Hey, everybody. This is Father John Ricardo with Acts 29. And in the middle of all the craziness

and the uncertainty that's going on right now, it seems from our perspective as a team that it's

worth using these days to reflect in a more deliberate way on the scriptures every day, which

for many of us now is the only spiritual food that we're receiving. And so we're going to do a special podcast series simply entitled,

Be Not Afraid, God's Word in Uncertain Times.

And we'll try to post something every day, usually reflecting on the scriptures,

so that we can listen in on what God is trying to say to us in these days.

It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.

Those are the words that St. Peter says in the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles,

the continuation of this story that we've been hearing

for the last several days in the first reading that's offered to us at Mass, the story which

began with Peter and John in the name of Jesus healing a crippled man who was seated outside

the temple. And then as a result of this, they're arrested by the religious leaders and brought into custody.

And then they're told, just before they utter this line, after having been beaten, not to teach at all in the name of Jesus.

It's important just to ask the question real quickly,

to whom is Peter speaking when he says it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have

seen and heard? Well, just yesterday we heard who his audience is. His audience is made up of men with the names of

Anas and Caiaphas. Remember those names? Those are the guys who just a little bit less than

two months before this had been responsible for the trial and then the execution of Jesus, or at least the handing over

of Jesus to the Roman authorities. These are the men who provoked such extraordinary fear in Peter,

so much so that as he was seated outside the place where these men, Anas and Caiaphas were accusing and bringing charges against Jesus,

which led to his crucifixion. It provoked Peter to deny he even knew Jesus three times to a maid.

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