Come Away By Yourselves

Originally published in 2021. On Divine Mercy Sunday, we reflect on Jesus's message of peace to the Apostles in the upper room on Easter Sunday.  He brings them peace and joy when they are afraid and sad.  He gives them and us the means to return to peace, the sacrament of confession.  God's Mercy is powerful and enduring, only our pride can keep us from experiencing its marvelous effect...

Originally published Easter 2021 Jesus's Resurrection is the culmination of his victory over sin and death.  In his death and his rising to new life Jesus defeats Satan, the great enemy of God and humanity.  The Resurrection proves that God's love for us is undefeated and truly invincible.  In any battle that God wants us to fight, we can be fully confident of eventual and joyful victory...

The Cross of Christ is "folly to the Gentiles and a scandal to the Jews."  The Crucifixion contradicts our normal expectations of who God is and how he should act.  In speaking against us the Cross reveals God as radical love and sin as radical evil.   The Cross even contradicted Jesus, who asked that "this cup might pass" during his prayer in the garden.  Our crosses will thus...

Jesus's death on the cross is the supreme revelation of God's love.  St. Paul tells us that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ.  Christ's death shows us how much he loves us and what the Father's love for Him, and for us, is like.  This is a  reliable love, upon which we can firmly plant all of our problems and our whole life.  The cross fills us with confi...

Almsgiving (charity) is one of the three traditional practices of Lent.  When preaching about almsgiving, Jesus focuses on purity of intention.  We should love others for their sake and for the glory of God.  St. Paul paints a portrait of the Christian heart in his letter to the Ephesians.  Christian charity is especially imbued with understanding of others and selflessness in service.   https://c...

On the Feast of St. Joseph, we  reflect on his courage in accepting the unique responsibilities entrusted to him by God.  This courage was bolstered by his trust in God and in God's plan.  Joseph didn't have to understand everything to be faithful to God's will.  His determination to love and protect Mary and Jesus is tied to his flexibility and detachment with respect to his own pl...

While Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving are the three traditional practices of Lent, prayer should take priority.  We learn from the example of Jesus who put prayer in the first place in his day.  Like Our Lord, we should make sacrifices in order to find time to pray.  Mental prayer is especially fruitful and important.  To raise our minds and hearts to God is restful and reminds us that God is our...

St. Paul's letter to the Romans connects justification with a state of spiritual peace.  God's love for us should be a source of continual peace even amidst problems and turbulent times.  This takes an effort to grow in our faith and to evaluate everything in the light of faith.  Hope depends on the reality of God and his love.   Paul also sees God's love for us as a source of inner...

At twelve years of age Jesus takes initiative and responsibility for his mission.  To be a man is to take life seriously.   Pleasure seeking and love of comfort will keep us from being true men.  Boredom is a symptom of selfishness and indifference to others.  Jesus invites us to join him in his work of redemption.  This takes growth in our own sense of maturity, self-control, responsibility, and...

A theology class given for parents at Montrose School in January 2023. If God is good and all of his creation is therefore good, what can "evil" possibly be?  The mysterious nature of evil and its connection to nothingness are important topics for Christian reflection.  By understanding evil's strange relationship with goodness and the true source of moral evil, we will be better eq...

After forty days of fasting in the wilderness, Jesus is tempted by the devil.  We learn the importance of our own Lenten fasts by reflecting on Jesus' fast.  Jesus' temptations also contain valuable lessons for us.  Temptation is part of God's plan for us.  As it was for Jesus, temptation can be for us a great spiritual opportunity rather than an obstacle.    https://comeawaybyyours...

Lent is a season of penance and prayer.  Voluntary denial of our bodies, souls, and our very selves strengthens our spiritual life.   Without silence, deep prayer is impossible.  Without mortification of our habitual distractions, interior silence is unattainable.  Above all, we should practice the denial of our ego.  Self-satisfaction, vanity, and pride can all coexist with other forms of mortifi...

Lent is a great opportunity for conversion.   Conversion is a deep change of mind and heart: to leave behind the wisdom of the world in order to have the mind of Christ.  The beatitudes are a call to conversion.  They contradict what the world considers as essential to a good life.  The first beatitude, "blessed are the poor in spirit" is particularly helpful for us in our often material...

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."  What a difference it makes to know that Jesus is present within us!  Ours is a God who loves us, understands us, and wants to help us.  And he doesn't do this from a far distance, he is more present to us than we are to ourselves.   With him present in our soul, we need never be...

The corporal works of mercy are the scorecard by which we will be judged at the final judgment.  Awareness and alleviation of the needs of others are essential components of Christian life.  Our modern lifestyle and society often hides the most needy from us.  To help others who really need it, we have to be intentional and to fight against our tendency to comfort and self-seeking.  When we commit...

"I have called you my friends."  These words of Jesus teach us how we should speak to him in our prayer.  Close friends converse with each other confidently and intimately.  We should habitually share all of our thoughts, feelings, and concerns with our friend Jesus. He is interested in any and every thing that affects us.  In times of trouble, when it seems like he has left us, this con...

Evangelization came naturally to the first Christians.  Convinced of how much good Christ did for them, they were convincing in encouraging others to meet Christ for themselves.  A profound knowledge and appreciation of our own relationship with Jesus will also move us to share our faith with others spontaneously and naturally.  This sharing is the result of the depth of our prayer life and our ge...

Holiness is God's own will and resolution for us.  In calling us to be holy God resolves that we be such.  Holiness is the fullness of charity.  To respond to our call to holiness, to live this divine resolution, is to learn to love God in himself and in and through all things.  https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

This was the Q&A session that followed the class on freedom.  

A class given in November, 2022 to parents at Montrose School, Medfield, MA.    https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

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...

Jesus's appearance as a child contains valuable lessons for our life.  Dependence, sincerity, humility and trust are all luminously revealed by the infant God.  Christ's whole life is a "master class" on how to live, including his apparent inaction in the manger.   https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

Joseph welcomes Mary into his home and thus welcomes Jesus with her.  Jesus is Emmanuel, "God with us", and the "God who saves."  Jesus's presence in the world is a spur to our own spirit of service.  He is in us and among us as "one who serves." https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

A meditation on trust, patience, and God's power and love.  

Originally published 12/8/2020: The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady is a wonderful occasion for prayer.  Our Lady's special favor with God is a reflection of his generosity and love for us.  Bernadette of Lourdes' encounter with Mary helps us to deal personally with our Lady as she truly is: a loving mother and a teacher of prayer.