Displaying items 1-10 of 171 in total of Thoughts from the Trailer with Fr. John Riccardo with the tag "acts xxix".
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Episode 172: Don’t Get Squeezed!
August 26th, 2026 | 9 mins 17 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
If there is one foundational Scriptural text for our work in ACTS XXIX, this is it. ACTS XXIX doesn’t offer programs, though programs can be and often are immensely helpful in the Church. Instead, the charism, the gift, God has entrusted to us as an apostolate is what we call “the three essential principles” for transformation in the Church and in the world.
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Episode 171: How Unsearchable His Ways!
August 19th, 2026 | 6 mins 4 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
There are so many things I do not understand about this world that God has lovingly brought into existence. There are so many people for whom I am concerned. There are so many situations that seem to make no sense at all to me. There are so many things that happened to me in my life that I don’t understand, and yet I can see how God has used them to draw me to Himself.
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Episode 170: He Stayed?!
July 29th, 2026 | 7 mins 35 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
More than a few of us find ourselves right in situations that just don’t seem to make sense. More than a few of us, with deep faith in God, His goodness and faithfulness, just flat out don’t get what’s going on. The Lord’s ways are not our ways. We cannot often understand why He does what He does.
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Episode 169: What Do They Hear When They Listen to Us?
July 22nd, 2026 | 7 mins 1 sec
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
On this great feast of the one the Church hails as “the apostle to the apostles”, these are the things I’m praying with, asking the Holy Spirit who dwells in me, and who was there that day, to help me to see and hear.
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Episode 168: The Atmosphere In Which We Live
July 15th, 2026 | 10 mins 32 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
I readily admit I have very few original thoughts. Rather, I’ve always found great joy in making others aware of great minds and, even more, great souls. It is a joy for me to pass along to others books, articles and talks I come across that have had a profound impact on my life, in the hopes that they will similarly impact others.
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Episode 167: Heartfelt Compassion
July 1st, 2026 | 6 mins 21 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
Parishes aren’t small businesses; they’re the people of God — a family of families. We often say in ACTS XXIX that one of the primary crises we see in the Church is a need to recover what it means to be human. A friend of mine speaks frequently about what he calls “the corporatization” of the Church. What he means is that, for a variety of reasons, we often relate to each other in overly functional and transactional ways. This week, especially for those parishes receiving new spiritual fathers, is a great time to change that.
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Episode 166: Res Gestae
June 24th, 2026 | 8 mins 42 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
Nobody in Paul’s day said or thought that Caesar Augustus loved them and gave himself for them. But Paul said this about Jesus. Nobody in Paul’s day said or thought that the various gods of Rome truly cared for them and loved them. At best the gods were to be appeased by various sacrifices and rituals so as not to incur their wrath. But Paul’s contemporary and friend, John, could write the daring and unheard of words: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
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Episode 165: Just Love
June 10th, 2026 | 10 mins 25 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
When Paul writes that love bears all things he means that love “hides”, or “keeps confidential” certain things about others. George Montague, in his excellent commentary on this letter, offers a more poetic translation: “Love throws a cloak of silence over what is displeasing in another person.” Uh…this isn’t exactly what I do. Far too often, to my shame, I speak about and expose the things that are displeasing in others. And yet, Paul says we are not to do this. Once again, what an extraordinary thing that God doesn’t do this about us — can you imagine?!
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Episode 164: Carrying You With Us On Pilgrimage
May 27th, 2026 | 5 mins 15 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
I’ve been fortunate to make this pilgrimage several times before, and it is indeed life-changing — or can be, if we will allow the Holy Spirit to guide us. Christians have gone on pilgrimage almost from the very beginning. We do things like this quite simply because God acts in history, in concrete time and space. Visiting and praying in places where He did wonders of old can serve to remind us that He wants to do them now in our time and space.
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Episode 163: Praying the Familiar Becomes Unfamiliar Again
May 20th, 2026 | 6 mins 49 secs
acts xxix, actsxxix, encouragement, faith, fr. john riccardo, hope, inspiration, mission, prayer, reflections, weekly
G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “It is our perennial spiritual and psychological task to look at things that are familiar until they become unfamiliar again.” This is so true. How have we become used to these mysteries we’ve been celebrating in the Easter season? How can it be that we find these realities…dry, boring, dull, of little to no real interest?