Short Update: Prayerbook now in ITALIANO, DEUTSCH & RUSSIAN

Just a short update: I've been down with cold lately and swamped with work.

An update to the Catholic Prayerbook is now available in iTunes (for iPhone users) or HERE (for Java users)

With this update, it is now available in English, Español, Latin, Bahasa Indonesia, Deutsch, Italiano, and Russian.

Also, there are now up to 28 prayers in each language. New additions include more thanksgiving prayers and novenas. Update your copy or Download it NOW here.

Any comments and suggestions are always welcome!

iPhone versions are here!

I don't know if I should laugh or I should cry... but after more than 3 months of waiting & 10 rejections (for the Mobile Prayer app), Apple finally approved my application. Thank God!

Here they are:

Compendium to the CCC

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=321140664&mt=8&s=143441

What is it exactly? It's self-explanatory... it contains the Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Costs $0.99 to cover my time (for the labourer has to be paid!)

Mobile Prayer app
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=312370283&mt=8&s=143441

It contains 24 prayers (22 for Bahasa Indonesia version) of various Catholic prayers and devotions in 4 languages: ENGLISH, ESPAÑOL, LATIN and BAHASA INDONESIA. Available only for $1.99, it's your forever. Or as long as forever goes :)

I hope you'll find it useful. Do help me spread the word :) If you have more things to feedback or comment, or say anything about the app, or other apps you would like to have, drop me a mail at catholiclinuxmonkey AT gmail DOT com.

More information here: http://blvu.com/cpb

iViaCrucis - now for iPhone!

My little pet project, the Way of the Cross (and Mobile Catholic Prayerbook), has been ported for the iPhone platform.

It is now available for FREE download here. (Only available in English)

 

I know Lent is over, but you can always pray the Way of the Cross any Friday, or any day if you want. I know many saints who have grown closer to God by meditating upon Jesus Crucified.

I hope you will find this useful!

Relaunching Catholic Mobile Prayerbook

Mobile Prayerbook

... that even the Pope wants!
(if he only knew...)
 

Click here for FREE Download! (While Lent lasts!)

What is it?

It is a small mobile application containing the common basic prayers that Catholics commonly say. From your all-time favorite "Our Father" to various devotions you can think of.

Why would I need Catholic Mobile Prayerbook?

For those times that you have to wait, it is a handy aide to help you pray. It'd be useful also when you forget the Act of Contrition in the middle of the confessional booth. Also, when you are asked to say grace before meal. Or to lead any prayer. Wherever. Whenever. One doesn't need a reason to pray. But this app makes sure you have NO excuses for NOT praying.

What prayers are available inside?

The basics: Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.
Devotions to Our Lady: Memorare, Angelus, Hail Holy Queen, Rosary
Daily Prayers: Morning Offering, Spiritual Communion, Apostles' Creed, Prayers before & after meal, Thanksgiving
Special Prayers: Act of Contrition, Adoro te Devote, Prayers for the pope, Te Deum, Prayer to St Michael the Archangel.

To request for more prayers to be made available, write me.

What languages is it available in?

English, Español (Spanish), Latin, and Bahasa Indonesia.
Coming Soon: Francais, Italiano and Deutsch.

For more information on how to install and whether it will install on your phone, go here

Hot off the 'oven'

I'm raising funds to go to grad school this Fall. I'm putting up "Catholic Mobile Prayerbook" - available for download here.

What is Catholic Mobile Prayerbook?

It is a small mobile application containing the common basic prayers that Catholics commonly say. From your all-time favorite "Our Father" to various devotions you can think of.

Why would I need Catholic Mobile Prayerbook?

For those times that you have to wait, it is a handy aide to help you pray. It'd be useful also when you forget the Act of Contrition in the middle of the confessional booth. Also, when you are asked to say grace before meal. Or to lead any prayer. Wherever. Whenever. One doesn't need a reason to pray.

What prayers are available inside?

The basics: Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

Devotions to Our Lady: Memorare, Angelus, Hail Holy Queen, Rosary

Daily Prayers: Morning Offering, Spiritual Communion, Apostles' Creed, Prayers before & after meal, Thanksgiving

Special Prayers: Act of Contrition, Adoro te Devote, Prayers for the pope, Te Deum, Prayer to St Michael the Archangel.

To request for more prayers to be made available, write me

What languages is it available in?

English, Español (Spanish), Latin, and Bahasa Indonesia.

Coming Soon: Francais, Italiano and Deutsch.

Does Prayerbook support my phone?

Prayerbook is developed on Java ME Platform. Nearly all recent mobile phones support Java ME. Check here to make sure.

How do I install it?

1. If you click the download link below, it'll take you to a payment page, and then ask you for your phone number.


2. Enter your cell phone number as requested: Your country code, followed by your cell phone number.


3. Eg: 441223472777 (if you live in the UK), or 6598765432 (if you live in Singapore).


4. As soon as you enter your phone number, an SMS is sent with a link to the file.


5. Click on the link to download the file.


6. If permission is asked to open/run the file, do allow it: select "Yes".

That's it!

How big is it?

Depending on the version you download, it ranges between 60-80KB. That should translate to less than a dollar to download via your phone. If you'd like to save money on the download cost, download it to your computer and send it via Bluetooth!

It says installation was successful but I can't find it!

On different phones, Java applications are stored at different places. On most Nokia phone, click the Menu to see all the installed applications. Sometimes it will be shown under "Game", or "Application", or "Installations". On Samsung phone, do check out "Java World".

If you really can't figure it out, email me your phone brand and model, and the name of the file you downloaded.

How much does it cost?

A single-language version costs $1.99, a two-language version costs $3.00 and all-languages version costs $5.00.

To promote this amongst the Indonesian-speaking people, the Bahasa Indonesia version is now FREE!

Why do I have to pay?

As much as I'd really like to encourage people to pray, I need to raise some funds to go to grad school. So *PLEASE* support my fundraising effort! (The story of why I am going to grad school is topic for another post -- if you'd like to know, mail me)

For free download, I have made available a Rosary widget for Yahoo! Widget. Get it here.

I'm also available for any freelance work to develop web widgets, desktop widgts, mobile widgets, and mobile applications. Drop me a line if you'd like to help me put through grad school!

Download Section

To have me email it to you:

Single Language Version

English $1.99 Spanish (Espanol) $1.99 Latin $1.99 Bahasa Indonesia $1.99

Your Email (to which the app is sent):

Two-languages version

English-Espanol $3.00 English-Latin $3.00 English-Bahasa Indonesia $3.00 Espanol-Latin $3.00 Espanol-Bahasa Indonesia $3.00 Bahasa Indonesia-Latin $3.00

Alternative Email (in case your primary email doesn't work):

All-languages version (English, Español, Latin, Bahasa Indonesia)

Alternative Email (in case your primary email doesn't work):

 

To Download directly to your phone: (pay via your mobile phone bill)

Single Language (USD$1.99)

Español
English
Latin
Bahasa Indonesia (FREE)

Two Languages (USD$3.00)

English-Español
English-Latin
English-Bahasa Indonesia
Español-Latin
Español-Bahasa Indonesia
Bahasa Indonesia-Latin

All Languages (USD$5.00)

Multi-language

Rosary Widget

For the month of October, my contribution to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary is this little widget (official link here). Similar to the earlier aspirations widget, it is a Yahoo! Widget (not to be confused with widgets for blogs). It was this earlier widget that started a few requests coming my way, one of them is a request for a rosary widget as a prayer aid.

A few months after the request, I finally took a few hours on a Friday night to do it. Actually the real reason was because I had been home-bound and desk-bound for the last few days and personally had trouble concentrating in the praying of the rosary, which I normally say whilst travelling. Also, I keep giving away my rosaries to people around me, that it's time to use an electronic aid...

To start, simply click on the red beads. It will scroll through the prayers (no going back though!) and display a counter of Hail Mary's said.

Some features:

- Option to turn ON/OFF the illustration images
- Option to say mystery of the day (default) or your choice of mystery
- Option to switch between English & Latin

I've submitted this widget for public download at Yahoo! Widgets Gallery and it's still now under review. (I will update this post and the link when it goes live.) In the meanwhile, if you trust that I'm not going to run some malicious code on your machine, you can also download it here (UPDATE: link refreshed). If it helps you to pray better, it's enough reward! Feedback welcome.

UPDATE: I found an article that talks about how powerful praying the rosary is. It's not the only example, but it's good to remember especially if we slip into remission. Spread the rosary!

UPDATE #2: The widget now is ready for download from Yahoo! site. The link is here

Human Device

"Human device" seems like a term that non-humans use to describe mechanism/tools which are human, or for those who dismiss physical mechanism in spiritual endeavor. I encountered this term when reading up about prayer. When one is absorbed in the daily tasks and work, it can be difficult to keep the presence of God. There are ways to keep ourselves "rooted" of course, such as keeping a crucifix in clear view on our desks.

Now, for the digital age that made the computer desktop literally our "desk top", there are nifty things like widgets. I personally use Yahoo! Widget Engine (now re-named Konfabulator again, after a very unimaginative name change), and have a Picture Frame widget (prebundled when you install the Widget Engine) that sometimes displays a crucifix.

Based on an advice from my SD, I start using a digital equivalent of a click-counter to keep track of the aspirations (short prayers) that one can say (in order to better keep the presence of God) in a day, and found it very nifty indeed! It can be quite revealing however, when at the end of the day, my count remains in the single-digit range!

Very often, the number stared at me and I ran out of aspirations to say. Frankly, there are some days when saying an aspiration is the last thing on my mind. So I thought, why not stand on the shoulders of giants (in our case, the Saints), and mimic their impeccable devotion instead?

Out of this burst of inspiration, I made my very first widget ever: this widget displays a random aspiration from one of the saints (well, they are mostly from St Alphonsus Liguori, and then there are some from St Teresa de Avila, St Philip Neri, and many others I did not manage to discover). Admittedly, some of their spiritual ejaculations are so POD™ (pious & overly devotional) and almost outside-of-this-world, but they made it, eh? ;) This widget, called "Catholic Random Aspirations", also keeps a counter as to how many you have said today. Clicking on the red button increases the counter and gives you a different random aspiration. Right now it's only a static collection of slightly less than 200 aspirations and can be run OFFLINE.

Any comment or feedback regarding the use of this widget is very welcome! Also, I'd really appreciate it if you can send me more aspirations. The next version of this widget will draw the aspiration randomly from an online database so that the collection of aspirations can be updated without upgrading the widget itself.

I've submitted this widget for public download at Yahoo! Widgets Gallery and it's still now under review. (I will update this post when it goes live.) In the meanwhile, if you trust that I'm not going to run some malicious code on your machine, you can also download it here (old link removed, updated below). If it helps you keep Him closer, it's enough reward!

UPDATE! The widget is now available for public download at Yahoo! Widgets Gallery. This is the direct link. Enjoy!