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.

There was only one time in my years in seminary, preparing for ordination to the priesthood,

that I almost left.

And I found myself thinking of that one time earlier this morning as I was praying with the gospel.

So the gospel for the day, for the

feast of St. Matthias that we celebrate today, the successor to Judas and the College of the

Apostles, is John chapter 15, verses 9 to 17. And it's interesting to me, significant to me, that

if today was not the Feast of Matthias and we were just celebrating the

Thursday of the fifth week of Easter, it would still be that same gospel, just a truncated

version. It would only be John 15 verses 9 to 11, which I think is an important thing to call

to mind. It's as if the Lord's saying to us, the church is saying to us,

this gospel has got to be understood.

So let me tell you what strikes me in the gospel,

and then I'll tell you why I almost left the priesthood,

or the seminary, I should say.

And then what it is that God might be saying

...