October 28, 2026
Fr. John Riccardo
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb."
All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed: "Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen."
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you are the one who knows." He said to me, "These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9-14).
There’s a dramatic passage in 2 Kings 6, where Elisha and his servant find themselves horribly outnumbered on the eve before battle. Or so it seemed.
Israel was at war with Syria, and on the night before battle the prophet’s servant is terrified, for it seems that they are about to be routed by the enemy army. The young man cries out in fear, “Alas, my master, what shall we do?” Upon hearing this, Elisha remains calm and simply prays that God will open his young servant’s eyes. Suddenly, his vision is expanded and he is able to see a much larger army on the mountainside, only this time it’s the army of heaven.
Such is the constant reality we need to remember as disciples of Jesus. The enemy is forever trying to intimidate. He whispers lies into our minds that are variations on this theme: “You’re all alone. You’re outnumbered. You’re undermanned. You don’t have a chance.” But he is a liar. The truth is, we are anything but alone. And not only are we not alone, we are part of a communion that exceeds all we can comprehend.
Each time we recite the Creed we utter the words, “We believe in the communion of saints.” What in the world does that mean? It means many things, to be sure, but perhaps especially on this great feast of All Saints Sunday we would do well to remember that there is what we might call a “vast conspiracy” of myriads of angels and saints who are not simply watching us as we struggle to live as disciples of Jesus and carry on the work of the resistance movement that is the Church. They intercede and intervene in the action.
The specific intention of this blog is to help those of us who are eager to engage in the mission that belongs to the Church — i.e., to rescue, renew and transform the human family into the family of God — that we need never succumb to fear or anxiety. This is not to be naive or even optimistic. The Kingdom of God advances against the kingdom of darkness by continuing to share in Jesus’ own tactics, namely love, mercy, forgiveness, compassion and especially the cross. It was the latter that the King of Glory used to defeat the enemy and the powers of Sin and Death. Necessarily, then, until He returns to make all things new, we will go about the work of rescuing our brothers and sisters who are held captive in the nightmare that is life apart from God by employing those same tactics.
This is what the saints who have gone before us did. And now they hand the baton to us in order to continue in our day the work that they did in theirs. But they don’t just hand on the baton and then depart. They engage! In fact, they engage in ways we can’t understand with our natural eyes, much like Elisha’s servant wasn’t able to understand on that mountainside so many hundreds of years ago.
St. Paul, St. Peter, St. Pio, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Bridget, St. Therese, St. Francis of Assisi, and especially Mary, the Lord’s Mother — together with so many others beyond our counting — are interceding for us right now. They are acting in ways we cannot fathom, for our vision is “impaired”, unable to see all of reality, most especially the spiritual world.
So, then, on this great feast of All Saints, let us ask the Lord for what Elisha asked for: may our eyes be opened so that we might see that those who are with us are more than those who are against. Let us not, then, fall prey to the enemy’s lies. Let us not succumb to discouragement or fear. Let us not be anxious as we consider the circumstances we find ourselves in, no matter how hard they might be. God is with us! And so are countless friends, most of whom we have not yet met. But we will one real day. We will, please God, enter into that vast assembly of the Kingdom of God and when we do then we will intercede and intervene for others even as we are right now being interceded for and intervened on behalf of.
Now available, The Resistance: God’s Plan for Renewing the Human Family is a bold and timely call to join what Fr. Riccardo describes as “a great campaign of resistance.” It sends us into every sphere of human activity to help restore God’s design by confronting the prevailing cultural trends of anger, division, utility, and materialism; fostering healing where there is brokenness; bringing light where there is darkness; and renewing purpose where all seems lost.
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ACTS XXIX Prayer Intentions
October 2026
For all bishops and priests, that they would experience ever more deeply the Father’s love and then as they do so shepherd the Church with His heart - seeking the lost, binding up the wounded, strengthening the weary, and courageously leading and equipping God’s people into the mission entrusted to them.
In gratitude for The Jesus Conference, that the Lord would pour out abundant graces upon all who gathered, that He would continue to mobilize us ever more deeply for His mission to rescue, renew, and transform the human family into the family of God.
In gratitude for the Rescue live! revival in the Diocese of Crookston, that God would bless the hearts of all who came; that together we continue to be overwhelmed by the beauty and power of the gospel, surrender our lives more fully to Jesus in faith, and be equipped and mobilized to go out on mission.
In gratitude for our time with Bishop Stephen Parkes and the presbyterate of the Diocese of Savannah, that the Holy Spirit would continue the work of deep renewal, restoration, encouragement, and fraternity.
For all those who partner with us to advance the mission of ACTS XXIX, that God would richly bless and reward them for their faithful generosity, support, and prayer; that they would know the fruit their partnership is bearing; and that the Lord would provide abundantly for every need as we seek to be faithful to the mission He has entrusted to us.