Tuesday of the 6th Week of Eastertide
Acts 16:22-34 | Psalm 137(138):1-3,7-8 | John 16:5-11
Late that night Paul and Silas were praying and singing God’s praises, while the other prisoners listened. (Acts 16:25)
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WHAT?!?! Oh sorry, I couldn’t hear you from the music blasting in my ears.
Yesterday, a BBC Music article dripping with nostalgia appeared in my Facebook feed, courtesy of a primary school classmate: 40 photos that prove the 80s were the best decade.
Just before I wrote this post, I tried listening to a few of my favourite songs from that decade. It was a short trip down memory lane…and a bit of a “meh”.
Then I switched back to the latest Catholic Stuff You Should Know podcast, and sank into the dulcet tones and amusing banter between two priests from Denver, Colorado.
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Whenever I ride the train by myself, I often end up standing near youths with head-banging mega-death black-grunge noise leaking out around their massive headphones. At other times, random people play Tamil dramas or Cantonese music at full blast from their smartphones.
Sometimes, they annoy their fellow passengers enough to attract angry stares, but I usually ignore them, choosing instead to focus on one of several Catholic podcasts. If you’re looking to spend some time listening to the Word of Life, especially others’ reflections on them, I can recommend the following examples of aural salvation.
I’ve already mentioned Catholic Stuff You Should Know, hosted by diocesan priests associated under the Denver Companions of Christ. It’s a fun hour-long listen if you’re not in a hurry to get to the subject for each week, and while it presents an American-centric view of diocesan clerical life, it makes you wonder what the Singapore Catholic scene might look like, if our own priests socialized like these shepherds do.
Also from the Colorado highlands, the Lanky Guys podcast is presented by two, well, lanky guys from Denver. One is a priest who claims to “improvise homilies after staying up too late watching movies”, while the other teaches lay people at the local seminary. If anything, they’re even more laid-back than the companionable priests above, and their weekly podcasts appear early each Friday, in time for us to listen to their reflections on the upcoming Sunday’s liturgy.
For those in a perpetual hurry, Catholic Bytes is tailored to your busy schedule. Twice a week, various priests currently studying in Rome take 5-10 minutes to explore various aspects of Catholicism for the benefit of lay listeners. No fluff, just stuff, and if you don’t even have 10 minutes to spare, they recently introduced 60-second speed explorations. Quick! Quick! Subscribe now!
And for those of us who keep telling ourselves that we’ll read the Bible, but never get around to it, the Catholic Bytes priests put together a Bible in a Year podcast, so that you can at least listen to the Good Book on the go, with introductory material from the Knox Catholic Bible translation.
Even if you’d prefer to read with your eyes, you might want to take note of their reading order, and start with the more accessible New Testament. I can confirm from first-hand experience that most folks who start with Genesis grind to a frustrated halt somewhere in Leviticus.
And if you want deep dives into our faith that are nevertheless reasonably accessible, Matt Fradd records Pints With Aquinas, a weekly thought experiment involving the good Doctor of the Church St. Thomas Aquinas…and beer. I won’t spoil the experience by explaining any further, but this is a podcast that requires your undivided attention. Trying to listen to Fradd’s expositions on the go will likely be an exercise in frustration.
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That’s the stuff that fills my earholes each day. What Catholic audio material do you listen to? Please share in the comments section below, and thanks for listening reading.
Amen.