From Living Faith Daily Catholic Devotions (April/May/June 2026)

St. John 1

Acts 19:1-8 + Psalm 68:2-7 + John 16:29-33

Take Courage

Now we realize that you know everything…….JOHN 16:30 

The disciples’ statement that, “Now we realize…we believe that you came from God” (v. 30), doesn’t strike me as virtuous or trusting but, rather, naive and immature. They assume what they have now is full understanding. Yet, I may hear a little sass in Jesus’ reply, “Do you believe now?” (v. 31).

They are not wrong to recognize that Jesus did, indeed, come from God. But the Lord is longing to reveal so much more. “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me,” Jesus emphasized, confident that, “the Father is with me” (v. 32).

To believe this takes courage. Not in the sense of heroics but courage to tell all that is in one’s heart, recalling the meaning of courage comes from the Latin-cor-for heart. In my case, for example, telling Jesus all that is in my heart, in full honesty, means acknowledging how vulnerable and fragile I feel about having a heart condition. “But I am not alone” he reminds me, “because the Father is with me.”

□ Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda