Missionary To Mars — Episode One: "Silence"

An Audio Drama for Spiritual Formation | Runtime: Approx. 45 minutes

Sixty-three million kilometers from Earth, with no margin for error and four minutes to live or die by her own calculations, mission specialist Marisol Reyes discovers that the prayer she's practiced for thirty years may not be prayer at all.

Red Desert is not science fiction. It is a desert story — the oldest kind. Like the fourth-century monastics who walked into the Egyptian wilderness until only God remained, Marisol has been placed somewhere the familiar supports no longer reach: no parish, no schedule, no comfortable noise to fill the silence she's been quietly avoiding. What happens in that silence — and in one unscripted moment of surrender at engine ignition — is the subject of everything that follows.

In Part One, hear the drama unfold aboard the spacecraft Ares VI as orbital insertion forces a crisis that strips away technique and leaves only the real thing underneath. In Part Two, the Shema Council — drawing from Frank Laubach, Madame Guyon, Thomas Kelly, George Müller, and the Desert Fathers — reflects on what Marisol encountered, why the dryness is not God's absence, and why Park Jin's challenge ("your invisible friend didn't write those equations") may be the most theologically honest line in the script.

Both parts close with a practice — not a suggestion. An invitation to sit in what Marisol is learning to sit in.

Bring your silence. Bring your trying. That's enough to begin.

Unlike the audio-drama format making up all the following episodes, we begin with something different, for us at least.

Thanks to the realm of technology we feature an interview of the Missionary to Mars series creator by the fictional Spiritual Director of the story, Father Ambrose Pierce.

And while we normally do not do talking heads on purpose, it seems appropriate to take a step back and answer some fundamental questions about the project itself.

• Why do an audio drama?
• Why is it set on Mars?
• How can listeners participate themselves in prayerful exercises as story characters go through the paces themselves?

If the following important statement loses your interest, it does so intentionally so get ready:

THIS IS NOT A SCIENCE FICTION STORY DRAMA. IT IS HOWEVER A MODERN PARABLE MEANT TO REVEAL THE KINGDOM OF GOD TO A MODERN AUDIENCE.

Certainly, some statements or answers may need clarification and we welcome episode feedback. This is the start of a brand new enterprise and it is felt better to actually get product to air than to tinker with constant editing and improvements.

We thank you for your grace, your patience and encouraging participation.

P.S. A quick note--Some may wonder why the broadcast story and targeted audience is Roman Catholic. Does that mean no one else should listen or can benefit from what you hear?

Everyone can either learn or confirm what they already know, to grow in a greater appreciation of what it means to deepen a current existence's meaning through the interactive form of prayer with our Creator.

Be you atheist or any other religion, God desires communion with all of His children. That said, there are close to two billion Roman Catholics on the planet this year and despite solid affirmation by the Vatican, Catechism and the writings of the Desert Fathers or Saints, this kind of prayer formation seems lacking in volume despite strong evidence that parishes desire it.

Thank you and God richly bless you.

Graham

What if the greatest mission field wasn't across the ocean—but across the solar system?

Missionary to Mars isn't your typical podcast. This is an immersive audio drama that follows Astronaut Marisol Reyes, a Hispanic engineering astronaut sent on humanity's first mission to colonize the Red Planet. But this isn't just science fiction—it's spiritual formation disguised as entertainment.

As Reyes faces the isolation of space, the challenges of building a new world, and the profound questions that arise when Earth is just a blue dot in the sky, listeners are invited into something deeper: a masterclass in contemplative prayer.

Each episode weaves gripping storytelling with ancient spiritual practices. You'll experience her internal struggles, conversations with God in the vast silence of space, and her discoveries about what it means to carry faith to the frontier of human existence. But more importantly, you'll learn to recognize God's voice in your own life.

This audio drama teaches you to:

• Practice Ignatian discernment in everyday decisions
• Recognize consolation and desolation in your spiritual life
• Pray with Scripture using Lectio Divina
• Find God in all things—even in the mundane and difficult
• Listen for the "still, small voice" amid life's noise

Why an audio drama? Because stories bypass our defenses just as our Lord knew when He shared the Truth through parables. When you're engaged in Reye's journey—her doubts, loneliness, her breakthroughs—you're not just learning about prayer; you're experiencing it alongside her. The isolation of Mars becomes a mirror for your own inner wilderness. Her questions become your questions. Her encounters with God illuminate your own.

Whether you're new to prayer or have been seeking God for years, Missionary to Mars offers a fresh approach. No lecturing. No religious jargon. Just honest, human storytelling that creates space for you to hear what God might be saying to you.

Join Reyes and the Mars colonist's Jesuit Spiritual Director as she discovers that the mission to Mars is really a mission inward—and learn to hear God speaking in the vast, beautiful silence of your own heart.

New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe now and begin your journey.