Universalis: Mass & Liturgy of the Hours

Blessed Inácio de Azevedo and his companions: the veneration of places. Saint Thérèse of Saint Augustine and her Companions: the tyranny of liberty, and how to change the course of history. The Second Edition of the U.S. Divine Office. Episode notes .

Saint Peter To Rot. ‘All human conflict is ultimately theological’. Saint Augustine Zhao Rang and his companions. On respecting the beliefs of others. Saint Maria Goretti. Episode notes .

Why choose Peter? The virtue of simplicity and the vice of prudence. The cemetery under the Vatican. How can we like Paul? What was it like to be him? Saint Thomas. Pier Giorgio Frassati, a saint for the first time. Episode notes .

Saint John the Baptist. Martyrdom: a duty? Saint Thomas More. Episode notes .

The Spiritual Reading page in Universalis. Saint Lidwina. Saint Elisha. Two anniversaries: G.K. Chesterton, and the birthday of Universalis. The story of the psalm-prayers in the Liturgy of the Hours. Episode notes .

Corpus Christi: ‘Eat my flesh’ and the Last Supper. The work of the Holy Spirit and how the feast of Corpus Christi was born. St Thomas Aquinas and transubstantiation. The power of the Body of Christ. The Sacred Heart: the birth of the feast of love, and what it does for us. Episode notes .

The “theological season”. The Holy Trinity. Ourselves as trinitarian creators: Idea, Act, and Life. The Liturgy of the Hours continued: the Office of Readings. Episode notes .

Pentecost and the Jewish Feast of Weeks. The Spirit bringing life to the Apostles and to us. “Go and teach all nations” and learning from them. Our hybrid Christian culture, both Jewish and Greek. Saint Philip Neri. The Holy Spirit and the Catholic Reformation. Compline, Psalm 90 and the wolves. Episode notes .

The days after Ascension: a lost and gloomy time. The unknown Advocate. Life without life. Days without salt. Getting a handle on the Spirit. Giving life to a creation; images of fire and electricity. Salvation history as re-wiring. Arianism and Pope St John I. Blessed Raphael Louis Rafiringa and Madagascar. St Christopher Magallanes and the politeness of martyrs. Bernardino of Siena. The Liturgy...

The time after the Resurrection comes to the end: the Ascension approaches. Feet or sandals? Theo-drama, and the Ascension as drama. The Liturgy of the Hours continued: Vespers. Episode notes .

Fish shops and the Letter to Diognetus. The origins of the Liturgy of the Hours. A detailed walk through Lauds (Morning Prayer). Episode notes .

The first mention of Christians. The disciple Jesus loved and why his Gospel is different. How the Apocalypse nearly didn’t make it into the Bible, and why we should be glad it did. The importance of Saint Joseph the Worker. Episode notes .

The saints are back again! Mark; Justin (165); Ephraem, Marcellinus, Vincent, Domninus (4th century); Erkenwald and Egbert (7th century); Adalbert (10th century); Anselm (11th century); then back to George. ANZAC day and the secrets of the warriors. Episode notes .

Back to normal, but keeping up the Easter joy. The hands and the side: nothing abolished but everything healed. The same thing in our own lives. Dante, Lethe and Eunoë. What Thomas needed to know. Faith and reason are not opposites: a mathematical example. The first steps of the baby Church. The Easter Alleluias in Universalis. Episode notes .

Without hindsight, the desolation of the Apostles and how we share in it. The Easter Vigil and the ultimate surprise of the Resurrection. What Jesus’ resurrection can tell us about our own resurrected life. Episode notes .

Original sin: a chemical parable. The Atonement or At-one-ment: a tale from school. Love as a blank cheque: ‘Whatever happens – shall happen’. The days of Holy Week. Episode notes .

The Sun and Moon as timekeepers; the rivers proclaiming our place in Lent. Science as a love letter from God. The final miracle: the raising of Lazarus. Being together in desolation. The strong women of salvation history.

St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland: his life and his breastplate. Sin: what makes a sin a sin? The Seven Deadly Sins and the Divine Comedy. The other story of the healing of a blind man. Episode notes .

The Samaritan Woman at the well. Sin: responsibility and healing: ‘I did it’ and ‘I didn’t do it.’ The readings of the week. St Etheldreda’s and the tax-collectors. Episode notes .

The Transfiguration and Duccio’s Maestà: a Lenten puzzle for art history and for theology. The command not to pass judgement, and the duty to judge. Episode notes .

Lent: self-love and self-discipline. From passive to active. Learning to do. Julian of Norwich and ‘Revelations of Divine Love’. Episode notes .

The liturgy of the Vietnamese New Year and its lessons for us all. Ash Wednesday. Prayer, almsgiving and fasting as forms of agency. Episode notes .

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

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

Sunday of the Word of God. Reading; listening; commentaries. Lectio Divina. Saint Thomas Aquinas. Another Creed in Slow Motion interview. Episode notes .