Many years ago, Suhail Stephen was attending a retreat at St. Benedict’s Monastery in West St. Paul when he went for a walk on the grounds to reflect. As he paused under the shade of a tree, he was approached by Sister Mary Coswin. “I think she thought I was a trespasser,” he shares with a laugh. “But we started to talk, and realized we were both trained as spiritual directors. We became fast friends.”
Sister Coswin, who is a member of the Sisters of St. Benedict’s, has recently retired from her spiritual director role, but the two people of faith are passionate and curious about the human experience, spirituality, connection and grace. When Stephen was recently inspired to create a podcast, he knew who he wanted his co-host to be.
“The name of our podcast is Listen with Love,” explains Sister Coswin. “That’s what we do, as spiritual directors. We try to make space for a free and open conversation. We are there to accompany someone, to help them elicit more of what they’re feeling, what God is doing in their life, and what they’re experiencing.”
The two friends began recording together in September 2025 and have 4 podcasts live, with more rolling out in the months to come. The topics of conversation are wide-ranging, but the core undercurrent is strong and clear. “Listeners can expect to be drawn into a good, deep spiritual friendship,” he explains. “Mary and I have had years of talking about everything under the sun, and in a different sort of way because of our vocation. We’ve been plumbing the depths together for a long time, and that brings us a lot of soulful conversation and humour, too.”
The energy between the hosts is gentle, self-effacing and light. Their first episodes introduce each host, and further episodes have themes that are discussed from a spiritual, personal and vocational lens. The result is a conversation that invites listeners to pause and reflect on the ways people connect to each other and to their faith.
“What I hope people draw from this is an invitation to look at their own desire for accompaniment,” shares Sister Coswin. “Then seek out someone or something that might be of benefit to them, a place where they can be heard and pay attention to their own experience. Or if someone is interested in spiritual direction, this would help you to understand what it is, who we are and the skills we have to be able to serve others.”
While the new podcast is still finding its audience, Stephen is already thrilled with the project. “At a very basic level, one of my hopes was that it would be a joyful, meaningful and creative process,” he says. “There’s no measuring or planning for that. I feel proud of what we’ve created, and I feel moved by it. I relistened to it recently and heard things I didn’t catch while we were recording. This has been such a good and important thing to be a part of.”
Sister Coswin agrees that creating space for friendship, spirituality and discussion was the project itself. “This isn’t an intellectual podcast,” she clarifies. “It’s meant to meet people’s needs. And it’s such a good reminder to us both, and hopefully to anyone who tunes in: who doesn’t want to be listened to with love?”
To listen to this podcast, please click here, or search “Listen with Love” where ever you get your podcasts.