Electric Prayer

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Happy New Year!

There is a sad law of nature about newsletters, and it is this. When there is nothing to report, there is plenty of time to write newsletters to report it. When there is a lot to report, there is no time to write newsletters at all.

The year 2024 has been one of those busy times. Now the new year has come, it is a good time to catch up with what has been going on.

The new English lectionary

Some years ago the Bishops of England and Wales decided to change the translation being used for the readings at Mass, from the Jerusalem Bible (which has been used for as long as most of us can remember) to something called the English Standard Version, which is yet another descendant of the RSV.

As is common with decisions made at the top of large organisations, the changes seemed easy when they were decreed but required enormous amounts of work to put them into effect: in this case, years of effort by some dedicated volunteers. Finally the changeover was made in December 2024. From now on, at Mass in England, Wales and Scotland, the new ESV texts are being used.

Universalis contains the new ESV texts for England, Wales and Scotland. All you need to do is make sure that your local calendar is set to one of these countries and your app is up to date. This page has the details.

If you are not in England, Wales or Scotland, nothing has changed. You will see the same Mass readings you always have: the New American Bible in the USA, and the Jerusalem Bible in the rest of the world.

The new English lectionary: printed missals

Sunday Missals are available from the Catholic Truth Society (ISBN 978-1784697990) Redemptorist Publications (ISBN 978-0852316436) and Hodder & Stoughton (ISBN 978-1399822770 and 978-1399822831). There is a Universalis connection with the Hodder & Stoughton missal, because I was invited to contribute some short essays on ‘Introduction to the Church’s Year’ and the like.

It seems that Daily Missals, covering weekdays as well as Sundays, do not exist yet, though I may be wrong about this. The only one I can find is the Catholic Truth Society’s one, which has been delayed from late April to late May 2025.

To fill in the gap until a daily Missal appears, use Universalis instead! Read about all the apps and programs here.

Monthly and yearly e-books

Universalis isn’t just apps, so here is your annual reminder: Universalis e-books can be read on Kobo, Kindle and other e-book readers.

Ready-made e-books are listed here. They cover a year of Mass or a half-year of the Hours, for selected parts of the world.

NEW: You can get a free monthly e-book containing the readings at Mass, Lauds (Morning Prayer) and Vespers (Evening Prayer). This comes to you by email and it comes with instructions for putting it onto your e-book reader.

You can get a custom-made e-book if you have a Universalis registration code. This lets you choose exactly what pages you want, exactly what calendar to use, and whatever duration you want: a month, half a year, or a year.

The Universalis podcast

Perhaps the biggest reason for the gaps in the newsletters recently is the Universalis podcast. This started in March 2024, and it comes out once a week. Each 15-minute episode covers the liturgical aspects of the coming week – sometimes focusing on its saints, sometimes on its theology. People love the podcast and write in to say so. I hear of families sitting down together on a Sunday evening to listen to it. So try it yourself.

The Universalis apps and programs will remind you when a new episode comes out. Otherwise, here is the Podcasts page. Or just go to the home page at universalis.com and you’ll find a Podcasts button at the top right.

The Podcasts page lists all the podcasts, lets you listen to any of them, and if you’re already an established podcast listener it tells you how to subscribe through Apple Podcasts and Spotify and so on. To encourage you, here are direct links to the last few episodes:

15 December: Gaudete Sunday. The countdown to Christmas with the O Antiphons.

22 December: The O Antiphons concluded. Christmas starts the night before. Which is more important, Christmas or Easter? Incarnation, rescue and love. Stephen (and Paul), John and the Holy Innocents.

29 December: The Christmas feasts. The Holy Family. The Finding in the Temple.

5 January: The Epiphany. Melchizedek, Zoroastrianism and the Magi.

There is something relentless about weeks! As soon as you breathe a sigh of relief because one week’s podcast is done, it is time to be thinking about the next. But that thinking process is a wonderful spiritual exercise in itself – learning to tap and appreciate the riches of the Church’s calendar and all its readings and psalms.

Thank you all for using Universalis. If you have trouble or questions, or suggestions, do write to us at universalis@universalis.com or use the Contact Us button in one of the apps.

Let us all keep one another in our prayers, as always.