Universalis: Mass & Liturgy of the Hours

The week ahead – from 23 February to 1 March Feb 21, 2025

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! Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 16 to 22 February Feb 15, 2025

The Book of Proverbs. Wisdom literature in general. "The Creed in Slow Motion" and next weekend's Word on Fire conference. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 9 to 15 February Feb 08, 2025

Saint Scholastica; the Shipwreck of St Paul; Our Lady of Lourdes; Saints Cyril and Methodius, and the Basilica of San Clemente. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 2 to 8 February Feb 01, 2025

Candlemas, the feast of the Purification of Mary and the Presentation of the Lord. Purification. The celebration and sanctification of transitions. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 26 January to 1 February Jan 25, 2025

Sunday of the Word of God. Reading; listening; commentaries. Lectio Divina. Saint Thomas Aquinas. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 19 to 25 January Jan 18, 2025

The wedding-feast at Cana. Joy, pleasure and delight. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 12 to 18 January Jan 10, 2025

The Baptism of the Lord. Baptism. The uncanonised Henry Edward Manning. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 5 to 11 January Jan 03, 2025

The Epiphany. Melchizedek and the Magi. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 29 December 2024 to 4 January 2025 Dec 27, 2024

The Christmas feasts. The Holy Family. The Finding in the Temple. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 22 to 28 December Dec 20, 2024

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. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 15 to 21 December Dec 13, 2024

Gaudete Sunday. The countdown to Christmas with the O Antiphons. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 8 to 14 December Dec 06, 2024

Echoes between the First Readings and the Gospel. The Immaculate Conception. Our Lady of Guadalupe. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 1 to 7 December Nov 29, 2024

Advent and the new liturgical year. Cribs. Isaiah, rich food and wine. St Francis Xavier. The English Standard Version (ESV). New e-books. Some exercises for Advent. Saint Nicholas. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 24 to 30 November Nov 22, 2024

The end of Ordinary Time; the end of the world; how to read the Apocalypse. Christ the King; ourselves as kings. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 17 to 23 November Nov 15, 2024

The feasts of the four Roman basilicas; our reasons for fearing the gift of death. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 10 to 16 November Nov 08, 2024

Saints Martin of Tours, Margaret of Scotland, Elizabeth of Hungary and Albert the Great. Friar Julian, the lost Hungarians and the Mongols. More of the gift of death. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 3 to 9 November Nov 01, 2024

Saint Nuno Álvares Pereira. Saint Charles Borromeo. The gift of death. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 27 October to 2 November Oct 26, 2024

All Saints, All Souls; Heaven, Purgatory, Hell and judgement. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 20 to 26 October Oct 19, 2024

Pope Saint John Paul II. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 13 to 19 October Oct 11, 2024

Saint Teresa of Ávila. Saint Callistus.

The week ahead – from 6 to 12 October Oct 04, 2024

Saint John Henry Newman; the Feast of the Holy Rosary. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 29 September to 5 October Sep 27, 2024

Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the Holy Guardian Angels. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 22 to 28 September Sep 20, 2024

Saint Vincent de Paul; the prophet Ezekiel.

The week ahead – from 15 to 21 September Sep 13, 2024

The martyrdom of Saint Cyprian; the stillness at the heart of the fight; the blessing of a martyr. The Korean Martyrs and the human race. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 8 to 14 September Sep 06, 2024

St Peter Claver. The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 1 to 7 September Aug 30, 2024

The two-year cycle of readings. St Gregory the Great. Mother Teresa. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 25 to 31 August Aug 23, 2024

St Augustine and St Monica. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 18 to 24 August Aug 16, 2024

Our Lady, Mother and Queen. Octaves and their history. The First Readings in the Office of Readings. The book of Ecclesiastes. The two-year cycle. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 11 to 17 August Aug 09, 2024

The Assumption: the birth of a doctrine and its development. The Old Testament roots of Marian belief. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 4 to 10 August Aug 02, 2024

The Transfiguration. Ways of reading the Gospel. Echoes across salvation history. Lectio Divina. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 28 July to 3 August Jul 26, 2024

Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus. The active life and the contemplative life. Darnel and the Last Judgement. God's mercy: a story. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 21 to 27 July Jul 19, 2024

St Ignatius of Antioch again. Saint Mary Magdalene. Devils and temptation. Saint James and Compostela. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 14 to 20 July Jul 12, 2024

Saint Ambrose on the Mysteries. Mount Carmel and the Carmelites. Mass tourism. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 7 to 13 July Jul 05, 2024

Saint Benedict. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 30 June to 6 July Jun 28, 2024

Saint Peter; Saint Paul; Saint Thomas. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 23 to 29 June Jun 21, 2024

Saint John the Baptist; the additional long passages in the Readings at Mass page; God made manifest in the Babylonian exile. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 16 to 22 June Jun 14, 2024

The Psalms and their position in the Liturgy of the Hours. Saint Thomas More. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 9 to 15 June Jun 07, 2024

Returning home to Ordinary Time. The Universalis anniversary. The tempest and the still small voice; the cliff and the beach. St Ignatius of Antioch. The Spiritual Reading page. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from Corpus Christi to 8 June May 30, 2024

The Body and Blood in short words; the birth of the feast; Transubstantiation; Communion, Exposition and Benediction. The Sacred Heart of Jesus. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 26 May to 1 June May 24, 2024

The Athanasian Creed; the doctrine of the Trinity; Trinitarian doctrine and human creation; the Visitation. (Corpus Christi will be in the next podcast.) Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 19 to 25 May May 17, 2024

Pentecost; the works of the Holy Spirit; Hebrew and Greek culture; St Bede the Venerable. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from the Ascension to 18 May May 09, 2024

The Ascension as art and as drama. The time of waiting. The structure of a single Hour. From the Fall to the coming of the Spirit. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 5 to 11 May May 03, 2024

The last few days before the Ascension; the disciples as school-leavers. The psalm with Leviathan; delight in creation. St Gorg Preca. The date of the Ascension. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 28 April to 4 May Apr 26, 2024

Saint Joseph the Worker. The mysterious 7th Hour in the Liturgy of the Hours. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 21 to 27 April Apr 19, 2024

Acts, St John and the Apocalypse. What is the Liturgy of the Hours? A week of missionaries. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 14 to 20 April Apr 12, 2024

What it means to be a saint; “Saint You”. Madagascar, Ireland, Africa, England. Justin Martyr and the beginnings of Christianity. The unnoticed saints. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 7 to 13 April Apr 05, 2024

Highlights of the coming week. The apprentice Apostles. What is the risen Jesus? Our bodies and ourselves. Thomas, faith and reason. Could Mary have said No? Theology as music. Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 31 March to 6 April Mar 29, 2024

Highlights of Easter week. “Drunk on the Spirit”. Coming to terms with un-bereavement. Salvation history as drama. Reasons for avoiding the Liturgy. “At Easter there can be no fear”. The earliest Patristic passages. Alleluia!!! Episode notes.

The week ahead – from 24 to 30 March Mar 22, 2024

Highlights of the coming week, Holy Week. Communication by means of silence. The Passion and how we encounter it. Julian of Norwich. The first and last Mass. The empty church and the end of everything. Episode notes.