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.

I got a phone call the other day from a priest friend of mine who was unusually giddy,

all excited telling me that he had finally read an essay by C.S. Lewis entitled The Weight of Glory.

And he came to the conclusion that I had myself, probably 25 or 30 years ago now,

that this is probably the greatest thing I've ever read and that he's ever read. That article,

or that essay, The Weight of Glory, W-E-I-G-H-T, which is easily found online, came to mind again this morning as I was praying with

the gospel. Jesus is talking to the apostles on the night of the last supper about joy. And I don't

think anybody's written about joy in as profound and powerful way as C.S. Lewis and probably in no place

does he do it like he does in that essay, The Weight of Glory. So Jesus says in the gospel,

to men that he knows are going to be murdered, that is to say, who are going to die painful deaths,

that they are going to see him again,

he's alluding to his resurrection, and that when they see him again, their hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. I'm thinking of a friend of mine who came down from sleeping one night and joined us at breakfast

in a house that I was living and told us that his father had just passed away in the evening.

He was on his way to go back to the home state where his dad had died and be with the family

and go through all that we go through

with grief. And as he told us this and asked for prayers, he just looked at us and he said,

men, don't ever let anything steal your joy. What a thing to say to somebody.

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