A quick daily kick of Faith, Hope and Love
Giving people hope through the Heart of Jesus, the "glowing furnace of love" (St Gertrude the Great).
Fr Josh Miechels makes a “real and lasting connection” with listeners to his podcast, The Furnace, drawing people to the heart of Jesus. From Sydney, Fr Miechels is reaching listeners with homilies that pack a day’s worth of encouragement and inspiration into five minutes or less.
Fr Miechels is a priest of the Emmanuel Community and an assistant priest at Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Fairfield NSW. His podcast provides local scriptural reflections offered by a Catholic priest. He recorded the first daily episode of The Furnace on 24 March 2020, the day after churches were required to close due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was one way to nourish a need for scripture and prayer during a time of uncertainty and even fear.
The podcast has now passed 4,000 downloads. The name is a reference to St Gertrude the Great’s description of the heart of Jesus as a “glowing furnace of love”.
“One of the big attractions of the podcast is that it’s short,” Fr Miechels has said. “But people say it’s powerful enough to change their outlook for the day and give them hope and encouragement and a taste of the word of God.” Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Some teachers are using the podcast in classrooms as an information or prayer resource.
In his spare time, Fr Miechels sometimes listens to other podcasts. “What’s different about my podcast and the reason I like doing it is that it’s a simple, daily proclamation of the Word of God and that’s what I’m about as a priest,” said Fr Miechels.
“The Word of God is always relevant, always close to the heart, always beautiful, always inspiring.”
Listen to the podcast with your own podcast application, or at The Furnace Web site.
Source: The Catholic Weekly