Nothing takes the place of reading. Nothing takes the place of listening. Rather, when the written word and spoken word team up, they form an ideal partnership for greater enjoyment and understanding.

When Fr. Mike Schmitz launched his Bible in a Year podcast in 2021, he started a quiet movement that opened opportunities for people, both familiar and unfamiliar with Sacred Scripture, to dive more deeply into God’s Word. The popularity of Fr. Schmitz’s podcast proved the success of how reading and listening work together. He followed up two years ago with readings and insights on the Catechism of the Catholic Church in a Year, a work that even many Catholics don’t realize is a beautifully composed pastoral document.

The Catholic Church permits other documents for public consumption, including some mystical writings of saints and others on their way to sainthood. Unlike the Bible and CCC, we are not required to believe in private revelations, and these writings are not regarded as truths, but no one can deny the hearty fascination the faithful have for these revelations, particularly those communicated from Jesus and the Blessed Mother.

The problem is these writings are rarely easy to digest alone.

Some are hundreds of years old, often containing obscure language we are unfamiliar with today. They are “mystical,” a quality that brings with it an air of perplexity. Hearing the words helps. Having a guide summarize and offer insights invites clarity which is why these “in-a-year” podcasts, along with the books, is the ideal combination. People who would never pick up these books to read might listen, and when they hear something that piques their curiosity, go to the book to examine it further. Others want the books with them to read along, review later, and meditate on the message.

Some publishers are seizing the opportunity, offering asynchronous reading-a-day podcasts on some rather substantial writings by prolific visionaries. Read by priests, they follow a format of a few paragraphs each day, with brief commentary and observations, not longer, usually, than about 20 minutes and are available for free on the unusual platforms, such as Spotify and Apple iTunes. The podcasts run transcripts, but they are AI generated and many of the words and names are wrong.

The benefit of having the books to refer to is the availability to spend time with revelatory or descriptive excerpts, compare them with other writings, and use them to reflect on related Bible passages.

Probably the most well-known of the three mentioned here is the Diary of St. Faustina. This in-a-year podcast presented by Most Rev. Joe Roesch, MIC, the Superior General of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, along with the diary’s publisher, Marian Press, breaks down the messages our Lord dictated to his “Secretary of Divine Mercy.” Most Catholics are familiar with the message of the Lord’s Divine Mercy since it is celebrated the Sunday after Easter. St. Faustina’s diary offers a great deal more of Jesus’s message of mercy to those who know and love Him. Listeners who have not read the diary will be struck by Faustina’s desire to convert souls, the distress the unconverted cause her and the intimacy she and Jesus share. In entry 928, she describes how bereft she is at this, and Jesus begs her to stop crying. (Faustina 2014, 359)

Fr. Roesch also voices the Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, a Catholic classic from the 1400s, is considered a “must-read” by those who want to take up their cross and follow Him.

Fr. Edward Looney, author of nearly a dozen books, many of which are reflections and meditations on the Blessed Mother, began a partnership with Tan Books back in 2022 to produce the podcast, The Mystical City of God: The Divine History and Life of the Virgin Mother of God based on the four-volume set of messages manifested to Maria of Agreda in the 1700s by the Blessed Mother. Fr. Looney’s guidance through the readings, especially in the beginning, is indispensable and reassuring. He admits that the readings are rather difficult, or “dense,” as he describes it, with archaic language and meandering backstory, and his encouragement provides the added push in Book One to give the listener time to become enthralled, which he or she will.

Her writings are filled with details, big and small, of the Blessed Mother’s life, from an explanation of Jesus’ mysterious seamless tunic (2) to Mary’s conversations and relationship with God through a nine-day experience of her own mystical vision of Heaven before the Incarnation (3). 

Last year, they released The Life of Jesus Christ in a Year: from the Vision of Anne Catherine Emmerich, which might be more widely known. This two-volume set is separate from the Emmerich books, Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The COMPLETE Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich. Her writings were reportedly an inspiration for Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. She unveils many revelations, including those about the Woman at the Well. The two days Fr. Loney spends on Jesus and the Woman reveal jaw dropping details of their conversation, her dress, demeanor, personality and names. Yes, she claims the unnamed woman in the Gospel of John has three (Looney 2024).

Choose your favorite or suggest another. Happy reading and listening!

Feature Photo by Johannes Plenio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/landscape-photography-of-forest-1103971/

Inset photo by Mary McWilliams

Kowalska, Saint Maria Faustina. Divine Mercy in My Soul.  Marian Press, 2014. 

Roesch, Joe. 2024. “Day 184: Diary Entries 927-932”. Podcast audio. Saint Faustina’s Diary in a Year. September 21, 2024. https://open.spotify.com/episode/08dEyAJAWXRMbkjcsfSBPy?si=I2iRFlWaRDG3BqVbMMOJKw

Looney, Edward. 2022. “Day 179, Volume 2, Book 4, Chapter 29, Paragraphs 691-695”. The Mystical City of God in a Year. June 22, 2022.

Looney, Edward. 2022. “Day 101: Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 7, Paragraphs70-86”. The Mystical City of God in a Year. April 11, 2022. https://open.spotify.com/episode/48B37MR3IZ3K1Q39WhO6AA?si=aiqLUECaQCqNDtuxvAsd2Qhttps://open.spotify.com/episode/5Y66gdUgcu0lt4mMIHmFHP?si=f7k1zsakQ-GcMY5Jt6rOug

Looney, Edward. 2024. “Day 103: The Woman at the Well Part 1”. The Life of Jesus Christ in a year: From the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich. September 19, 2024. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2J9eoeIQbuIYqa4dSXyFmx?si=xF6JwNxgS_ykOTzqDQS0nw

Copyright 2025 by Mary McWilliams

Edited by Rietta Parker