Come Away By Yourselves

"By your patience you will win your souls."   Endurance, perseverance, patience: life is hard at times and seems long, to be faithful to Christ and others we need to stick it out over the long haul.   https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

The great commandment is to love God "with all of your mind, with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength."  Adoration is how we love God most directly as God.  This humble recognition of God's holiness, transcendence, and radical goodness is essential for our lives as Christians.  Like most things, however, we have to learn to adore God by practicing...

In Lent we turn our gaze towards the sufferings of Jesus.  Jesus suffers voluntarily, freely, out of love for us.  Our Lenten penances are an opportunity to do the same for him.  Self-denial is an essential aspect of moral strength and freedom.  Without it we are incapacitated to love God and others as we should. https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

Lent is a wonderful opportunity to find our peace, joy, and comfort in God.  We do this by denying ourselves our usual sources of support, distraction, and pleasure.   To be filled by God is to run the risk of emptying ourselves out of other things.  This takes trust, courage and patience.   God always responds to this kind of personal faith, even when it is imperfect and needs to grow.    https:/...

In this week's Gospel, Jesus cures a leper who tells him, "If you will, you can make me clean."  In confession, Jesus always wills to cleanse us of sin.  These last days before Lent are a great time to pray about the conversion from sin that God is asking of us. https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

Today's reading from the Gospel of Mark continues directly from last Sunday's gospel reading.  Read together, they give us a picture of a day in the life of Jesus.  Jesus's day is filled with work, prayer, and service.   He approaches his tasks and situations with generosity and self-forgetfulness.  This day in his life is a good model for any day in our own lives.  https://comeaway...

The parable of the prodigal son is a parable of freedom and filiation.   The prodigal son and his older brother both misuse their freedom.  They mistakenly feel constrained by their relationship with their father and end up rejecting him.  The prodigal son rediscovers his sonship by reflecting on the truth of his situation.  This speaks to a close connection between true freedom and the truth itse...

The first in a series of classes on the Nicene Creed.   We cover the concepts of Creation and Conservation, the omnipotence of God and out capacity to know God with reason alone.  https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

God wakes up the young boy Samuel four times when he gives him his vocation as a prophet.   God will also wake us up from different forms of spiritual slumber when we go to him in our times of prayer.   Jesus does something similar with Andrew and John.  When they take their very first steps as disciples, he asks them "What are you seeking?"  We should reflect on how much we listen to Go...

The feast of the Epiphany tells us that Christ meant for everyone.   The Magi are the very first of billions of gentiles who will come to be saved in Jesus.  The journey of the Magi speaks to us of our own need to search for God.  The star they follow and the finding of Jesus bring them great joy, as our own vocation and conversions give us the joy of meeting God in Christ. https://comeawaybyyours...

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...

Originally published Christmas 2020 How wonderful it must have been for the Shepherds from Bethlehem to enter the stable on Christmas night !  Our times of prayer this Christmas are our own chance to be close to the baby Jesus, to speak softly with Mary and Joseph, to be wrapped up in the mystery of God present in the Child.  The warm light of the fire in the stable lets us see and welcome into ou...

Today we contemplate three ways of thinking about Jesus and his coming.  He is the light of the world to whom John the Baptist gives witness.  He is the eternal Word.  John's voice and ours expresses this Word in preaching and in holiness of life.  He is our salvation.  By turning away from sin and towards charity with his help, Jesus heals us and brings us deep peace and joy. https://comeawa...

Advent is a penitential season, a time to reckon with our sinfulness and to convert.  Conversion requires the belief that we can radically change with God's help.  God can fill the valley of our frustration and loneliness.  He can lower the mountain of our pride and self-reliance.  For this to happen, however, we have to desire it and ask for it with confidence. https://comeawaybyyourselves.c...

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.  

Originally published 2021 Christ's kingdom is hidden, progresses slowly, and respects our freedom.  It therefore has to be sought out, given time to develop, and freely assented to.   When recognized as our King, Christ brings peace and holiness to our souls. https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

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.  https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

The parable of the ten virgins invites us to reflect on the virtue of wisdom.  Wisdom has to do with having the right goals and knowing how to achieve them.  If our goal is heaven, the means to achieve this is charity.  Growth in charity demands of us a variety of other steps depending on our personal situation and history.  To know what we want is not enough, we must also be committed to the step...

Originally published 2021 Jesus stresses the importance of humility for being "great" and even "first" in the Kingdom of God.  Humility is hard to come by, however, because pride is not easily overcome.  The road to deep humility is a often a painful one, but there is also a shortcut called gratitude.  

The Psalms and other Bible passages are full of encouraging claims about who and what God is for us.  The Lord is our rock, our stronghold, our inheritance  ...  Faith makes these claims come to life.  To be all that he wants to be for us, we must try to let God be our one and true God, whom we love with all of our soul, all of our heart and all of our mind. https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

"This is the will of God for you, your sanctification."  With these words, St. Paul reveals to us the great potential of our Christian life.  St. Josemaria was inspired by God to remind us of this universal vocation.  We should always be confident about taking the next step in our spiritual life.  It is something that God always wants for us.  Holiness is  growth in faith, hope, and char...

Life in Heaven is the supreme goal of our life on earth.   Desiring Heaven is brought about by the theological virtue of hope.  Our longing for Heaven, and our capacity to reach it, is tied to our love of God in this life.  We must learn to love God as our happiness in this life if we wish to enter eternal life confidently.  Hope helps us avoid despair on the one hand, whenever we see the depth of...

October is the month of the Rosary.  We celebrate "Our Lady of the Rosary" and reflect on the many advantages of the recitation of this powerful prayer.  https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

Jesus tells us about two sons.  One does his father's will after saying he wouldn't.  The other says yes to his father but promptly disobeys him.  Jesus, our model, does both: he says yes to the Father's plan and then carries it out.  Loving God's will is essential to our Christian life.  It is Jesus's sole motive and he is our sole model.  St. Josemaria also greatly empha...

The paralytic at the pool in Bethsaida had "no man to help him."  We should always want to be "that man" for others.  Concern for our neighbor takes humility and detachment from our self-concern.  Our love for God is closely linked to this love for others.  You can't love God without being like him, and God is love. https://comeawaybyyourselves.com