Thoughts from the Trailer with Fr. John Riccardo

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 functiona...

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...

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 a...

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 th...

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? Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us!...

What, then, does it mean to say that Jesus “is seated at the right hand of the Father”? Most succinctly, it means He reigns. To profess in the Creed that Jesus is seated right now at the right hand of the Father means that Jesus, the God-man, Lord of the universe, is “in charge.” It means to profess that He holds the world, the Church, history, and each one of us in His hands. This position is rig...

God is not bound by trends. They mean nothing to Him. And thus, while we certainly don’t want to be unaware of them, they should mean more or less nothing to us. The Spirit of God is power. We are not orphans. The mission of the Church is not dependent on our own strength, our own wisdom, or our own initiative. It is the Father’s desire that His creation be rescued and renewed. That’s what Jesus b...

In listening to Jesus, in watching Him interact with people, and above all in His freely laying down His life for each one of us on the cross, the enemy is exposed as a deceiver and God is revealed to be a good Father, whom we can trust. Jesus repeats in many ways that He only does what He sees the Father do, and only says what He hears the Father say. Over 180 times He speaks explicitly of His Fa...

Our lack of unity in the Catholic Church is a scandal. Our lack of unity as Christians is a scandal. As a result of the division that exists within us as disciples of Jesus, those “sheep” who are living the nightmare that is life apart from God are hindered from knowing that God sent His Son out of love for us all, and hindered from knowing their true identity as beloved sons and daughters of God....

This story, once unknown to me, continues to be the most powerful testimony of God’s mercy I have ever heard. When I first heard it, it was as if I could see Hoess, this man who had done such unspeakable evil, firmly in the hands of the one Jesus calls “the strong man,” that is, the devil. Slowly, as I watched, Jesus – the Stronger One – began to pull Hoess out of our enemy’s grip. As he did so, i...

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 give...

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 . ======= Have a commen...

“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.” ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

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 ou...

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, desir...

" 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...

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? ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

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). ======= Hav...

...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. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

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. ======= Have a comment about this podc...

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. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXI...

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. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More A...

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 incline...

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. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About...

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 thin...