him in the Christ child just as He has always loved us: with a mother's heart.  Christmas is a time to begin life again...

Closing in on Christmas we contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation.  Mary's humility and openness to God's plan are inspiring and truly mysterious.  She offers us a recipe for our own life as Christians: attentiveness in prayer, humility based on contemplating God, and readiness to do His will. 

In the Incarnation, the Infinite God becomes finite, limited, even small.  The Word is made flesh and begins his earthly life as an infant, as a little thing.  In the spiritual life, little things are also a dwelling place of God.  Little deeds, ordinary tasks, and everyday moments are all opportunities for us "to seek Christ, to find Christ, to love Christ", who is present but hidden in...

Advent is essentially a time of preparation.  To prepare for Jesus is to make our souls and lives more welcoming places for him to arrive.  This entails conversion, confession, a real change of heart and mind.  The changes that Jesus can bring about in our lives and in the world are truly incredible.  To let him do this, we need to be on board with the program. 

Advent is a time of patience and hope.  Both of these virtues entail waiting.  Waiting for God is sometimes very difficult, especially in trying situations.  Our faith in Jesus, who is God with us and faithful to his promises, bolsters our ability to wait for him with joyful hope.  Our faith overcomes the tribulation of the world and even makes us peaceful in the face of possible persecution.  

Christ's supreme manifestation as King will come when he returns to judge the living and the dead.  Until then, we have to remain patient with his will for us.  Jesus uses his power to serve others and he hides his power in order to suffer for sin.  At times, we might naturally wish for him to establish his kingdom sooner, putting an end to evil and suffering.  But we should always trust in h...

Jesus often calls us to vigilance.  We know neither the time nor the hour of his second coming and the time of our own death is certain but unknown to us.  The best preparation for our judgment is found in discerning and doing the will of God. 

Our Faith should give us great confidence in God.  Waiting around for a feeling of confidence, however, rarely ever works.  Rather we should treat our Faith more like the robust Truth that it is.  Faith is just true, whether we feel like it is or not.  This feeling dependent view of faith ends up filling us with the courage and confidence that we need and want. 

On the Feast of All Saints we reflect on what makes saints holy.  God's gift of divine filiation is at the core of sanctity.  As children of God, the saints experience a freedom that was and is Christ's own liberty.  We pray for a greater desire to be like them on earth so we can be with them in heaven.     

The question of our personal identity is crucial to life.  Our identity is tied to our closest relationships and our life’s mission.  The deepest truth of who we are, however, is something we find in God and receive from Him, not something we have to figure out entirely on our own. By living the life God wants for us, we become our true selves and discover our true names. 

Moses struggles on a hilltop to keep his hands up in prayer while a battle rages down on the field.  The fight's outcome depends on Moses' effort in prayer.  Our prayers also make a real difference in the lives of others and of the world.  Inspired by Scripture, which is living and active, our time in prayer gives new life to our ordinary tasks and interactions.  

Jesus heals ten lepers but only one comes back to thank him.  An image of sin, their leprosy is cured when they are on the way to see "the priests."  Jesus appreciates the gratitude of the Samaritan who returned after being cured and finds fault with the other nine.  Constant gratitude is a way of loving our Lord and of assuring our own increase in saving faith. 

The Sermon on the Mount is the core of Jesus's teaching on how to live with faith.  At once challenging and comforting, Jesus's vision of faith calls us to a radical dependence on God and detachment from all other goods.  At the heart of faith is an unshakable trust in God's infinite love for us.  This conviction frees us to live without fear and to strive for virtue without anxiety...

Jesus' parable of the talents is an image of Christian life.  God has invested a lot in each one of us.  Like the servants who eagerly trade with their talents to make them fruitful, we want to accept all the opportunities and challenges that our Lord has entrusted to us.  Too often it is easy to resent life, focusing only on the difficulties, and end up like the third servant who buries his...

St. Paul expresses God's intent that "all men be saved."  In his providence, God counts on his apostolic Church to fulfill this divine desire.  He is always looking for "laborers" for the vineyard.  The parable of the unjust steward reminds us to be grateful guardians of God's gifts and to be shrewd in pursuing our noble ends. 

Christ's Triumph on the Cross defeated sin and death.  It was a triumph of love over selfishness.  This victory needs to be repeated in our own lives, in our own carrying of the Cross.  Sin and selfishness have to be defeated in us and this entails the acceptance of suffering and sacrifice; in a word the acceptance of the Cross.   Suffering is inevitable in life, but whether it is redemptive...

Jesus takes five loaves and two fish from a boy and multiplies them to feed a crowd of thousands.  When we trust him, Jesus takes our good will and our meager personal resources and similarly multiplies them to help us and others.  Fortunately, faith is something we can grow in by choosing to do so.  It is a free human act.  By admitting our limitations and weakness and then confidently trying our...

The readings for this Sunday's Mass relate the fruits of humility.  Growth in humility is worth the effort.  St. Theresa of Avila offers sound advice on how to advance in this essential Christian virtue. 

Jesus walks on water in the midst of a storm.   Peter joins him in a great act of daring and trust.  This Gospel scene contains lessons of prayer, trust, and union with Christ on the cross.  Please rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts.  Questions or comments? comeawaybyyourselves@gmail.com

If you enjoy this podcast please leave a rating and review wherever you listen.  Questions or comments? comeawaybyyourselves@gmail.com.   Christ expresses his burning desire to "cast fire on the earth."  This is a call to an intense Christian life.  To be men and women on fire for the love of God and others, we should look out for self-centered and lukewarm habits and mindsets.  Prayer,...

By leaving the saving news of the Gospel and the saving power of the sacraments to the Church, Jesus put great things into our hands.  The apostolic mission of Christians is an extension of Christ's own love for souls.  Apostolate, evangelization, becomes natural when we remember, or realize in a deeper way, just how much Christ means to us. 

To follow Jesus is to take up our cross each day.  Pain, sadness, fear and suffering were all a part of Christ's life and essential to his redemptive love for us.  To follow Jesus in love is therefore also to share in his suffering.  Our faith helps us to find meaning and solace in our most difficult trials. 

Jesus is the "light of the world" who gives us the "light of life."  Christian life is a process of continual identification with Christ.  The effort to do this is not just behavioral modification but, perhaps more fundamentally, intellectual conversion.  To convert is to see things as Christ does, to come to have "the mind of Christ" as St. Paul puts it.  This is our...