Thoughts from the Trailer with Fr. John Riccardo - Episodes Tagged with “Hope”

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Episode 157: The Strong Man Is About to Be Bound

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 02:00:00 -0400

The annual celebration of Liberation Day, not only for the human race but the entire universe, is upon us. To help us better meditate on what Jesus was doing in His passion, death and resurrection, here are some excerpts from a few of our ancestors in the faith from years ago. May the Holy Spirit help us to appropriately celebrate all that King Jesus has done for us!

To watch the presentation given by Fr. John this past November entitled, “Priesthood: The Unspoken Crisis, Why Praying for Priests Matters", click here.

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Episode 156: The Feast That’s Never Celebrated

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 02:00:00 -0400

Today, though — March 25 — is also the traditional date of Good Friday. According to tradition, Mary’s Child — the God-man, our Rescuer, the Lord of heaven and earth — was both conceived and died on the same day of the year.

To watch the presentation given by Fr. John this past November entitled, “Priesthood: The Unspoken Crisis, Why Praying for Priests Matters", click here.

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Episode 155: No Contest

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 02:00:00 -0400

“In the midst of life we are in death: dust we are, and to dust we shall return. There we remain unless there is an intervention from beyond this world order. Only a Power greater than that of Death can countermand that strict arrest.”

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Episode 154: Getting the Emphasis Correct

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 02:00:00 -0400

And, so, the psalmist cries out, “The Lord is my shepherd.” In other words, the One who created the universe from nothing, the one who called into existence everything that is, the one who has no rival and is never anxious or nervous, He is the one who looks after me, who cares for me, who leads me to nourishment, who protects and fights for me. It’s as though the psalmist is inviting us to ask ourselves to whom or to what we look for nourishment, care, and protection. We are, I believe, being asked to consider who our shepherd is?

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Episode 153: The One Who Satisfies

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 02:00:00 -0500

What are we to make of this? This Gospel reminds us of the shocking, scandalous truth that far more than we desire God, God desires us! Not out of need, not out of lack, not because He doesn’t know what to do now that football is over and March Madness hasn’t started yet. Because He is Love. This wasn’t just true for that woman. It’s true for you and for me. God, the Creator of the universe, desires you! That’s why He created you. That’s why He became a man for you. That’s why He went to the cross for you. That’s why He gives Himself to you and me in the Eucharist. And on and on. How desperately most of us need to know this. Not intellectually. Experientially. In an increasingly anxious, lonely, isolated world, most people long to know they matter, that they’re seen, that they’re loved. And here’s the reality: you are! I am!

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Episode 152: The Restoration Begins

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 02:00:00 -0500

"Family. That one word is perhaps the simplest way to get our heads around why God created us. He created us to be His family, His sons and daughters, brothers and sisters all. Given that, in these initial weeks of Lent, perhaps it might especially be worth asking the Father to help us better see both ourselves and all those we encounter as He does. There are no unimportant people to God. There is no one our Father doesn’t want to know His reckless love. There is no one who is not supposed to be here. There is no one for whom God did not become a man, go to the cross, and do battle against our ancient foe. There is no one I will meet today who is not my brother or sister and His son or daughter. No one. I, for one, can easily forget that."

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Episode 151: Test Me O God

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 02:00:00 -0500

How might we best enter into this season of grace, especially the first half, which is something like an extended examination of conscience, before we start to focus on preparing for the celebration of Jesus’ triumphal Passion, Death and Resurrection?

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Episode 150: Will We Take This Week Seriously?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 02:00:00 -0500

Jesus’ prayer for the unity of all those who believe in Him is one that I fear many of us — myself very much included — do not usually take anywhere seriously enough. In His farewell discourses in John, the Lord’s motive for this unity is twofold: that the world will believe the Father sent Him and that the world may know that God loves them even as He does His Son (cf. John 17:11-23).

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Episode 149: Peace In Troubled Times

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 02:00:00 -0500

...the peace God and God alone can give and does give is able to calm our hearts and minds even when things all around us are on fire, whether literally or figuratively. The peace of Jesus can reign in us regardless of whether or not the circumstances of life or up or down.

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Episode 148: Knocking Down Walls Of Division (Part II)

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 02:00:00 -0500

As we turn the calendar and continue to read and watch stories of ongoing violence, wars, and division, let us call upon the intercession of Peter and Paul, and invoke the power of the Holy Spirit to fall upon us, that we may somehow further and advance the peace that only God can give and bring to the creature made in His image and likeness whom He so loves.

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Episode 147: Knocking Down Walls of Hostility For The New Year

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 02:00:00 -0500

As we enter into this new year, mindful of the division, resentment, anger, enmity and more that are tearing apart the human race, let us call upon the intercession of St. Stephen and his friend and brother, St. Paul. May their powerful prayers help us to see one another as we should, as brothers and sisters.

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Episode 146: Merry Christmas!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 02:00:00 -0500

Emmanuel doesn’t merely mean “God is with us,” as in “God is in our midst.” It means, “God is on our side.” He has come for us. Because for some unimaginable and unexplainable reason, the Creator of all that is is passionately in love with us! May the Holy Spirit overwhelm us anew in these holy days we are about to enter.

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Episode 145: The Greatest Cipher System of All-Time

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 02:00:00 -0500

In these introductory verses to the Church in Rome, Paul tells us that the good news of King Jesus’ victory over the powers of Death and Sin had been promised previously through the prophets. There are scores of prophecies about what and how God is going to defeat these cosmic powers, but none of them just come out and say “God is going to become a man and rescue His creation.” We might be inclined to wonder why the prophecies are often so mysterious and confusing?

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Episode 144: He’s Closer Than You Think!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 02:00:00 -0500

Generally speaking, the Latin word adventus means coming, or arrival. But there’s much more behind this word than meets the eye. You wouldn’t use it to describe, say, grandma coming for Thanksgiving (no offense to grandmas!). Adventus was an empire word. It had to do with a very specific ceremony in the Roman Empire.

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Episode 143: Know God, Know Hope

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:00:00 -0500

Advent is a time to prepare ourselves to celebrate the single most important event in the history of the universe: God becoming man to rescue His good creation from cosmic powers we could never defeat on our own and thus reconcile us to Himself and one another. It’s also a time to prepare ourselves for the very real day when this God-man will return as triumphant King to definitively make all things new.

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Episode 142: Thankfulness – The Heart of Prayer

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 02:00:00 -0500

This week, as we celebrate with family and friends – and remember and miss greatly those family and friends who once sat with us and are now waiting for us on the other side of the veil – it would seem that burying ourselves in various psalms of thanksgiving would be a most appropriate thing to do.

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Episode 141: There is No King Like This

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 02:00:00 -0500

This coming Sunday is the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. What a name for a feast! That said, writing as an American, ours is a nation that doesn’t like kings all that much. Kings often conjure up in our minds images of men seated on thrones, living in luxury, remote from their people, who are often living much simpler and harder lives. How then are we to enter into, let alone celebrate, this feast?

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Episode 140: Forget About Them!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 02:00:00 -0500

As we draw nearer to the end of the liturgical year with next week’s solemnity of Christ the King, there is an increasingly urgent tone in the Scriptures. This coming Sunday, God’s Word through the prophet Malachi warns us that “the Day is coming,” that is the Day of King Jesus’ return, of wrapping up history, of judgment, and of making all things new. This “Day” is a certainty. It’s going to happen. And each and every one of us is going to stand face to face before the Lord of lords and King of kings. This King and Lord is gentle, compassionate and merciful – blessed be He! He is also, however, “a consuming fire”

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Episode 139: Is There No Greater Love?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 02:15:00 -0400

Paul says that Jesus didn’t lay down His life for His friends. In fact, Jesus died for His enemies! Jesus died, Paul writes, for the ungodly! Who does things like this? Nobody does things like this. Nobody willingly dies for their enemy, for bad people, for the ungodly, for the wicked. Nobody but God that is. And by so doing, Jesus turned enemies into friends and the ungodly and the wicked into beloved sons and daughters of His Father.

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Episode 138: Are We Ready?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Memento mori was a common expression in days gone by. It’s Latin for “remember death.” The expression served as a reminder that one real day we will be like those we pray for now. Hopefully, people will be praying for you and me when that day comes.

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Episode 137: What’s Your Divine Data Usage?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Every Sunday morning, a notice pops up on my phone. It probably does on yours too.“You averaged X hours of screen time a day last week,” it proclaims. Some weeks the amount of time is downright alarming. Imagine, instead, what would happen if a notice popped up that said, “You averaged X hours of time in the Word of God a day last week”? Think our lives would be different — less anxious, calmer, more peaceful, less stressed out and overwhelmed, more hopeful?

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Episode 136: Stand!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Paul tells us how important it is for us to persevere. What’s more, he reminds us for what exactly we are persevering: so as to reign! In other words, it’s worth it. The Greek word Paul uses could alternatively be translated as remain, endure, don’t be moved off your spot, be patient. Perhaps, most simply, it means to stand.

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Episode 135: Disarming the Spirit of Fear

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 02:00:00 -0400

The fact that the command, “Do not be afraid” is the most common command in the whole Bible tells me that it must be the thing that I need to hear the most! But though I have the feeling of fear, I do not have to let it control me. This is what John Paul II was constantly saying to the world. And this is what Paul is saying to us this week.

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Episode 133: First Things First

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 02:00:00 -0400

In these days of intense feelings, often hostile rhetoric, and worse, let us be very careful how we speak about others. And most of all, first of all, with utmost confidence in God’s mercy and power, let us pray for them — perhaps especially for those we find it most difficult to love or like.

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Episode 132: Love on Display

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Saint Mother Teresa, whose feast day we recently celebrated, heard Jesus one day in prayer give what to me is the single greatest commentary on this ”picture.” In a world increasingly fearful, lonely, and longing for love, it seems so very timely. As you read what He said to her, please know He is saying this now to you and to me. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you hear the voice of the Lord Jesus, the King of glory, the One before whom one real day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, speak these words very personally to you.

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Episode 131: There Is No “Them”

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 02:00:00 -0400

As we eavesdrop on Paul teaching Philemon this week, he’s teaching us too. The world is still divided between “us” and “them” — just read the news. The call on the disciple of Jesus is still to announce the good news that the entire human race has been rescued from the powers of Sin and Death, and the subsequent enslaving forces of division, hatred and more. But not just to announce it. To put the power of the Gospel into effect in every dimension of human life, to act like leaven so as to make the world ever more authentically human.

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Special Guest: Albert Faraj.

Episode 130: The Blood That Cries Mercy

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 02:00:00 -0400

The most unjust, horrific, hideous act in human history took place on Calvary some two thousand years ago now. There, on that hill, the God who is Love, gave Himself into the hands of the creature He had fashioned out of love for friendship, and was torn to shreds, quite literally. Why? So that we might be rescued from the clutches of the powers of Sin and Death, into whose grip we had fallen as a result of fateful decisions just before Abel’s murder.

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Episode 129: What Kind of God Is This?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 02:00:00 -0400

So God — God! — came to our rescue. Personally. He didn’t wave a magic wand. He didn’t send an angel. He came Himself. As a man. And the rescue happened by His going to the cross, a most shameful, humiliating and painful way to die. What looked like a defeat was in fact a victory, because Jesus on the cross isn’t just a victim, He’s the aggressor; He’s not just hunted, He’s hunting. Our enemy. And the resurrection on Easter Sunday is the announcement that Good Friday was a victory.

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Special Guest: Albert Faraj.

Episode 128: The Real 12th Man

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 02:00:00 -0400

There’s a reason why teams want to play their big games at home. Tens of thousands of cheering fans, often whipped up into a frenzy by anything from cheer leaders to yell leaders, somehow inspire and perhaps even enable highly skilled athletes to do things that they could never do otherwise. Accordingly, the home crowd is often referred to as “the 12th man” in football.

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Episode 127: Heralds of Hope for a Hurting World

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 02:00:00 -0400

We in ACTS XXIX would gently like to suggest, however, that it is not enough in these days in which we are living to simply be pilgrims of hope. We must also be heralds of hope. We live in the midst of a world that is riddled by fear, division, anger, depression, despair and so much more. As disciples of Jesus, that is, as men and women who have encountered Someone who has entirely changed our lives, who has brought us from darkness to light, we are called to proclaim to those with whom we work, study, play, and live that life is not in vain, that there is a God, and that He is good and knows what He is doing.

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Episode 126: Taming Our Tongues

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Our speech can be immensely damaging to others, and in our modern society we are exposed almost constantly to harsh, slanderous, malicious, and obscene speech. As disciples of Jesus, the way we talk and write is supposed to stand out, to be different, to be noticed by not sounding like the world at large. In doing so, we can help the world become more genuinely human..

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Episode 125: Sitting Down To a Feast

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 02:00:00 -0400

I’ve always found analogies wonderfully helpful. I have a simple mind, and I have always appreciated teachers who had the gift of breaking complex topics down in such a way that they become more understandable and digestible. God, of course, is the greatest Teacher. There’s a reason why most of Scripture in general, and especially most of Jesus’ teaching in particular, is story telling: we easily remember stories. Analogies, like stories, tend to leave lasting imprints in our minds.

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Episode 124: Stepping Into The Arena

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Pope Pius XII preached in his homily that parents can learn from Maria’s life to train their children such that when put to the test they will come through “undefeated, unscathed and untarnished.” What a triad! As I lingered with this thought, the Holy Spirit led me to remember the speech by Theodore Roosevelt entitled, “The Man in the Arena.” He further held in front of me how fiercely competitive I can tend to be, especially in sports, and certainly when I was young. Putting these together, the Lord has given me a new image that has been very helpful in my morning prayer and perhaps will stay with me for quite some time.

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Episode 123: God's Ladders

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 02:00:00 -0400

I’m thinking of Dr. Kreeft this week since we’re going to be celebrating the solemnity of Corpus Christi, that is, the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. A convert to Catholicism, Kreeft has what I consider to be the single most helpful book to start with if we want to dive deep into this most magnificent (and often misunderstood or taken for granted) gift Jesus has left to the Church.

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Episode 122: The Real G.O.A.T

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Sports fans often argue about who they think the G.O.A.T. is in any given sport (Greatest Of All Time). Here’s the truth: Jesus is the real G.O.A.T. — and it isn’t even close. He has defeated the power of Death, the power of Sin, and the enemy of our race, the devil. And one day, when He returns to make all things new, He will destroy them, wipe away every tear from our eye, and usher us into the abundant life He has prepared us for.

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Episode 121: How the Spirit Comforts Us

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 02:00:00 -0400

"As we prepare this weekend for the great solemnity of Pentecost, I have found myself re-reading this spiritual gem. There is one excerpt in particular that is simply too good to keep to myself; I pray others will find the following as helpful and encouraging as I do."

actsxxix.org/trailer/121

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Episode 120: Heaven’s Ticker-Tape Parade

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 28 May 2025 02:00:00 -0400

"Worship is something that I would argue makes up very little of most people’s prayer. Our prayer is usually dominated by intercessions of one kind or another, and that’s alright as Jesus told us to ask after all. But this week, let us be intentional to worship the King. Let us imagine how we would have felt back in 1945 to have heard the war is finally over; to see ourselves on those streets as the soldiers returned home after having fought for us; to know this all happened for us, and to pour out our praise and honor to the One who is Lord and who has triumphed by His love."

actsxxix.org/trailer/120

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Episode 119: Begging the Spirit to Do What Only He Can Do

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 21 May 2025 02:00:00 -0400

The Church is supposed to be a sign of unity and communion for the world, the means by which the human race, scattered by sin and more, is not only reconciled to God but to each other. In fact, nothing else can accomplish this end, so desperately needed right now in a culture and world that is so prone to demonize “the other.” When Pope Leo says that the Church is to be “a small leaven…within the world” he means that disciples are supposed to interact with and touch the world, just as leaven interacts and touches the dough, making the world “rise” and become more genuinely human.

actsxxix.org/trailer/118

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Episode 118: God Makes All Things New – Especially People

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 14 May 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Peter must have been aware of the whispers behind his back about his denials, concerns about his past, and various other attacks on his character. Not just from the anonymous crowds, but especially from within the small group of the Apostles. He might even have expected Cornelius to question him about his lack of loyalty. Instead Peter is free because he is the recipient of God’s version of the ”cancel culture.” Unlike the one we currently live in, where people get canceled because of past failures and indiscretions, God’s version cancels the failures and indiscretions — not the people who committed them — thereby enabling us to begin again.

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Episode 117: Are We Able to Warm People’s Hearts?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 02:00:00 -0400

While many in the world and the Church are eagerly awaiting the start of the conclave and the election of the next successor to St. Peter, we are still in what are officially known as the nine days of mourning for Pope Francis. As such, we are called to pray for the repose of his soul in an intentional way. It’s also been a time for me to revisit some of the many things he wrote that deeply inspired and convicted me, both as a disciple and as a priest. In particular, I have found myself returning over and over to a gathering he had with the bishops of Brazil shortly after he was elected in 2013.

actsxxix.org/trailer/117

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Episode 116: How Death Was Undone

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 02:00:00 -0400

In her masterful book, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ, Fleming Rutledge writes perhaps better than any author I’m aware of on the sheer horror of death in this fashion. What follows are a series of excerpts from her book, and while this may be a longer post than usual, it might be worth taking with us to the celebrations that are about to begin, to help us better understand what’s happening to Him for us.

actsxxix.org/trailer/116

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Episode 115: Standing Alone With Jesus

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 02:00:00 -0400

We – the guilty, the enslaved, the foolish, the rebellious, the unfaithful, the creatures – go free and have life because He – the Innocent, the Lord, the King, the Creator, the Son – placed Himself into the hands of Death.

What kind of God is this? What kind of love is this? Who am I that my King should allow Himself to be torn to shreds when it is I who should be?

actsxxix.org/trailer/115

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Episode 114: The Tsunami That Is Baptism

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Baptism, like the tsunami, causes things to drown. What things? Sin, guilt, the pasts by which we feel haunted. I know few things as a priest that compare with standing inside the font at the Easter Vigil, waiting in the water for those standing outside it to step in...

actsxxix.org/trailer/114

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Episode 113: Faith Is Not Blind

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 02:00:00 -0400

Like the blind man who encounters Jesus in the Gospel this Sunday (cf. John 9:1-41), baptism moves us from blindness to sight, and from darkness to light. Those who refuse to believe, who refuse to honestly examine what God has done for us in Jesus, remain in darkness and blindness. And out of love, we should be eager to bear credible witness to them by our words and actions of the difference Jesus makes so that they too might walk in the light and come to know this astounding truth that is increasingly necessary in a lonely and anxious culture: God is Love, and the object of that love…is each one of us.

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Episode 112: The Promise Keeper

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 02:00:00 -0400

As He did with Abraham, God is asking you and me again today to put our trust in Him, and perhaps especially for things we cannot yet see.

Read it here

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Episode 111: What Makes a Good Citizen?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 02:00:00 -0400

As we continue these early stages of our Lenten journey, let’s seriously consider where our identity is truly found, where our ultimate allegiance really lies, and how we can today advance the Kingdom of God by the joyful and beautiful power of attraction.

actsxxix.org/trailer/111

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Episode 110: You Can Come Home Now

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 02:00:00 -0500

Lent is a great opportunity to ponder again the story, the narrative arc of history, if you will. Doing so allows us the chance to reflect on God’s intention in bringing everything into being in the first place, what the conclusion will be, and what our role as disciples is until that day.

actsxxix.org/trailer/110

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Episode 109: “Your Labor Is Not in Vain”

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 02:00:00 -0500

In these days of Eucharistic revival in the Church, we are continually being invited to consider why the Lord gives Himself to us at Mass hidden under the appearance of bread and wine.

actsxxix.org/trailer/109

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Episode 108: Do We Know the Story?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 02:00:00 -0500

Paul’s proclamation, and the message of the New Testament, is the announcement that Jesus is the true King of the world; that by His death on the cross He has defeated (and one day will destroy) the enemies of the human race; that He has rescued us for the world — not from it; that you and I are now personally being summoned to lovingly and gratefully pledge Him our loyalty and allegiance as our rightful King; and until the day He returns and makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5), we are to live our lives in such a way as to be both working models of His recreation and active agents in His hands, doing all we can to reconcile, restore and recreate this world that God loves.

https://www.actsxxix.org/trailer/108

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Episode 107: Why Would Anyone Want To Live Forever?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 02:00:00 -0500

In this great Jubilee Year of Hope, I have found myself rereading Pope Benedict XVI’s rich letter on hope from 2007. The words of Saint Paul this week remind me of a passage that I find very provocative as we not only consider the Lord’s resurrection but the life to come which Paul emphatically preaches. I pray you, too, will find it worth praying with this week.

actsxxix.org/trailer/107

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Episode 106: Used to the Magnificent?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 02:00:00 -0500

Paul reminds us in another letter that this laying down of Jesus’ life wasn’t some generic sacrifice offered up by the Creator of the universe but rather was a personal act of love for him, Paul, by name. “I have been crucified with Christ,” Paul writes to the Galatians. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

actsxxix.org/trailer/106

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Episode 105: Playing Catch Up

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 02:00:00 -0500

Paul is for me the best example of a man whose psychology caught up with his ontology when he wrote, “For me, life is Christ and death is gain” (Phil 1:21). Gain! In other words, so long as we live, we will do so for the glory of God and the good of our neighbor. But death need not frighten us. It has no power over us. What’s up head is infinitely greater than all that is behind.

Hebrews 2:14-18
actsxxix.org/trailer/105

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Special Guest: Mary Guilfoyle .

Episode 104: Can Unity Really Happen?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 02:00:00 -0500

“You are Christ’s body,” Paul says. This is not an image. It’s a reality. In baptism we personally became members of Jesus’ body. His body has many parts, and so we are united not only to Him but to each other through our unity with Him. It cannot be otherwise. When we receive the Eucharist too, we are united not only to Him but to each other. This is unlike anything the world can conceive or do.

https://www.actsxxix.org/trailer/104

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Episode 103: There Are No Bystanders!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 02:00:00 -0500

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.

https://www.actsxxix.org/trailer/103

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Episode 102: Mother of God, Teach Us to Trust!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 12:00:00 -0500

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.

Gal 4:4-7

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Episode 101: O Come Let Us Adore Him!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 02:00:00 -0500

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).

https://www.actsxxix.org/trailer/101

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Episode 100: Breathless

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 02:00:00 -0500

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.

read it here

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Episode 99: On the Nearness of the Lord

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 02:00:00 -0500

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 02:00:00 -0500

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 02:00:00 -0500

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.

actsxxix.org/trailer/97

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Episode 96: Jesus’ Kingship and Our Sharing In It

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 02:00:00 -0500

Revelation 1:5-8

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 02:15:00 -0500

Hebrews 10:11-14, 18

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 02:00:00 -0500

Hebrews 9:24-28

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Hebrews 7:23-28

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?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Hebrews 5:1-6

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?

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Episode 91: Wait – Jesus Is a … Priest?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0400

All this is, indeed, extraordinarily beautiful. In prayer, you can contemplate this admirable love of God: Jesus "had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God". He has accepted humiliation, suffering and death with immense generosity.

Hebrews 4:14-16

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Episode 90: The Scrutinizing Power of the Word

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0400

The saints knew that God had entrusted to them a mission in this life, a mission to both evangelize and go about the work of recreation and transformation of this world that He loves until Jesus returns and makes all things new. And while all the saints wrestled with sin (save our Lady), they eventually surrendered to His grace and became the true heroes of our race...

Scripture: Hebrews 4:12-13

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Episode 89: A Family on Mission

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Who are we to God? We are family to God. And if we are family to God, then we are brothers and sisters to one another. Why is this so important to linger with? Because though this language is almost certainly familiar to most of us in the Church, the lived experience of being a family in the Church is probably not...

Scripture: Hebrews 2:9-11

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Episode 88: We Can Do More

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 02:00:00 -0400

James isn’t telling us to sell everything and give it all to the poor. And Jesus only said that to one man, because that was the one thing that was holding him back from the fullness of life for which he was looking. Still, it is worth remembering that Jesus teaches us that wealth is a great danger. Why? ...

Scripture: James 5:1-6

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Episode 87: Selfish Ambition Versus Magnanimity

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 02:00:00 -0400

We frequently hold up St. Joan of Arc as an example of magnanimity. Her famous words – “I am not afraid. God is with me. I was born for this!” – are not proud, arrogant or boastful words; they’re words that flow from a greatness of soul...

Scripture: James 3:16-4:3

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Episode 86: What Does It Mean to Have Faith?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 02:00:00 -0400

What does it mean when Josephus says, “Repent and believe in me”? He’s certainly not telling someone “how to get to heaven.” He’s more or less saying, “Abandon your current way of acting (in this case, by waging war against Rome) and put your trust in me.” Such an exhortation relates to action...

(James 2:14-18)

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Episode 85: God’s Special Interest

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Here’s the simple truth: there are no unimportant people. Every. Single. Person. On. The. Face. Of. The. Earth. Is. Made. In. God’s. Image. And. Likeness. Every. Single. Person. On. The. Face. Of. The. Earth. Is. Worth. Dying. For. To. God.

Everyone.

May the Holy Spirit open our eyes today and every day to see others as He does. And to love them, speak to them, and speak of them, accordingly.

James 2: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%202&version=RSV

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Episode 84: Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Even though we’re beginning to open up the letter of James this week, my mind is still lingering with the Gospel from last week (John 6:60-69). In fact, I might suggest there’s a connection between these words from James and all that John recorded in that most momentous passage.

James 1

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Episode 83: A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 02:00:00 -0400

What do I do when I come across such texts? Do I come at the text presuming the Word of God is wrong, or do I approach it humbly, willing to do the work necessary so as to understand what’s being revealed to us by the Holy Spirit?

Ephesians 5:21-32

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Episode 82: A Way to Understand the Will of the Lord

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Over the past five years now, the Lord has been teaching us in ACTS XXIX some simple ways to return to what Cardinal Cantalamessa reminds us was the common modus operandi for the saints.

Ephesians 5:15-20

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Episode 81: One Indicator of the Success of the Eucharistic Revival

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Many in the Church in our country are continuing to bask in the beauty that was the National Eucharistic Revival. It has been described by more than a few as an event that could, please God, be similar in impact to St. John Paul II’s World Youth Day in Denver in 1993.

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

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Episode 80: Loving the Lord With All Our Minds

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Because everything starts in the mind, what we put into our minds, what we feed our thoughts with, is probably far more significant than we realize. In the same way that what we put into our mouths impacts our physical health, what we put into our minds impacts our spiritual and emotional health.

Ephesians 4:17, 20-24

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Episode 79: Do We Recognize How Important Unity Is?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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

Ephesians 4:1-6

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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.

Ephesians 2:13-18

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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.

Ephesians 1:3-14

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Episode 76: Building Upon Rock

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

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Episode 75: Looking Through The Lens of Generosity

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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.

2 Corinthians 8

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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

2 Corinthians 5:14-17

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

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

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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.

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

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Episode 71: Lord, I Want To See!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 29 May 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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.

Hebrews 9:11-15

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Episode 70: Better Than Gold

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 22 May 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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.

Romans 8:14-17

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Special Guest: Albert Faraj.

Episode 69: My Lord

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 15 May 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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…

1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13

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Episode 68: Reigning – Not Far Away

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 08 May 2024 02:00:00 -0400

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.

Ephesians 1:17-23

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Episode 67: What Else is There to Say?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 01 May 2024 02:00:00 -0400

God ... Is ... Love

The gods of the ancient world, whether Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Sumerian, or other, were to be appeased, kept happy, bargained with, and more – lest they become angry and wreak havoc on mere mortals who are nothing but their playthings. The thought that God might be love never entered the imaginations of the people in the ancient world.

1 John 4:7-10

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Episode 66: The Dumb Shepherd?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Usually, this weekly blog is about the 2nd Reading for the upcoming Sunday at Mass. However, I can’t stop thinking and praying about the Gospel from last Sunday, and so I wanted to pass on what the Lord has been sharing with me in prayer in the hope that it might be helpful and timely for perhaps one other person out there.

John 10:11-18

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Episode 65: Better Than Winning The Lottery

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Many years ago now some friends of mine adopted a young boy who was maybe nine or ten years old. He had spent most of his life going from orphanage to orphanage in the country where he was born.

Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

1 John 3:1-2

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Episode 64: The One Who Answers The Cry

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Someone crying is someone who is in need or hurting somehow. They are acknowledging they’re not all together and need help of some sort, thus the cry. Isn’t this us when we call out to God for His grace to help us be the men and women He made us to be and that we want to be?

1 John 2:1-5

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Episode 63: Christus Victor

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Any mention of Jesus without the words Victor, Champion, King, and Lord are incomplete.

1 John 5:1-6

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Episode 62: Swear To God

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 02:00:00 -0400

The highlight of the Easter Vigil is when those who have been preparing for many months now are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son

Colossians 3:1-4

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Episode 61: Even Death on a Cross

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Some years ago, I found myself utterly absorbed in Fleming Rutledge’s The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ. It’s a most worthwhile read, especially at this time of year. One of the chapters is entitled, “The Godlessness of the Cross” and I thought the following excerpts might be helpful for us as we prepare to enter into those days that the Church often simply calls “the great week.”

Philippians 2:6-11

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Episode 60: Made Perfect?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 02:00:00 -0400

Prayers? Supplications? Loud cries? Tears? Where are we?

Hebrews 5:7-9

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Episode 59: There is No One Like You

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 02:00:00 -0500

Unlike us, God “is rich in mercy.” Unlike us, God loves to forgive. Unlike us, God’s love knows no limits. Unlike us, Jesus cries out from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” Unlike us, God does not delight in the death of the wicked. Unlike us, God wants all men and women to be saved.

Ephesians 2:4-10

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Episode 58: Let the Holy Spirit Do the Convincing

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 02:00:00 -0500

St. Paul was, to put it mildly, brilliant. Few people have impacted human history as profoundly as Paul...

1 Corinthians 1:22-25

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Episode 57: What Kind of Father?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 02:00:00 -0500

I could never believe in a God who would crucify his own son. A very popular television talk show host from decades past said that. I remember hearing those words as if he said them this morning.

Romans 8:31-34

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Episode 56: The King Unshackles the Imprisoned

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 02:00:00 -0500

Today, we begin the grace filled season of Lent, and this passage from 1 Peter, challenging as parts of it can be, calls to mind how the season ends: in glorious triumph!

1 Peter 3:18-22

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Episode 55: Can People Tell To Whom We Belong?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 02:00:00 -0500

A quick drive down any city street, or walk through any park can instantly reveal where people’s allegiances lie. Bumper stickers, hats, and sweatshirts immediately declare a person to be a Michigan fan, a Swiftie, a Trump or Biden devotee, proudly pro-life or proudly pro-abortion.

1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1

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Episode 54: What's In It For Us

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0500

Perhaps I’m just really selfish and disordered, but I’ve always been encouraged by passages in Scripture that seem to convey that the disciples thought like me (at least at times). James and John jockey for positions of power, wanting seats at the right and left of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 9

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Episode 53: A Pastor Responds to His Flock

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0500

I can just imagine the eyerolls among some people this coming Sunday as this passage is proclaimed at Mass. There goes the Catholic Church again. Why is she always so down on marriage and sexuality and the things of this world?!

1 Corinthians 7:32-35

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Episode 52: A Scene Change is Coming

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0500

The line that I am personally dwelling on this week is the last one: “The world in its present form is passing away.”

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Episode 51: Pondering God’s Word on the Body

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0500

I was fortunate after ordination to the priesthood to spend several years studying the theology of the body in depth. I can still recall as if it was yesterday an experience I had sitting outside reading the Holy Father and suddenly realizing I was starting to sit up straighter.

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Episode 50: Remodeling the House

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 02:00:00 -0500

I had a conversation with a young woman recently that I can’t shake. Hers is a rather common tale: she grew up in a strong Catholic family, went to Catholic schools, got to college and drifted away. There’s much more to it, of course, but how many young people are in her shoes, and how many parents know the anguish that hers know?

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Episode 49: Reading Scripture On Our Knees

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 01:30:00 -0500

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Episode 48: Veiling and Unveiling the Mystery

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 02:00:00 -0500

This was originally an entirely different article. And then Monday happened. For those unaware, The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans on Monday. This Declaration has caused, well, wholesale confusion. Seemingly everywhere.

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Episode 47: On Being 'Hopeful Lamenters'

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 02:00:00 -0500

We in ACTS XXIX think of this mission of ours as priests as being “hopeful lamenters.” Hopeful because Jesus is Lord, and He has defeated Sin, Death and Satan, and He will make all things new. But lamenting because the world is right now groaning in pain

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Episode 46: You Are What You Eat

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 02:00:00 -0500

Without clarity on the mission, all sorts of negative results can and usually do occur.

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Episode 45: Jesus’ One Homily

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 02:00:00 -0500

I would argue that at the root of every temptation is the accusation that God is not a good Father and He cannot be trusted.

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Episode 44: Thankful for All of You!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 02:00:00 -0500

“ACTS XXIX is the most fruitful apostolate I’ve ever seen and been around. Every dollar is building the kingdom. There’s so much fruit, both measurable and of eternal consequences.” A dear friend and partner on mission recently shared these words with us.

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Episode 43: How Do You See Things?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 02:00:00 -0500

How, as believers in Jesus, are we to live in this time of “already and not yet?” With the news seemingly getting worse (and crazier) each day in the world, the country, and the Church, this question seems increasingly important.

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Episode 42: Grieving With Hope

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 02:00:00 -0500

When I was a younger priest I used to think I knew a lot more than I do now. As I’ve gotten older, I am less and less sure about many things. There is one thing, though, that I know for certain. God hates death. It isn’t supposed to be here.

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Episode 41: Not Just The Gospel

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 02:00:00 -0400

It’s been said often that we are rapidly leaving behind an era called Christendom for a very different one

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Episode 40: Building Our Lives On Rock

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Special guest presenter this week. We welcome Albert Faraj to the Podcast!

Saint Augustine repeatedly warned his flock not to build on sand, meaning not to think life was going to be easy once a person became a Christian. Faith doesn’t magically make all of life’s challenges disappear. Instead, faith enables us to know and to see that with every challenge and every temptation God provides the grace and the strength necessary to endure.

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Special Guest: Albert Faraj.

Episode 39: So Much More Than "Hello"

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Let us beg St. Paul in these unsettled days to pray for peace in the land he once walked, and to intercede in a mighty way for those who are now as he once was.

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Episode 38: What’s the Secret?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Perhaps it’s as simple as this: God can be trusted. He is our Father, and not an absent or abusive Father but a good Father. Because He is a good Father He will supply for all our needs.

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Episode 37: Either/Or

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Lest we think the Christian message is all rainbows and unicorns, it’s worth reminding ourselves where Paul is as he writes these words to the Church in Philippi. He’s in prison. Not a county jail with three square meals, indoor plumbing and some degree of heating and cooling.

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Episode 36: Who In The World Would Do This?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 02:00:00 -0400

“All things” includes a universe that’s 90+ billion light years across. That’s 90 billion times 5.88 trillion miles across. That’s more than 522,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles across. And that’s just the visible universe.

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Episode 35: Fill In The Blank

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Imagine for a moment sitting in prison, or awaiting a life threatening surgery, or heading into yet another round of chemotherapy. We decide to sit down and write a letter to our wife, husband, children, or dear friend.

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Episode 34: The Measure With Which You Measure

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Timely, then, are the readings for Mass this week, for they are all related to the topics of mercy, forgiveness and judgment. Even this passage from Romans comes in the context of Paul warning the community to be very careful in their behavior towards one another, lest they end up passing judgment on the servant of another (i.e.,God).

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Episode 33: I AM

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 02:00:00 -0400

It’s often noted that the simple key to problem solving is to define the problem. If we were to apply that simple logic to the mess that is the world, the country, the Church, what would be the answer? A newspaper supposedly posed that very question to its readers more than 100 years ago. The famous writer and Catholic G.K. Chesterton supposedly sent in his response. It read: “Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely yours, G.K. Chesterton.”

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Episode 32: Minds and Bodies and What to Do About Them

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Paul urges us to present our bodies as “a living sacrifice.” This was written to people who, unlike us, were very familiar with ritual animal sacrifices...

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Episode 31: Of Course

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 02:00:00 -0400

The simple reality, Paul writes, is that God’s ways are not our ways. Our puny, finite minds simply cannot understand what He is about, the plan He has, and how it is all going to be fulfilled. He is God and we are dust and ashes

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Episode 30: Great (Un)Expectations

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 02:00:00 -0400

The problem was that since the Jewish people were part of the original human project it turns out they were in “the ditch” too, hopelessly bound by Sin and Death. The “tow truck” also needed to be rescued. In such a hopeless predicament, how could humanity ever be rescued?

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Episode 29: God of Abraham, Forgive

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Over and over in these chapters Paul reminds the Church in Rome that God has not and will not ever reject His promise to the Israelites. Furthermore, he reminds the Gentiles in the Church that they are “wild branches” that have been “grafted” onto the tree that is the Jewish people.

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Episode 28: The One We Can Trust

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 02:00:00 -0400

In the political landscape, well, does anyone really trust our leaders – no matter their party affiliation?

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Episode 27: Who's In Charge Around Here?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 02:00:00 -0400

For those who believe in God, however, and not just a god, but the God who has revealed Himself to be Love, then suffering, pain, injustice and the rest can become very problematic indeed. Nobody asks more questions of God about suffering than Scripture.

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Episode 26: The Gift of Weakness

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Personally, I hate the feeling of being weak, in any way. Yet, the Holy Spirit seems to be telling us through Paul that we need weakness.

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Episode 25: As Nothing?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Paul reminds us of a most important truth. There, he teaches us that while suffering is never a good, it can be used for good things.

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Episode 24: Shedding What is a Hindrance

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 02:00:00 -0400

As I prayed with this, I was immediately struck by how relevant that little detail is for so many of us. How tempted I am to think that many of the things that other people, or other ministries, need I must also need.

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Episode 23: The Real World

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Americans don’t usually like bad news. Oh, to be sure, we seem to enjoy reading other people’s “dirty laundry,” as an 80’s song once put it. But confronting the reality of demons who hate and are seeking to degrade, enslave and destroy us…? Uh, no thanks.

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Episode 22: Doomed to Succeed with Special Guest: Albert Faraj

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 02:00:00 -0400

We live in a time which is simultaneously permissive in the extreme while being merciless on anyone who makes mistakes. Our society makes no allowance for those who have messed up… there can be no redemption.

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Special Guest: Albert Faraj.

Episode 21: The Sin of David with special guest: Albert Faraj

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 02:00:00 -0400

What is the role of a father? A way to break this open is to understand that fatherhood essentially includes imparting identity, living unconditional love, and speaking words of authority.

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Episode 20: Names Matter with special guest: Mary Guilfoyle

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 02:00:00 -0400

In the story of the Good Shepherd in John’s gospel we read that, “The sheep hear His voice, and He calls his own sheep by name” (Jn. 10:3). Do you know that? Do you believe that? The Good Shepherd calls you by name. The One who named every star He breathed has a name for you too.

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Special Guest: Mary Guilfoyle .

Episode 19: ALL

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 31 May 2023 02:00:00 -0400

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:18-20).

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Episode 18: The Experience of Faith

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 24 May 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Jesus has never said that our life should be a desert journey. If we understand the Christian life in this way, it should not surprise us that many turn their backs on the Church and Christianity and just go on to other traditions that promise peace, joy, and a full life. This is a reaction, not against Christianity, but against a type of Christianity that has lost its authenticity.

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Episode 17: Come, Lord and Giver of Life!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 17 May 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Jesus told His disciples, and us, that it would be better for us if He left, so that another Advocate could come (cf. John 16:7). At first glance, this doesn’t make sense.

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Episode 16: Let Us Approach With Confidence

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 10 May 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Mark explained what he was going to do and then exposed the Lord in the Eucharist and slowly placed the stole around the monstrance on the altar. Almost immediately, in my mind’s eye, I “saw” Jesus standing there on the altar, the one and only true Priest.

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Episode 15: What Would He Say To Us?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 03 May 2023 02:00:00 -0400

It’s not unusual to hear prayers for “a new Pentecost.” Do we really want that? Do we really want the Holy Spirit to fall on us, consume us, overwhelm us, set our hearts on fire, move us to surrender everything to Jesus in faith, and catapult us out into our streets to do now what the apostles did then?

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Episode 14: Do We Have What It Takes?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 02:00:00 -0400

We need a Church unafraid of going forth into their night. We need a Church capable of meeting them on their way. We need a Church capable of entering into their conversation. We need a Church able to dialogue with those disciples who, having left Jerusalem behind, are wandering aimlessly, alone, with their own disappointment, disillusioned by a Christianity now considered barren, fruitless soil, incapable of generating meaning.

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Episode 13: Her Face

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 02:00:00 -0400

There are some pretty funny things in Scripture. I think we often read the Word of God with nowhere near enough of a sense of humor. God is all-powerful, omnipotent, and omniscient. But He also is funny.

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Episode 12: Harrowing of Hell

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 02:00:00 -0400

There is a favorite icon of the Eastern Church known as the anastasis. Anastasis is the Greek word for resurrection. Icons, we might remember, aren’t paintings. Rather, they are “written” to be something like windows into the mysteries they are depicting. Placing ourselves in front of them, asking the Holy Spirit to come to us, can draw us into whatever it is that is placed before our senses.

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Episode 11: The Hunter Makes His Move

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 02:00:00 -0400

As we prepare to enter into the holiest days of the year, the days that celebrate the liberation of our race from Death, Sin, hell and Satan, we need to keep reminding ourselves that he is not the helpless victim here.

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Episode 10: Getting a New Address

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 02:00:00 -0400

Few things can compare for me with baptizing an adult. Most of us standing in the font on that wondrous night are filled with a holy jealousy, as we watch men and women walk into the water one way and leave another.

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Episode 9: The Mission and Task of Fatherhood

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 02:00:00 -0400

It’s often said about parents that they’re only as happy as their least happy child. I have always admired this about the moms and dads I know. There is no time off, or away from, their children – no matter how old they are. Indeed, their hearts ache for their children.

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Episode 8: Taking Back Ground in Our Own Lives for the Kingdom

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 02:00:00 -0400

A Jewish son, heir to his father’s significant wealth, runs out of that wealth and then hires himself out – sells himself to another – to feed … pigs. Pigs! A Jewish man enslaves himself to feed an unclean animal that he himself cannot eat. This is a truly pathetic state.

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Episode 7: The New Moses

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 02:00:00 -0500

On Calvary, just as at the Red Sea, God was fighting.

watch the Holy Land pilgrimage series at
watch.actsxxix.org/journey-through-the-holy-land

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Episode 6: Here

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 02:00:00 -0500

Fr. John shares how pilgrimage highlights the reality of the Incarnation, and why here matters.

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Episode 5: This is Serious

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 02:00:00 -0500

Fr. John reflects on the challenge and the call to forgive others even - or especially - when we have been hurt deeply.

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Episode 4: Eating Well for Lent

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 02:00:00 -0500

Fr. John Riccardo shares rich fare for the upcoming Lenten season

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Episode 3: Oh, for a Great Soul!

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 02:00:00 -0500

Fr. John reflects on magnanimity which is the great call for every disciple of Jesus.

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Episode 2: Getting Ready for Lent

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 02:00:00 -0500

Fr. John reflects on a prayerful discernment approach to getting ready for Lent.

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Episode 1: Did Paul Have a Staff?

ACTS XXIX — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 02:00:00 -0500

There are many components to this “Pauline vision” of priesthood, but on this feast Fr. John Riccardo reflects on how he thought of those on mission with him.

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