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.

Some most welcome news, an incredibly powerful reflection from Pope Benedict the 16th,

and a very practical application of that news and Pope Benedict's words.

Those are the three things on my mind here. Today on this

feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th, as we reflect upon John's gospel offered to us at Mass

chapter 15 verses 1 to 8. So the welcome news was that the Archbishop of Detroit, Archbishop

Alan Vigneron, announced yesterday

that masses can resume as soon as next Tuesday in the Archdiocese and will resume as quickly

as May 29th. This is great news for us here in the diocese to which I belong. And I know that

it's happening in other parts of the country as well.

And please God, it will just continue to roll out as we seek to emerge from this time of

social distancing. Obviously, lots of precautions being taken place. You're going to have to

wear masks inside churches. Got to remain six feet apart from people. Churches can only be

at 25% of their capacity,

but still this is great news and an opportunity for us to resume again what the Archbishop

wonderfully called the single most essential activity in the world. That's the mass.

...