Thoughts from the Trailer with Fr. John Riccardo

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

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

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

Without clarity on the mission, all sorts of negative results can and usually do occur. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

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

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

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

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

It’s been said often that we are rapidly leaving behind an era called Christendom for a very different one ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

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 grac...

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

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

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

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

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. ======= Seeking to be even more encouraged and inspired? Follow our online streaming channel . Visit us at our online site . Subscribe to our weekly communications Have a comment a...

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). ======= Seeking to be even more encouraged and inspired? Follow...

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. Sin...

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... ======= Seeking to be even more encouraged and inspired? Follow our online streaming channel . Visit us at our online site . Subscribe to our weekly communications Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us!

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 ======= Seeking to be even more encouraged and inspired? Follow our online streaming channel . Visit us at our online site . Subscribe to our weekly communications Have a...

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?  ======= Seeking to be even more encouraged and inspired? Follow our online streaming channel . Visit us at our online si...

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. ======= Seeking to be even more encouraged and inspired? Follow our online streaming channel . Visit us at our onlin...

In the political landscape, well, does anyone really trust our leaders – no matter their party affiliation? ======= Seeking to be even more encouraged and inspired? Follow our online streaming channel . Visit us at our online site . Subscribe to our weekly communications Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us!

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. ======= Seeking to be even more encouraged and inspired? Follow our online streaming channel . Visit us at our online site . Subscribe to our wee...

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. ======= Seeking to be even more encouraged and inspired? Follow our online streaming channel . Visit us at our online site . Subscribe to our weekly communications Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us!