About the show

Thoughts from the Trailer is a weekly blog from ACTS XXIX (https://www.actsxxix.org/trailer)
This podcast is the audio version of those articles.

If you are blessed by our podcast, and wish to support us, please click https://www.actsxxix.org/give

Thoughts from the Trailer with Fr. John Riccardo on social media

Episodes

  • Episode 79: Do We Recognize How Important Unity Is?

    July 24th, 2024  |  10 mins 1 sec
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    Diabolos, the Greek word for the devil, is often translated as “the divider.” That’s good, but it doesn’t quite catch the whole meaning of the word, nor of the character and desire of the enemy of our race

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    Episode 78: What Do They See When They Look At Us?

    July 17th, 2024  |  11 mins 25 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    I had originally written this last Saturday morning. And then Saturday afternoon happened in Butler, Pa. I would suggest this is an astoundingly timely passage for the Church in our country and for each of us personally.

  • Episode 77: We Exist For His Praise…and Yet!

    July 10th, 2024  |  8 mins 38 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    The celebration of Mass has a “pace” to it. I once read it described as “ritualized play,” meaning that it is not a time so much for personal devotion as it is for communal worship – a worship for which God Himself has given us the instructions.

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    Episode 76: Building Upon Rock

    July 3rd, 2024  |  8 mins 18 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    I can, much to my chagrin, quickly fall into a sort of spiritual temper tantrum with the Lord when things don’t go as I would like them to, or imagine they should.

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    Episode 75: Looking Through The Lens of Generosity

    June 26th, 2024  |  6 mins 14 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    What we might not realize, given how often many parishes take up such “special collections” is that while we have become accustomed to such things, nobody ever did this in times long past.

  • Episode 74: What Does it Mean to "Be Catholic?"

    June 19th, 2024  |  5 mins 3 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    Who am I living for? Who are you living for? Is it really the Lord?

  • Episode 73: Some Common Misunderstandings and a Day to Eagerly Anticipate!

    June 12th, 2024  |  8 mins 15 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    When Paul writes that “we walk by faith and not by sight,” he certainly does not mean that faith is blind, or lacking in evidence. Paul, after all, met the risen Jesus in the flesh, and heard Him speaking to Him on the road to Damascus.

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    Episode 72: What Does Paul Mean by "Glory"?

    June 5th, 2024  |  17 mins 41 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    As the title of C.S. Lewis’ essay comes from the above passage from St. Paul, I thought it worth sharing at least part of it this week. I know it’s much longer than this blog usually is but it’s simply too good to edit more than I already have. For those who are encountering this masterpiece for the first time, you might want to refill your coffee, or whatever beverage you are enjoying, and settle in to drink deeply from this great man’s insights.

  • Episode 71: Lord, I Want To See!

    May 29th, 2024  |  6 mins 55 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    Contrary to how the world thinks, faith is not blind but rather a way of knowing, a way of seeing all of reality which is much, much bigger than anything we can conceive.

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    Episode 70: Better Than Gold

    May 22nd, 2024  |  7 mins 34 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    Each day, the Church puts before us a veritable feast not only in the Scriptures chosen for Mass but in the antiphons and prayers as well. Truth be told, the appetizers are so good that sometimes I never make it to the main course.

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    Episode 69: My Lord

    May 15th, 2024  |  6 mins 41 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    Idols? What in the world do idols have to do with us moderns? I’ve never seen a shrine to Zeus or Aphrodite in any of the homes that I’ve visited. And yet…

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    Episode 68: Reigning – Not Far Away

    May 8th, 2024  |  9 mins 42 secs
    acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly

    Jesus has been established as the true and rightful Lord. His is the name above every either name. Jesus has no rival and no equal. And one day He will return to judge the living and the dead and establish God’s kingdom in a new heaven and a new earth, where there will be no sickness, no mourning, no death.