Electric Prayer

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We are half way through Lent, and Laetare Sunday on 30 March marks the occasion by having rose-coloured vestments: half way between Lent’s purple and the white of Easter and the Resurrection.

The Gospel for Laetare Sunday this year is the parable of the Prodigal Son. It comes at this time in Lent because it forms a perfect framework for how we deal with sin: repentance, confession, forgiveness, celebration.

Sin and absolution

The concept of sin is the greatest gift that Christianity has given to the human race. It expresses the fact that we, although essentially good, do do bad things. Without it, we have to think ‘Anyone who does a bad thing is evil,’ or alternatively, ‘I am not evil, so whatever I do is good’. Both conclusions are toxic, and deadly to the soul.

Recognising sin as a disease is the first step to liberation. The second step is that God the Son, by becoming incarnate to redeem the human race, has made it possible for us to be healed of that disease.

Easter is the time when we celebrate this particularly, and it is also the time when we enact it by doing as the Prodigal Son did: repenting, confessing, being absolved. By going to Confession at this time, we do more than merely admiring the Redemption from a distance: we live it.

This podcast draws the parallel in some detail.

Doing more

One good spiritual exercise for Lent is to make an incremental change rather than a revolutionary one. To do whatever one is doing, but add one more thing. Human beings are creatures of habit, and although it is hard to get a good habit going, once it is going, it becomes easy to carry on with it.

Universalis, as a spiritual resource, is always with you. This makes it a good place to start. Here are a couple of ideas.

If you use the app

Quite a lot of people only ever look at one page in Universalis. Try looking at another one as well! On iPhone/iPad and Android, here is what you do:

1. Tap on the text in the middle of the screen, to make the toolbar appear at the top.
2. In the toolbar, tap on the “Hours” button in the middle.
3. Pick the page you want to see.

For instance, if you always look at the day’s Mass readings, that is a good habit. Now build on it by reading Lauds (Morning Prayer) too.

If you use the website

On the web page it is easy to jump from one page to another: so do it! Better still, get the app. It has better translations, more flexible layout, and it doesn’t need the Internet. Some of the most praised pages in Universalis (such as “Spiritual Reading”) are only available in the app.

Recent podcasts

The podcast has been going for over a year now and 15,000 people are listening to it each week. Why not join them?

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

Here are the episodes which have come out since the last newsletter. Each is around 17 minutes long, and you can listen to it by clicking on the link.

23 February: The Book of Ecclesiastes. Greek philosophy and Jewish wisdom. Where true value comes from. The goodness of work. How Universalis started. Get up and do something!

2 March: The Book of Job. Some Lenten exercises. Almsgiving: secret or public? How the Word on Fire conference went.

9 March: Giving up things for Lent. Social media, and the still centre invaded by noise. Reconquering the still centre and inviting God in. The Scriptures as paint applied year by year. Paying other people to do our charity. Jonah and comedy. Ezekiel and hereditary guilt. The anniversary of this podcast.

16 March: The Transfiguration in Lent and out of it: two views of the same landscape. “Do not judge”, and when and how we have to judge. Judgement as love and justice as virtue.

23 March: The Liturgy of the Hours: how to do psalms, and the origin of the psalm-prayers. How to get the psalm-prayers in Universalis. The Annunciation; the namelessness of God; St Etheldreda’s and the tax-collectors. An example of justice.

30 March: Laetare Sunday. The Prodigal Son as a model for Confession. Why sin makes sense. Some questions and answers about Confession. A pure heart.

New podcast episodes come out on Friday or Saturday each week.

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.