A woman suffering from a  hemorrhage fights through a crowd to touch Jesus with faith.  This Gospel story teaches a great deal about our own relationship with Jesus.  Her miracle has three key ingredients: need, faith, and contact with Christ.  Our own encounters with Christ will be more impactful and fruitful the more we need him, trust him, and have direct contact with him.  Like this woman, we are all spiritually bleeding and wounded.  By contact with Christ--in communion, confession and prayer--we can learn what these wounds are and experience his healing power.  

https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

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 itself.  The elder son acts correctly for the most part, but does so without charity, without an identification with his father's heart.  This leads him to a resentful and self-righteous fulfillment of his duties.  To avoid all of these pitfalls, we look to Jesus, who always acts freely because he always wants to please his most loving Father. 

https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

This is the audio of a Zoom class given last year to a women's group at a local parish.  The topic is The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.  We review the basic theology of this wonderful doctrine: why we believe it, where it comes from in the Bible, why it's possible, how it works, and its import for our spiritual life.  There are about 30 minutes of lecture followed by a time of Q and A. 

https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

Originally published 9/23/20

Having the true God as our personal God is a great accomplishment and privilege.  The worship of false gods can take various forms.  In order to be truly human and  to love God as he deserves, we need to identify and cast out our idols. 

https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

Jesus is the anointed one, sent by God to preach good news to the poor, to liberate captives, to give sight to the blind, and to free the oppressed.  Believing this means bringing all of our problems to him.  If we don’t depend on Christ in this way, he is not truly Christ for us.  Our souls also need to grow in loving Jesus above everything and everyone else.  St. Paul is a model of loving Christ in this way.  By reading about and meditating on Christ, conversing with him in our prayer, we grow to love him in the way that he deserves and needs to be loved. 

At the wedding feast of Cana, a young couple is privileged with the presence of Jesus and Mary.  Mary's interaction with Jesus shows us the power of her intercession and teaches us to have a great trust in God.   Our Lady's advice, 'do whatever he tells you,' is at once practical and profound.  Coming from her own experience of fruitful submission to God's will, this piece of advice is a foolproof way to grow in holiness and in love.  

https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

First published 1/11/21: In Jesus's Baptism we see Jesus doing something unnecessary and in a sense unfair.  He takes on the role of a sinner, allowing John to baptize him with his baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  At the beginning of his public life, this event foreshadows our redemption at the end of Jesus's life--his death on the cross.  Jesus loves us by lowering himself, forgetful of his status and his rights, giving himself in a way that is beyond all necessity and human logic.  Christian life is an invitation to do the same

The three Magi give us an example of humility and daring.  Their three gifts each symbolize an aspect of the Mystery of Christ.  Christ is King, Victim, and God.  In our own way, we can give him Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, with our generosity, our spirit of sacrifice, and our adoration.  The gifts of the Magi remind us of the greatest gift of Christmas, the gift of Christ himself.  In Christ we receive countless spiritual gifts.  These are meant to be freely accepted and also shared with the world. 

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Our desire to see Jesus this Christmas is a deep desire to see God.  Made for heaven, we will be unfulfilled until we see God "face to face."   The Church calls the sight of God in heaven the "beatific vision."  Our earthly happiness also depends on our seeing God in Christ.  This happens in our faith and in our prayer.   Only by purifying our ideas and desires for happiness, making them correspond more perfectly to our true goal, will we be content in this life and happy forever in the next. 

https://comeawaybyyourselves.com

Originally published 12/21/2020. 

We can join Mary and Joseph on their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  The divine adventure that they were on was filled with trust in God, which counteracted their natural concerns and fears.  The silent presence of Jesus within his Mother's womb was a source of wonder, love, and prayer for Mary and Joseph.  Jesus's silent presence in Mary and his silent sleep in the manger has a profound meaning for times of spiritual dryness.