September 2019 newsletter

The summer is over (in the Northern Hemisphere at least) and it is time to send out newsletters again. Although this period is still called “Ordinary Time”, it is full of extraordinary people. Follow the About Today page each day, and you will see.

Use it!

I sometimes talk to people who have the Universalis app on their phones but end up not opening it that often. There is nothing all that bad about this, because the app will be there for them whenever they need it. On the other hand, the autumn and the new school year are a good time for trying to set up some small good habits. For instance: if you have never tried the “Moments” feature in iOS and Android, do: it gives you a simple one-line boost once an hour throughout the day. (The text of the Moment is actually one of the antiphons in the Hours for the day). Or set an alert for the Angelus once a day. Or read the day’s Mass readings when you wake up and are looking for excuses to stay a little longer in bed.

More spoken audio

Many of you subscribe to the spoken Hours – they are available on a monthly subscription on Android and on the iPhone and iPad. It is good to see the service being used and appreciated. Rather fewer of you have been subscribing to the daily Gospel. Perhaps this is because it seems such a small thing in comparison to the epic scale of the Hours.

The “Daily Gospel” subscription now includes the readings at Mass as well as the Gospel: it adds the First Reading on weekdays and the First and Second Readings on Sundays and solemnities. This changes the whole experience a lot more than you might expect. If you already have the Daily Gospel subscription, and the latest version of the Universalis app, then next time you update the audio, you will get those extra readings. If you decided against the subscription in the past, then do consider it again, now that it brings you more than before. (Don’t be alarmed if the name of the subscription in the app still says “Daily Gospel”: it really does include the readings, and we will change that name soon).

Newman Canonisation

On the 9th of October Blessed John Henry Newman will be celebrated in England for the last time ever, because on the 13th Pope Francis will make him a Saint. The London, Birmingham and Oxford Oratories have put together a splendid web site at Newman Canonisation and it is well worth a visit. Apart from details of what is going on in Rome, it contains a rich collection of material by and about Newman; videos and podcasts; a blog, and a presence in all the major social media.

At their request, we have added the “Novena with Newman” to the About Today page in Universalis. It runs from the 4th to the 12th of October, but of course you can look at any date when you use Universalis, so if you are impatient then you can read about the Novena even now.

How to update

As always when updates are mentioned, it is worth reminding you that updates are (or should be) automatic on Android and iOS, while on the Mac and on Windows, the Universalis program checks for updates from time to time and lets you know when one is available. In case any of this doesn’t happen, we have instructions for updating manually here.