Laudet Dominum

We’ve been having a bit of bad weather in the evenings over the past week or so. Last night, it got so bad, BNSF Railway had an intermodal train get blown off the tracks. I had to check it out, so it gave me a little more time for listening to podcasting:

• Sean, who is Just a Catholic Dad, talked a lot about deaths this week. It’s understandable with the number of shootings (both here in the US and over there in the UK) this past week or so, as well as the death of one of their chickens. He also talked about what we expect from our bishops, and how that relates to military leadership in peace time versus war time.
• Jeff, the Catholic Foodie, recorded while on vacation at the Florida panhandle coast and made me really hungry after Mass by talking about vacation food. His recipe for jalapeño poppers sounds really good.

A couple quick shots from my phone of the derailment (cropped as I didn’t want to get too close to where they were working):

Some of the railcars and intermodal containers that got knocked over

Amtrak’s westbound Empire Builder (running only about half an hour late!) creeping through the work area.

A wider view of the derailed cars and containers, as well as some of the equipment working to clean up the mess.

Back on the longer route, so a couple longer podcasts this week:

• Fr. Christopher, Olivia, and Jeff of the Catholic Underground Podcast practice living by the humility of St. Philip Neri, discuss practicing “mindfulness” with your phone (and I would include tablet), and the role of contemplation in the spiritual life.
• Tim of Vericast discusses the triumph of truth in his usual forthright manner. He challenges us not to fall into the trap of victimology, but to be strong in the Truth of Christ!

It’s starting to feel a lot like summer, so I was enjoying the A/C in my pickup. A couple repeat podcasts this week:

• Gomer and Luke of the Catching Foxes Podcast interviewed Sergio Bermudez of the Dialog of the Dogs blog on Patheos. Fun discussion while also thought-provoking, including issues of politics and the racial problems in the United States. Write in Gomer for President of the USA! (Language warning for those offended by swearing.)
• Dr. Taylor Marshall discusses humility and how the Blessed Virgin Mary is the exemplar of that virtue. Much to reflect on in this one. Oh, and a cute interruption by his 2 year old daughter, Elizabeth.

If any of these podcasts strike your interest, be sure to subscribe to them, as well as rate them, in iTunes and other podcast directories.

I’m back on my usual Mass schedule, so my time behind the wheel is “only” about an hour and a half. I did find time to squeeze in a couple podcasts.

• My friends Sarah and Fr. Kyle at the Catholic Drinkie Show spoke with Michael and Luke of the Catching Foxes Podcast. Fun discussion, and Catching Foxes now on my podcast subscription list. Side note: I had the pleasure of meeting Michael (AKA Gomer) at the first Amazing Parish conference two years ago.
• In a recent episode, Michael and Luke of Catching Foxes interviewed Kenn Cramer, one of the Parish Life Coordinators at St. Paul Mission on the Ft. Belknap Reservation in North Central Montana. I work with Kenn and his wife Laura as their Canonical Pastor, and was interested to hear the discussion while also checking out the podcast. Kenn did a great job describing life on the reservation, and the physical and spiritual poverty many Native Americans face, especially those who live on such rural reservations.

Driving in Montana gives me a great opportunity to listen to podcasts. Today was especially good for this due to a different Mass schedule, so here’s who accompanied me on my travels today:

• Jeff Young – AKA the Catholic Foodie – was joined by Heather King in discussing her book “Loaded: Money and the Spirituality of Enough“. Definitely a challenging topic of discussion on how we as Christians are to view money and materialism. This is one area I struggle with, so I’ll be searching out the book.
• Dr. Taylor Marshall talked about two of the Early Church Martyrs, who also happened to be mystics: Perpetua and Felicity. I’ve never read the Acts of Perpetua and Felicity, but now I’ll have to look it up.
• For fun, I chose to drive a back road most of the way home, and listened to the CarStuff podcast discuss Caresto’s Arkham Car. Admittedly a 180° contrast to the first podcast on money, but very interesting to hear about this very unique – and insanely expensive – car. Oh, and they answer the question of whether or not you should store car batteries on cement floors.

Hopefully, this will the first of a regular series of posts to promote podcasts that I enjoy. A good podcast can really make the miles more bearable!