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.

And what we call these Novena days, that is to say, the nine days that make up the time between the celebration of the ascension of our Lord into heaven and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit

upon the apostles and Our Lady in Pentecost, the Scriptures today continue to give us much to ponder and to pray with.

So four things jump out at me that I thought I'd just share with us quickly,

and either to fuel our own personal prayer, perhaps to help offer us a few suggestions for intentions.

The first is the antiphon that opens the Mass this morning,

which is a quote from Paul's letter to the Romans,

both in Chapter 5 and then again an allusion to some words, he says, in Chapter 8.

And the anaphone is simply this.

The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the

Spirit of God dwelling within us. Alleluia. And I found myself immediately thinking of those who

have been waiting for many months now for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into their lives as they come into the church

what should have been at Easter, but now is going to be in these days and weeks ahead.

That is to say, I'm thinking of those who are longing for baptism.

Because when Paul says this, the love of God has been poured into our hearts. This is not poetry.

This is reality. God's love really has entered into our lives, at least for those of us who've been baptized.

And those who are awaiting the recreation that comes with the sacrament of baptism, they're longing for

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