Apps for the Mass

Hi guys,

Change of pace today.

How many of you use your smartphones and tablets to keep up with the Mass? Not very many, huh. Yeah, I’m usually the only one using mine at the Parishes I attend. Although, recently, my wife has been using hers in daily Mass. I was surprised, because I’ve been suggesting it for years and she always shrugged me off.

But I find it more convenient than using the missallettes and leaflets that are passed around. Although, for years, I used the “Magnificat”, which I would buy at my local Catholic bookstore. Until a friend gave me a subscription to the “Living with Christ” Missal. It was the large print version and it was excellent!

Bu-ut, I kept forgetting them. I’m married with kids and I just wonder, is there anyone out there who has learned the secret of ever leaving the house on time after they are married? Not just to Mass. To anything? I don’t remember ever being late to anything, before I was married. But, I digress.

Anyway, we would always leave the house in such a hurry that I would not remember, nor have time, to go get my missal out of my car. Why did I keep it in a separate car? Well, I travel a lot, so half the time, I’m in Mass without my family, in a different town. And when I did remember to get them out of my car to use at Mass at home, I would forget to put them back in my car, so I was going to Mass out of town, without my family or my missal. So, I would forget the booklets and missals that I subscribed to and purchased. Not good.

Don’t get me wrong. For those of you who love books, I do recommend both of those products. Plus, the St. Joseph’s Missal, which I’ve seen others use, as well.

But now, we have apps for that.

YES! And I use them because they are on my big screen S5 phone. I can see them because they are backlit. One of the problems I had with the booklets, is that I would find myself in Churches that were not well lit. My eyes simply would not adjust to the lighting. So, even if I had my missal, I couldn’t read it comfortably.

But with the apps on my phone, the light comes from the phone itself, so the darker it is, the better I can see. And I can make the letters as big as I need.

And I always have my phone with me, so I can’t forget the Missal, unless I forget my phone, which is unlikely. Plus, the added bonus that I remember to shut the volume off since I have to pull it out to get to the Missal.

I don’t know if there are any others out there, but I’ve used two different apps for the Mass. The iBreviary and the Laudate.

The iBreviary

This is the first app that I discovered and I began using it for the Breviary. The Breviary is a book of daily prayer consisting mostly of the Psalms. I used to have a Breviary book that I loved. I used it for about three years and I had all sorts of notes in it. I kept up with everyone’s birthday in it. It was great! Then I lost it. Bummer!

It took a while to adjust to living without it. But, I heard of the iBreviary on the internet. When I looked into it, I discovered that it had the Missal, as well. So, I started using it.

I love the iBreviary for the Breviary. But, and I don’t know if there is something I was doing wrong, frequently, the Mass would not track to the Mass I was attending. They were different readings, completely different. That got annoying.

So, I kept using the iBreviary for the Breviary. But not the Mass. Then I heard of the Laudate.

The Laudate

I’ve used it now for a couple of years and the Laudate has always provided the right Mass. It actually links to the US Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website, which is the source of all our readings in the US.

I also use it for the Breviary, as it contains the Liturgy of the Hours. They are basically the same thing, but the one on the Laudate is more concise and less complicated. Anyone who has ever used the Breviary, even in book form, will understand what I mean by complicated. It takes a while to figure out what and how to use all the little multicolored cloth book markers. Even if you refer to the instructions.

Both have a lot more to offer

Both of those apps have a lot more to offer than just the Breviary (Liturgy of the Hours) and the Mass. They have prayers and bibles and all kinds of stuff. And they have them in different languages. But I only use them for the Mass and the Breviary, in English.

And they are on both the Android format and in the Iphone. Here are the links.

iBreviary for iPhone

iBreviary for Android

Laudate for iPhone

Laudate for Android

If any of you are familiar with another Catholic app, please let me know in the comments.