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.

A short little announcement, a plea for us as disciples of Jesus, and a prayer. Those are the three simple thoughts on this feast of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost,

this glorious conclusion to these 50 days of Easter

that we've been celebrating, even in a most unusual way in the church throughout this COVID-19 pandemic.

First, a short announcement. We began doing daily podcasts in Acts 29, and I began doing these

Sunday homilies in large part because of the

fact that once the lockdown came or the shutdown came, many of us simply couldn't go to Mass.

And unfortunately, many parishes weren't set up to live stream.

And so as a means to try to complement help the ministry of our brothers who weren't able to reach their flocks through technology.

We decided to do these.

But now that mass is opening back up again, and people at least can go back, at least in most diocese, even if it's in smaller numbers,

we want to bring these Sunday podcasts to a close and instead launch a new series that Deacon

Steve Mitchell here on the team of Acts 29 with me is going to help me to create.

We want to do something like a Wednesday podcast on the readings coming up for the Sunday that's ahead of us to try to both help reflect on the scriptures as a priest and a deacon, those insights that we really feel like the Lord is talking to us about. And then also to allow people to ask questions. I mean, one of the challenges in a homily is you can't interrupt the priest or the deacon or the bishop who's preaching.

And there's lots of things that are touched on in the scriptures that lots of us have lots of questions about.

And perhaps we find the goal unanswered.

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