16 Marian Helper • Spring 2022 • marian.org 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. 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. To learn about Divine Mercy, listeners can dive into the Diary that dared to describe it. In his podcast, Saint Faustina’s Diary in aYear, the Very Rev. 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. In Pearls of Divine Mercy, Dr. BryanThatcher, 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. Spreading the Good News, One Download at a Time By Dr. Veronica Szczygiel On the Paschal Path
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