Advertise on podcast: Thoughts from the Trailer with Fr. John Riccardo

The enemy is forever trying to intimidate. He whispers lies into our minds that are variations on this theme: “You’re all alone. You’re outnumbered. You’re undermanned. You don’t have a chance.” But he is a liar. The truth is, we are anything but alone. And not only are we not alone, we are part of a communion that exceeds all we can comprehend.  ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

Paul came to Thessalonica and began preaching Jesus to people who had literally never heard His name before. Some of these people were Jewish, and many others were steeped in idolatry and the worship of the Roman gods. But the power of the Gospel, that is, the announcement of the wonders that God had done for the entire human race in the person of His Son, combined with signs and wonders and the power of the Holy Spirit at work, led people to turn from worshiping idols to worshiping the one, true God. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

Too often, I think, we imagine the saints to be statues or stained glass windows, and forget that they were men and women with pasts, some of which make some of us blush, and others of us feel downright, well, hopeful! Now available, The Resistance: God’s Plan for Renewing the Human Family is a bold and timely call to join what Fr. Riccardo describes as “a great campaign of resistance.” It sends us into every sphere of human activity to help restore God’s design by confronting the prevailing cultural trends of anger, division, utility, and materialism; fostering healing where there is brokenness; bringing light where there is darkness; and renewing purpose where all seems lost. Buy your copy here! Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

Men and women came from more than 270 cities and 36 States — with 1000 people on a waiting list! I’ve tried to find the right words to convey what the Lord did over the course of less than three full days…but I can’t. Yet. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

Perhaps the key is found in what comes next. “In everything … make your needs known to God.” And who is God? God is a good Father. He’s faithful. He keeps His promises. He is love. He has rescued the world from the tyrannical grip of the enemy, and by His Son has defeated the powers of Death and Sin. This is the one to whom we pray when we pray. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

The “social media” of the ancient world was coinage. Emperors inscribed on coins various things to promote themselves, call attention to their great deeds, and especially to show their victories in battle. From these coins we can see useful comparisons between how Paul describes Jesus and the victorious triumphs of Roman emperors and generals. Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

A few weeks back, we read the beginning of Romans 12, where we heard Paul’s exhortation to not be conformed to this world, to not let it squeeze us into its way of thinking, nor to allow ourselves to be squeezed into its way of thinking. But don’t most of us do that all the time?! Today, as we ponder Augustine’s rich insight, we see what’s at stake. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

Blessed Solanus Casey powerfully embodied what Paul calls all of us to be and to do for one another. He is a most moving testimony of the same words Paul offered  to the Church in Corinth: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If … I have not love, I am nothing.” ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

If there is one foundational Scriptural text for our work in ACTS XXIX, this is it. ACTS XXIX doesn’t offer programs, though programs can be and often are immensely helpful in the Church. Instead, the charism, the gift, God has entrusted to us as an apostolate is what we call “the three essential principles” for transformation in the Church and in the world. Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

There are so many things I do not understand about this world that God has lovingly brought into existence. There are so many people for whom I am concerned. There are so many situations that seem to make no sense at all to me. There are so many things that happened to me in my life that I don’t understand, and yet I can see how God has used them to draw me to Himself. Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

More than a few of us find ourselves right in situations that just don’t seem to make sense. More than a few of us, with deep faith in God, His goodness and faithfulness, just flat out don’t get what’s going on. The Lord’s ways are not our ways. We cannot often understand why He does what He does. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

On this great feast of the one the Church hails as “the apostle to the apostles”, these are the things I’m praying with, asking the Holy Spirit who dwells in me, and who was there that day, to help me to see and hear. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

I readily admit I have very few original thoughts. Rather, I’ve always found great joy in making others aware of great minds and, even more, great souls. It is a joy for me to pass along to others books, articles and talks I come across that have had a profound impact on my life, in the hopes that they will similarly impact others. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

Parishes aren’t small businesses; they’re the people of God — a family of families. We often say in ACTS XXIX that one of the primary crises we see in the Church is a need to recover what it means to be human. A friend of mine speaks frequently about what he calls “the corporatization” of the Church. What he means is that, for a variety of reasons, we often relate to each other in overly functional and transactional ways. This week, especially for those parishes receiving new spiritual fathers, is a great time to change that. ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX

Nobody in Paul’s day said or thought that Caesar Augustus loved them and gave himself for them. But Paul said this about Jesus. Nobody in Paul’s day said or thought that the various gods of Rome truly cared for them and loved them. At best the gods were to be appeased by various sacrifices and rituals so as not to incur their wrath. But Paul’s contemporary and friend, John, could write the daring and unheard of words: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). ======= Have a comment about this podcast? Contact us! Click To Learn More About ACTS XXIX