Electric Prayer

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Welcome back to Advent! Glory is on the way. The liturgy is full of the prophecies of Isaiah, which were first given for consolation to the Jews 2,700 years ago (the same sort of time as the legendary foundation of the city of Rome). They were fulfilled once over in the first century BC when the Son of God became man as the baby Jesus – and still those prophecies speak to us of the Second Coming of Christ.

The Christmas countdown

Just after the middle of December, Advent changes gear. It sounds like a liturgical technicality but it is to honour the coming glorious feast. It’s worth noticing, because it is a great source of spiritual refreshment.

You can see that something special is happening if you look at the calendar. This year, the 14th of December is the 3rd Sunday of Advent, the 15th is Monday of the 3rd week of Advent, the 16th is the Tuesday of the 3rd week… and then when you look at the next day, it doesn’t say ‘Wednesday’ in any of the books. It just says that the 17th is “17 December”, the 18th is “18 December”, and so on.

What this really means is that Christmas has taken over. The 17th is “Christmas Eve minus 7”, the 18th is “Christmas Eve minus 6’, and so on – because what do days of the week matter when the Lord is almost here?

The O Antiphons

The liturgy marks these numbered days – from 17 December onwards – in a special way. At Vespers, the antiphons for the Magnificat each day form a kind of countdown to Christmas. They are called “The O Antiphons” because each of them starts with the word “O”.

We Christians can easily forget that the Coming of the Lord is an Old Testament thing. The people who were looking forward to it at the time were Old Testament people in an Old Testament culture, and they looked forward to it in an Old Testament way. And so the O Antiphons look forward to the event with Old Testament language and symbols. He is the Wisdom of the Most High (O Sapientia); he is Adonai, the leader of Israel (O Adonái); the stock of Jesse (O radix Iesse); the key of David and sceptre of Israel (O clavis David); the Rising Sun of eternal light; the King of all peoples; and on the 23rd, the final evening of Advent, he is Emmanuel, God-with-Us. (If you think that the hymn O come, O come, Emmanuel is inspired by these antiphons, you are right.)

These antiphons are so important, and such a good basis for reflection and understanding, that everyone ought to be reading them. So apart from being in their proper place at Vespers each day, each of the O Antiphons has its own article in the About Today page, both in the apps and on the website.

You can see the first of these About Today pages here.

Christmas presents

People often ask how to give Universalis as a gift, so this blog post will tell you how. The great thing about Universalis is that it lasts for ever: it truly is a gift for life.

“Resurrection Is Now”

In case you missed it last month: Dom Aelred’s magnificent book “Resurrection Is Now” has been recorded, and the eight instalments which came out in November can be found in the Podcasts page.

The weekly podcasts

Here are the episodes which have come out since the last newsletter. You can listen by clicking on the link. Each is around 20 minutes long.

16 November: “Resurrection Is Now” and the power of reading aloud. “We are delighted to report the death of…” and gold vestments at funerals. The date of the end of the world: a thought-experiment. Wine; work; liturgy; and fulfilment for those who struggle after losing everything. The new colour selection feature in Universalis.

23 November: Christ the King and ourselves as kings. “A king, not a thing”. How to live our kingship and respect the kingship of others. The Vietnamese martyrs, St Niels Steensen, the Holy Crucifix at Goa.

30 November: Looking forward to the unknown Chr–––––s which is coming, just as the Jews looked forward to the unsuspected glory of the Nativity. Isaiah teaches us by looking beyond the turbulent history of his time. His daily prophecies, day by day. Subscribing to Universalis and giving it as a gift. Saint Francis Xavier; Saint Nicholas.

7 December: More Isaiah. Rejoicing. Joy and pleasure and the true meaning of Christmas. Church liturgy and family liturgy. The story of the flaming Christmas pudding. How the Gospels this week explain Isaiah. The Immaculate Conception. Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin.

Many thousands of people listen to the podcast, from all over the world. Sometimes by themselves in the car, sometimes sitting at home with the whole family. If you haven’t listened yet, do. If you have, and you like it, tell all your friends.

• Here is a link to the Podcasts page. You will find all the podcasts listed there. There are more than 90 of them by now.
• If you use podcast apps, there are links to Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube at the bottom of this newsletter. The Podcasts page has some more links.
• If you don’t want to have to send your friends a link, tell them to go to the home page at universalis.com and they’ll find a Podcasts button at the top right.
• All the Universalis apps and programs will show an alert in the About Today page whenever a new podcast is ready.

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

Listen to the Latin hymns

If you are subscribing to the spoken Liturgy of the Hours, which is available on iPhone/iPad and Android devices, you will know that the English hymns in them are spoken, not sung.

A new project has started! A singer who is as talented as she is kind is recording all the Latin hymns for Lauds (Morning Prayer).

Why Latin? Because these hymns come from deep in the roots of the liturgy of the Church. Many of them have been used for more than a thousand years. They are rich in symbolism and in doctrine, and listening to them (with the parallel English, as you can in Universalis) is a great form of meditation.

This is an ongoing project. Each hymn takes something like a day’s work of finding and studying the music, choosing an interpretation and, finally, recording a performance worthy of the work.

So I can’t promise yet that you will hear the Latin hymn every single day. But most days in December are already covered, and your phone or tablet will automatically keep up to date with new recordings as they appear. I expect that in a few months’ time it will be possible to say “Everything is there”, and then the hymns will be advertised more widely. Meanwhile, this newsletter is the only announcement.

How to listen

You need to tell Universalis to display the Latin hymn at Lauds, rather than one of the English ones. To do this, tap on the button to the right of the heading which says “Hymn”, and choose the Latin hymn from the menu. The hymn will appear with a literal English translation – that is not meant for singing, but to help you understand what the Latin is saying.

When you press the Play button, then the sung Latin hymn will be played as part of Lauds, and since each line of the hymn is highlighted as you listen, you will be able to keep track and also to understand.

This is an exciting and beautiful project, and I hope that you enjoy the result.

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.