Thoughts from the Trailer with Fr. John Riccardo

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

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 =...

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

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 ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Lea...

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

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

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. Jame...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who am I living for? Who are you living for? Is it really the Lord? 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

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

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...

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

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 ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX Special Guest: Albert Faraj.

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

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

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 ======= Have a comment about...