“The Rosary in a Year” chart-topping podcast is a step-by-step journey to a deeper relationship with the Lord, according to its host. Source: Catholic Review.
“You don’t have to become a desert monk tomorrow, but can you take the next best step towards slowing down, cultivating your interior life and experiencing the peace that only Christ can give,” said Fr Mark-Mary Ames, a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and director of both the religious congregation’s communications and priestly studies.
Launched this month, Fr Ames’ podcast from Ascension focuses on what he calls “the fundamentals of the prayer” – specifically, “knowing the one who is the source and end of our prayer”.
The podcast begins by “taking the time to know that as you are praying, your loving Father is looking upon you with love and listening attentively,” Fr Ames, who lives at a New York friary in the Bronx, says.
Designed for both beginners and regular Rosary devotees, the podcast seeks to lay a foundation for a lasting habit of prayer, while enabling participants to enter more fully into meditating on the lives of Jesus and Mary.
The pace is “poco a poco”, Fr Ames said, citing the Italian phrase for “little by little” – which was also the title of a music album released by fellow friar Brother Isaiah, a project for which Fr Ames was executive producer.
“The Poco a Poco Podcast” is also the name of another CFR podcast Fr Ames regularly co-hosts.
The priest took a similar approach in his 2021 book Habits for Holiness: Small Steps for Making Big Spiritual Progress, also available from Ascension, a US-based Catholic publisher.
“It’s a bit of the slogan I’ve taken upon my media evangelisation, and it’s consistent with the Franciscan-pilgrimage spirituality,” Fr Ames said. “Take the next good step.”
Fr Ames gave his thoughts as to why the podcast, which reached the top of the US Apple Podcast charts, has been so successful.
“People are hungry for substantial, well-ordered, spiritual formation,” he said. “I pray that The Rosary in a Year’s popularity is in large part because it is the Lord’s response to the deep longing of so many of the faithful: Lord, teach us how to pray.”
FULL STORY
‘The Rosary in a Year’ podcast: ‘Poco a poco’ to the Lord (By Gina Christian, OSV News via Catholic Review)
