Electric Prayer

Announcing “The Snow Cow”

Posted by universalis on 21 September 2009

cowalone We are proud to announce the publication of our first printed book, “The Snow Cow” by Martin Kochanski, on 19 November.

Subtitled “Ghost stories for skiers”, it might not sound to you like the sort of religious or spiritual book that you’d have expected from Universalis. Certainly there isn’t much theology; and yet the stories (which don’t all contain ghosts) have an enormous amount of love and joy in them. After all, this, for a Christian, is what life and death are all about.

And quite apart from anything else, the stories are easy to read and very entertaining!

Visit the Snow Cow web site to read more about the book. There’s even a sample chapter for you to download.

Posted in The Snow Cow | 1 Comment »

Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader

Posted by universalis on 27 July 2009

Ever since these devices came out, people have been asking when they will be able to read Universalis on them.

The basic problem is that neither the Kindle nor the Sony Reader is a programmable device: they are designed to read e-books and nothing else. And Universalis is not an e-book. An e-book is a digital file that contains every page you might ever want to read; Universalis is a program that synthesizes the pages you want, at the moment you ask for them.

Some people have suggested that we create and sell Universalis e-books for specific chunks of time – for instance, “Westminster July 2009” or “United States 2010” – on a subscription basis. We’ve gone one better than this: we’re allowing you to create your own e-books for your own private use.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Downloadable Universalis, e-books | Tagged: amazon kindle, ebooks, kindle, sony reader | 14 Comments »

New American Bible

Posted by universalis on 24 July 2009

After many months of negotiation and thorough proof-reading, we are now able to provide the New American Bible texts for the readings at Mass, with the permission of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

For copyright reasons the NAB texts are not viewable on the Universalis web site. They are included in all the Universalis downloads and in the Universalis application for the iPhone.

Liturgy of the Hours: the Scripture readings continue to use the Jerusalem Bible only.

Readings at Mass: If you are using one of the USA local liturgical calendars, you have a choice between the Jerusalem Bible and the New American Bible. In most versions, this choice appears on the Calendars page that lets you select the local calendar. In the iPhone application, there is a separate Settings page that lets you choose your translation.

Posted in Downloadable Universalis, The Universalis site | 4 Comments »

St Mary Magdalen and different readings

Posted by universalis on 22 July 2009

Two people have asked why their missals show Song of Songs 3:1-4 and 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 as First Readings for today, while Universalis shows Exodus 16:1-5,9-15.

The answer is that the fact that the missals and Lectionary print those readings doesn’t mean that they should actually ever be used.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Liturgy, The Universalis site | Comments Off on St Mary Magdalen and different readings

Daytime hours now available

Posted by universalis on 6 July 2009

The daytime hours are Terce (mid-morning), Sext (midday), and None (afternoon). Collectively they are known as the Little Hours, because they are short prayer breaks for the working day.

These hours are now available on the Universalis web site. If you are using the downloaded Universalis programs, you can get a free update here.

If you are using the Universalis application on the iPhone or iPod Touch, the latest version of the software (1.30) contains a slightly simplified version of these hours. The next version is on the way and should be with you in a couple of weeks: you will be notified automatically when it is ready, and given an opportunity to download it free of charge.

Posted in Downloadable Universalis, The Universalis site | 4 Comments »

Price reduction

Posted by universalis on 3 July 2009

We have reduced the price of a licence for the downloadable Universalis program from £30 to £19.99. On 3 July 2009 this was approximately $33 or €23. (To get an up-to-date equivalent, click on the links).

Prices for the Universalis application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, sold through the iPhone App Store, are cheaper: £14.99 / $24.99 / €14.99.

Of course the web version continues to be free. So does the Catholic Calendar application in the iPhone App Store. For other systems, if you just want a free Catholic Calendar and nothing else, download the Universalis program and don’t bother to buy a registration code for it.

Posted in Downloadable Universalis | Comments Off on Price reduction

The AvantGo web service is closing

Posted by universalis on 12 June 2009

An announcement on AvantGo’s web site says that they are closing their mobile web service at the end of June 2009.

Here is our page about the available options.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on The AvantGo web service is closing

Daytime hours coming soon

Posted by universalis on 10 June 2009

The “Little Hours” will appear in Universalis soon: Terce for mid-morning, Sext at midday, and None in the middle of the afternoon.

Posted in Downloadable Universalis, The Universalis site | 8 Comments »

“Though some hesitated”

Posted by universalis on 8 June 2009

Yesterday’s Gospel was from Matthew 28:16-20, and it has this sentence:

When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated.

I’m sure one could draw out some terribly pious moral from this, but I’m not interested in that. For me, that sentence is fun because it shines a little light into the very human process of writing a gospel. Anyone who has ever written a family memoir will know the problem well.

We can’t say everyone behaved perfectly on that occasion, because it would be untrue: X. didn’t. We can’t say everyone behaved perfectly except X, because it would be unkind: poor X. just had a wobbly moment.

And so a passion for truth and a passion for charity collide, and the result is the true but tactful phrase: “though some hesitated”.

For me, little things like this are the strongest argument for the authenticity of the Gospels.

Posted in Reflections | 4 Comments »

Narrower banners for webmasters

Posted by universalis on 31 May 2009

Someone asked us if we could make the Universalis banner narrower so that she could fit it at the side of her blog. Something like this:

So now, as you see, we have. You can choose your own banner width, within reason (because the banners don’t get any deeper as they get narrower). Instructions are here.

Posted in Blogs, The Universalis site | 2 Comments »

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