Universalis: Mass & Liturgy of the Hours

They frame original sin as a tendency rather than a personal fault and liken it to a crystallising drug. They rethink atonement as mutual reconciliation and tell a school story that models this at-one-ing. They paint the Incarnation as a blank-cheque love that accepts consequences. They also walk through the key days and liturgies of Holy Week.

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.

A look at the Vietnamese New Year and how lunar calendars shape liturgical dates. Exploration of Vietnamese Christian customs like vigils, ancestor veneration, and sanctifying everyday work. A reflection on Ash Wednesday rituals, the paradox of dust and agency, and how prayer, almsgiving, and fasting reclaim human responsibility and self-control.

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.