Electric Prayer

The Liturgy of the Hours, the Mass, and other things.

Giving Universalis for Christmas

Posted by universalis on 5 December 2025

At this time of year, we are all thinking of presents we can give, sometimes to people who are far away.

Why not give Universalis?

For older people who perhaps can’t get out much, Universalis can help maintain contact with the prayer life of the universal Church. Or if you have a younger friend, with all the distractions of life around and ahead, Universalis is a solid preparation and continuing foundation for an ‘Apostle for life’. Even for people who never take their noses out of the shiny black rectangles in front of them, they will see through the device for once, into a wider world – indeed, an infinite one.

Universalis lasts for ever and never runs out, so it really is a gift for life.

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November 2025 newsletter

Posted by universalis on 11 November 2025

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November is the month of the dead: a month of celebration rather than mourning. Unreliable statistics suggest that out of all the Christians there have ever been, 1 in 3 are living now. This means that for every one of us on Earth, there are two team members who have passed through death; and we are united into one single community by prayer.

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October 2025 newsletter

Posted by universalis on 14 October 2025

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After Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and Blessed Carlo Acutis, Pope Leo is canonising Blessed Peter To Rot this coming Sunday, the 19th. You can read about him in the Universalis pages for his feast day, 7 July. Here is a link to the About Today page for that day.

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How to rate and review

Posted by universalis on 13 October 2025

Many people start using Universalis because their friends tell them about it. But the app stores themselves are another way to help people find it.

The Universalis app is programmed to ask, occasionally, if you want to give it a rating: in Google Play for Android, or in the App Store for Apple. “Occasionally” should mean “not more than three times a year”

But if you’d like to help us – and anyone who doesn’t know about Universalis yet – you can leave a star rating or a review at any time.

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September 2025 newsletter

Posted by universalis on 12 September 2025

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Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and Blessed Carlo Acutis were canonised by Pope Leo on 7 September, and the podcast of that date tells you more about these new saints (you can find a link to it below). They will be a ‘saint for me’ for some people who, looking at the calendar of saints, can’t see anyone who could be their ‘friend in heaven’. But even for the rest of us, their lives have a lot in them to teach us and inspire us. I wish I had been able to be like Frassati in my early twenties, but I didn’t even know it was possible. Is it too late now? No, with God nothing is too late.

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August 2025 newsletter

Posted by universalis on 26 August 2025

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August sounds as if it ought to be a quiet time, but it has had some glorious feasts in it. The greatest ones have been the Transfiguration of the Lord on the 6th and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the 15th: a much-needed midsummer public holiday in many countries.

September is going to bring its own treasures, including a long anticipated multiple canonisation on Sunday the 7th; and of course it ends with a bang with St Michael and the archangels.

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July 2025 newsletter

Posted by universalis on 14 July 2025

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Eastertide is over, and the high theological feasts are behind us as well. Ordinary Time stretches out before us, but it isn’t smooth and featureless. There are inspiring saints to be celebrated and the words of the liturgy are always fresh.

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Duccio’s Maestà

Posted by universalis on 26 April 2025

The National Gallery has an exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300 ‒1350, which runs until 22 June. Following established practice, the exhibition website is likely to be destroyed at that time so that nobody can read anything about it. The exhibition catalogue will survive: it is edited by Joanna Cannon and its ISBN is 978-1857097160.

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Easter 2025 newsletter

Posted by universalis on 21 April 2025

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Pope Francis, R.I.P

There is surely no better time to die than at the very beginning of the Easter season. Just when one has prepared oneself to celebrate the joy of the Resurrection, one is called home by God, to begin the journey which will end in living that same joy.

Praying for the recently dead at this time has a special resonance for us as Christians, because the person and the season coincide so well. For those of you who want to read the Office of the Dead, here are the instructions for doing so in the Universalis apps and programs.

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Mid-Lent 2025 newsletter

Posted by universalis on 2 April 2025

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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.

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