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
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Episode 103: There Are No Bystanders!
January 15th, 2025 | 7 mins 52 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
The truth is that our communities need us all to contribute; everyone needs to step up. As my Archbishop, Allen Vigneron of Detroit puts it, “There are no bystanders in the Church” — and no consumers.
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Episode 102: Mother of God, Teach Us to Trust!
January 1st, 2025 | 10 mins 9 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
Trust is something that, if we’re honest, we all desperately need. Not trust that God will answer our prayers the way we think best. Trust that He is good, faithful, and knows what He’s doing, especially when we don’t know what He’s doing.
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Episode 101: O Come Let Us Adore Him!
December 25th, 2024 | 7 mins 51 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
A God who many of us don’t even know, whom we had no idea was real, let alone who loves us, is answering the cry of our hearts. He has come among us, hidden in human flesh, to reveal that God is love, that we are not disqualified or discarded because of our brokenness and sins, and to fight against the enemies we could never defeat (Death, Sin and the devil).
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Episode 100: Breathless
December 18th, 2024 | 6 mins 13 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
The Scriptures that we hear this week and in the days ahead serve as a herald breathlessly shouting with joy that the war has been won! Our enemy, our only enemy, the devil and his fallen angels, has been defeated. The One through whom the entire universe was made, who fashioned each of us out of love in His own image and likeness to be loved and to love, has chosen to become man. God has come to fight for us.
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Episode 99: On the Nearness of the Lord
December 11th, 2024 | 7 mins 27 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
God is with us. The all-powerful Lord of heaven and earth, who humbled Himself to be born of the virgin, who suffered the shame of the cross, and who triumphed over Sin, Death and Satan, is with us. And He doesn’t just sit beside us, like a good friend, unable to do anything. He gives us grace, strength, and all that we need to endure, to persevere, to hang on, to trust, confident that those who trust in Him will never be put to shame.
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Episode 98: How to Partner For the Gospel
December 4th, 2024 | 9 mins 45 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
The early Church won people to the Lord Jesus by being immensely attractive and by showing forth a different way of being human. It was usually only after those encounters with Christians that those who did not know God came into the Church to be baptized, feast on the Eucharist, and join the community of believers. It will almost certainly be the same now
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Episode 97: And For All
November 27th, 2024 | 6 mins 40 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
Ours is a culture that often mistakenly equates greatness with things like money, fame, titles and other such things. The saints show us the truth. The truly great ones are the ones who love. As we enter into these Advent days, let us call upon the intercession of Blessed Solanus, and those others to whom we are especially close, that our love may increase and abound, in order that we might become ever more conformed to the Heart of Jesus, and so that those who are living the nightmare that is life apart from God might come to know Him.
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Episode 96: Jesus’ Kingship and Our Sharing In It
November 20th, 2024 | 9 mins 35 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
These tasks and responsibilities of the king, all gloriously fulfilled in “Jesus Christ, ruler of the kings of the earth,” help to inform our understanding of what it means to participate in His Kingship and how we’re supposed to exercise that participation. In short, we are called to have our eyes and hearts wide open to those around us who are in need – wherever they may be: the streets, nursing homes, the unborn, the elderly, victims of human trafficking and so many more places.
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Episode 95: The Beauty of the Priesthood – Not What We Might Think
November 13th, 2024 | 10 mins 10 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
This week, Hebrews tells us Jesus has made us “perfect.” This is a way of saying that as believers we have now become priests or, better, sharers in Jesus’ priesthood. This happened at our baptism. While I think most people are aware that baptism makes a person a priest, prophet and king, I don’t think most people understand the significance of these momentous truths. We’ve looked at that in other articles.
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Episode 94: Breaking News
November 6th, 2024 | 6 mins 11 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
God is always faithful. He knows what He’s doing. And He is the Author and prime Actor in all of history. These are the things that we need to keep our eyes fixed on. He has proven His love for us by going to the cross, defeating the enemies of the entire human race – Satan, Sin and Death.
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Episode 93: Sacrifice and Its Purpose
October 30th, 2024 | 7 mins 20 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
Jesus’ loving sacrifice on the cross, offered once for all on Calvary, is sacramentally made present at each and every Mass. Unlike how some misunderstand this teaching, the Church teaches that Jesus’ sacrifice offered once for all is made present for us in an unbloodied manner, and then – wonder of wonders! – His Blood (and Body) are not sprinkled on us but given to us to eat, so that real transformation might happen in our lives and our hearts might be ever more conformed to His Sacred Heart, the real Holy of Holies. Every time we receive the Eucharist we do something that the priests of the Old Testament would marvel at: we are actually transformed and made holy.
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Episode 92: Who in the World Is Melchizedek?
October 23rd, 2024 | 7 mins 25 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
The Bible, it has been said, is a library. That is not to say there isn’t one sacred Author of all the books – God – who is revealing both in word and deed. It is to say that the Bible is not a single genre but is rather made up of many different genres. Within the Bible is poetry, historical narrative, apocalyptic, psalms, and many other styles of literature. What genre is The Letter to the Hebrews?