Come Away By Yourselves
Fr. John Grieco
"Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." These words of Jesus Christ are an invitation to personal and intimate prayer. The meditations offered in this podcast are intended to help the listener enter into his own prayerful relationship with God. By reflecting on scenes from the Gospel, on other passages from Scripture, and on the insights of saints and spiritual writers, we can strengthen our faith in Jesus and our love for God. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "I have called you my friends." By regular meditation and dialogue with Our Lord in prayer, our life can be transformed into an ever deepening and loving friendship with God.
- 26 minutes 59 seconds(Rebroadcast) Practices of Lent: Connoisseurs of Love
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://comeawaybyyourselves.com29 March 2025, 9:00 pm - 27 minutes 42 seconds"Seek the Lord while He may be Found": Lenten Urgency
Moses encounters God on Mount Horeb in the burning bush. We do so in our Lenten prayer and penance. The time for conversion, for correspondence to Christ's offer of mercy, is limited. Like the fig tree given just one year more to produce fruit, our life and our Lenten season are passing by.
22 March 2025, 9:00 pm - 29 minutes 23 secondsLent: Deny to Affirm, Empty Out to Fill Up
Lent is a time of self-denial. The higher, better part of ourselves strives to deny and to master our lower nature. This interior struggle is a necessary condition for Christian life. In emptying ourselves out, especially of our pride, we invite God to enter in.
15 March 2025, 9:00 pm - 28 minutes 17 seconds"Have Mercy on Me Lord": Lent and Psalm 51
David composes Psalm 51 as an extended act of contrition. This follows his being convicted of his sin by the Prophet Nathan. The "Miserere Psalm" can help us enter into Lent well, focussed on bravely recognizing and humbly repenting of our sinful deeds and state.
8 March 2025, 10:00 pm - 28 minutes 56 secondsJubilee ‘25: “Hope does not disappoint”
"Spes non confudit" -- with these words from St. Paul, Pope Francis invited the Church to celebrate the Jubilee year of 2025. Living Christian hope, firmly based on God's love for us, we can become beacons of hope for many others.
1 March 2025, 9:00 pm - 31 minutes 56 seconds[Rebroadcast] Savage Sincerity: "The Strength to Stand Before the Son of Man"
Jesus tells us to pray to have the strength "to stand before the Son of Man." When we die we will be judged by God. This is a hard truth but also a truth that saves us. If we ask God for the courage to see ourselves as we really are now, we will be prepared for our death and God's judgment. Reliance on God's grace, fostering sincerity with ourselves and others, living charity, and regularly examining our conscience are all ways to avoid self-deception and to prepare for our definitive meeting with God.
https://comeawaybyyourselves.com22 February 2025, 10:00 pm - 29 minutes 40 secondsLost and Found: Moving from "Where are you?" to "Here I am!"
"Where are you?" This is God's haunting question to Adam and to fallen humanity. "Here I am!" This is our response to Christ's search and rescue mission on our behalf.
15 February 2025, 7:00 pm - 28 minutes 55 secondsEucharistic Souls
"To be eucharistic souls" was a great ideal proposed by St. Josemaria. Having our lives and hearts shaped by what we celebrate in the eucharist has various manifestations in our spiritual life. Adoration, receptiveness to God's love, imitating Christ's charity, joy, and thanksgiving are among the characteristics of truly eucharistic souls.
8 February 2025, 10:00 pm - 25 minutes 52 secondsPraying with St. Thomas Aquinas
This week we celebrated the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas. Thomas believed that the Crucifix was his greatest book and source of wisdom. Guided by St. Thomas, we too can learn great spiritual lessons of from Christ by contemplating his passion.
1 February 2025, 9:00 pm - 28 minutes 27 seconds[Rebroadcast] The Cross and Transformation
"He who loves his life will lose it, he who loses his life for my sake will find it." Finding our true life, and our true selves, means handing ourselves over to Christ. Losing our lives for the sake of Christ is a transformative union with him. This takes work and an acceptance of suffering. There is no resurrection of ourselves in Christ without the cross.
https://comeawaybyyourselves.com25 January 2025, 10:00 pm - 25 minutes 18 secondsLike the Apostles
Like the apostles themselves, the life of the Christian is a call to be close to Jesus and to go out and spread the Good News. Holiness and apostolate are two sides to the same divine vocation. To be an apostle, however, we have to confront various obstacles which would keep us from sharing Christ with others.
https://comeawaybyyourselves.com19 January 2025, 12:00 am - More Episodes? Get the App