By Dr. Veronica Szczygiel
Looking to supplement your Lenten spiritual preparation? Then please lend us your ears!
Modern problems sometimes need modern solutions. In this age of audiobooks and podcasts, spiritual listening may fill the role spiritual reading has held for many Catholics across the centuries.
Double-dipping
Sometimes it’s hard to find time for God during busy, day-to-day life. When this happens, we can turn routine responsibilities into encounters with the Lord by turning on a podcast. In fact, 52 percent of podcast fans have reported listening to episodes while driving, and 59 percent while doing housework. As 155 million Americans listened to a podcast last year alone, that’s a lot of roving listeners — and clean houses.
Millions of people are double-dipping with their time. Catholics can do the same.
The Marian Fathers and Association of Marian Helpers produce six high-quality podcasts to tune into when tuning out the monotony in our lives. Like books in a library, you can pick and choose podcast episodes you find most interesting or timely for your life (unless binge listening Netflix-style appeals to you). Podcasts can also be used as teaching resources in catechism classes or parish discussion and prayer groups.
The Marian podcasts share, explain, and expand upon the message of Divine Mercy as a path to holiness in listeners’ lives. The purpose of these podcasts is to help us understand God’s fathomless mercy, be inspired by it, and, of course, pray for mercy.
Saint Faustina's Diary in a Year
To learn about Divine Mercy, listeners can dive into the Diary that dared to describe it. In his podcast, Saint Faustina’s Diary in a Year, Fr. Joseph Roesch, MIC, vicar general for the worldwide Congregation, begins each daily episode by reading an excerpt from the saint’s Diary so that, after 365 days, listeners will have completed the entire book. In a booming, baritone narrative voice that is part Leonard Cohen and part divine, Fr. Roesch delivers short and sweet commentary on the takeaways of each day’s entry. Fragmenting the Diary into digestible chunks can help cultivate a disciplined prayer life, as listeners can follow along in the book, writing down reflections in its margins. Episodes are 5-8 minutes long.
Father Roesch's podcast just reached a milestone: one million downloads!
Pearls of Divine Mercy
In Pearls of Divine Mercy, Dr. Bryan Thatcher, founder of the Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy, an apostolate of the Marian Fathers, uses quotations from St. Faustina’s Diary, Church teachings, and important Catholic thinkers to explain the nuances of Divine Mercy. This podcast is especially beneficial for listeners new to its message or who want to learn more about the core tenets quickly and thoroughly. “I hope listeners realize the message of Divine Mercy is much more than the beautiful Image, Feast day, or the powerful Chaplet, but rather a spirituality and way of life,” Dr. Thatcher says.
Each episode of Pearls is like a glistening jewel beaded on a string: The more episodes you listen to, the more complete and beautiful the necklace becomes. Episodes are 5-9 minutes long.
Explaining the Faith
Mercy is a fulcrum of our Catholic faith, which Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, explores in Explaining the Faith. In this podcast, taken from his popular Saturday talks, he addresses a wide variety of topics that range from Heaven, Marian apparitions, Noah’s Ark, and forgiveness to Sept. 11, the Crusades, and so many more. Each TED Talk-style episode begins with an intriguing question answered comprehensively and accurately with evidence from Church teaching and the Scriptures.
Passionate and engaging, Fr. Chris becomes the wise, entertaining professor you wish you had to keep you awake in your college lecture hall. To see the slides that Fr. Chris references, you can watch the talk on the official Divine Mercy Facebook page. Episodes are 40-90 minutes long.
Homilies from the National Shrine
Similarly, you can pan for more podcast gold in the Homilies from the National Shrine, featuring daily and Sunday Masses sermons celebrated at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy. These episodes work well as a supplement (not replacement!) for Sunday Mass.
If you can’t get to weekday Mass, you can review the liturgical readings on your own and listen to the homily for a daily dose of wisdom from different Marian priests. Episodes are 5-25 minutes long.
Catholic Saints with Fr. Dan
The Marian podcasts provide fuel for inspiration to live out the message of Divine Mercy. In Catholic Saints with Fr. Dan, Fr. Dan Cambra, MIC, tells saint stories to give us, he explains, “reasons to hope as well as tips on how to become the saints we were called to be at Baptism.” To help us strive for holiness, he boils down the virtues unique to each saint that we can emulate while highlighting how human they were, too.
When Fr. Dan speaks about his personal connections with these saints, the podcast sounds like you’re having a phone conversation with an old friend. Episodes are 3-8 minutes long.
Sparks of Mercy
In Sparks of Mercy, conversations with writers, book editors, and readers offer real and down-to-earth wisdom for our spiritual journey. Marian Press senior books editor Chris Sparks asks his guests thought-provoking questions that not only delve into literary content but the lives of “just plain faithful folks.” He says the podcast shares “insights on how to live the love of God in the world, how it leads us to love of neighbor, and the practical, every day, ordinary ways to live that love in the world.” Each episode is meant to ignite a spark (pun intended) that will set your faith life aflame. Episodes are 40 minutes long.
Every podcast episode is a prayer, inviting God’s Word into our ears and His presence into our hearts. So pop in your wireless earbuds or sport your 80s-style headphones and listen to these “prayercasts” while you run, shop, wash dishes, or drive. Or simply soak them in with a cup of coffee. Regardless of how or when we listen, let’s fill our lives, not just with tasks, but with the sounds of God’s grace and mercy. Lent is a great time to start.
Visit TheDivineMercy.org/podcasts to access all of the Marian podcasts mentioned in this article, free of charge. You can also search for them on your favorite listening platform, including Spotify, Apple podcasts, and Google podcasts.
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