The 40 days of Lent are set aside to give yourself a chance to let God love you. Don’t let another Lent pass you by without taking advantage of exceptional digital aids out there to help deepen your relationship with the Lord. We only choose intelligent, Gospel-based Catholic apps designed to bring you closer to God. Browse this year’s selection of the best Lent apps out there. And remember, we are a world-wide community of Catholic app users, so let us know about your great finds! Here are our recommended Lent apps for 2024:
First, set up your device for Lent
Before you download a Lent app, how about setting your phone or tablet to have Lenten practices and devotions intrude on your day? You can do this in your calendar by setting alarms for daily prayers and alerts for fast/abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstinence from meat on Fridays. Set your wake-up alarm to spiritual music. Set notifications/alarms for your parish’s penance service or confession times (check out our Confession apps ). Eucharistic adoration time could also be plugged into your calendar with alerts. Make sure you have a Bible app to daily keep in touch with the Word of God. Commit to praying your rosary daily. So, you may not need a specific app for Lent if you engage in such devotional/sacramental practices on your own. But the apps listed below are some of the best we’ve found to further enrich the experience of your journey towards Easter and a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
Being a disciple of Christ is not about being a member of a club. It’s about your relationship with the Holy Trinity–Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The developers of Discipulus App want to help you nurture that relationship by forming habits to live a spiritually disciplined life. That life will help you grow closer in your relationship to God. If you are yearning to take your spiritual life to a deeper level this Lenten season, here’s your opportunity to plug into a program designed to methodically guide you through the journey– a journey firmly planted in the Catholic spiritual tradition and based on research in how to form good habits. While spiritual growth can be hard to measure, developers of Discipulus say that trackinghabits that lead to spiritual growth shouldn’t be. So this app is designed to help you track good habits. These habits are the habits we see in the saints. And the more we habituate the four key areas of discipleship– prayer, faith formation, virtue and mission– the closer we grow in our relationship to God.
Dicipulus offers ideas of what you can do along with a built-in program of accountability which tracks your progress in building good spiritual habits.
Sure there are amazing prayer apps out there and even wonderful faith formation and meditation apps you can use. But prayer alone is not enough. Faith formation is not enough. According to developers of Discipulus, you need to cultivate all four disciplines of discipleship: prayer, study, mission and virtue in a supportive environment. Tracking your incremental progress across all four spiritual disciplines will shape your habits which direct your destiny, says Phil Dolci, co-developer of Discipulus app.
Transform from a person who says prayers to a person of prayer; a person who studies the faith to a faith-filled person; a person who reads about God to a person who knows God; a person who sometimes does a virtuous act to a virtuous person; an occasional donor to a good cause to a regular hands-on servant to others. Whether you are a beginner in your faith journey, moderately acquainted with Jesus or a well-seasoned practicer of the faith, this app offers the specific tasks you need to do to–small decisions you make–to incrementally build good habits that cannot help but increase your spiritual progress and change your life…permanently. These are the habits of the saints that led them to love God deeply in their souls and transform that love into action.
Truth and Life Audio Bible with 40-Day Reading Plan
An essential component of your spiritual journey is engaging the Word of God. How about making a commitment to reading the entire New Testament or all four Gospels during Lent? You can EASILY do that with…
Truth & Life Dramatized audio Bible New Testament (Free text with in-app purchase to unlock all the audio; Gospel of Mark audio free) RSV-Catholic Edition translation Apple | GooglePlay | |Kindle Fire | Online web.
Imagine a reading plan that will serve the text to you on your mobile device AND read it to you! This is not your ordinary audio book. We’re talking a world-class production of the Bible read by more than 70 actors (many celebrities) with movie studio sound effects and an original music score! On a long road trip? Stuck in traffic? Fire up this app and enjoy having the Gospels read to you while you listen to the oars of Peter’s boat slapping the water on the Sea of Galilee or the crowds gasp in amazement on witnessing a miracle from Jesus. You’ll enjoy the original background music that dramatically enhances the readings.
From Developers: “More than 70 actors help bring the scriptures to life in this 22-hour audio production, complete with this award-winning audio New Testament … endorsed with an Imprimatur from the Vatican and including a foreword by Pope Benedict XVI.” The 40-Day reading plans for Lent cover your choice of the New Testament or just the Gospels. As an added bonus, you get the audio version of the Gospel of Mark with this free version with the ability to upgrade (a mere $20) to the full New Testament audio at any time. So, while the full text of the Bible is free, the audio New Testament is not, with the exception of the Gospel of Mark. The quality of the audio is well worth the price as you’ll experience hearing Mark’s Gospel. Our preferred way to get this Bible app is to go through the free EWTN app. This Catholic multi-media app provides a seamless portal to the Truth and Life Audio Bible while at the same time offering you all their great programing which you should have anyway. Individual audio books of the New Testament are $1.99 ea; the complete new Testament is $19.99 and the entire package audio and study bible is 29.99. In addition to exhilarating audio, the app features:
Complete text of RSV-CE synchronized with audio [text highlights move with the audio reading- very cool]
Go directly to any verse and hear and see the Bible text instantly [very cool!]
Use the built in playlist [built-in reading plan] to hear/read the New Testament in 40 days or in Chronological order
Search verses
Create your own playlist of verses [who else provides that?]
Remembers where you left off with bookmark.
Easily fit entire 22 hours of audio on your device.
Ability to highlight text and take notes
Maps of the Holy Land during various Biblical times
Spanish text version of the Bible is NOW offered (La biblia de Straubinger, considered the primer Catholic Bible in Spanish)
Amen App
Amen App (Free) Apple | Android by Augustine Institute Here’s an app that invites you to fall asleep while you pray–no kidding. Amen App joins Hallow in this category of apps based in a soothing meditative experience in prayer, complete with a variety of sleep aids designed to calm your mind and body. Developed by the Augustine Institute, Amen App is based primarily in audio format, so you can pray/meditate with your eyes closed. This includes audio meditations and bedtime stories read to you in a soothing delivery by a trained voice actor on a variety of topics with a selection of background music or sound effect options. Lent resources include prayers, meditations, Gospel reflections and devotions centered on the season. Children can be included in Lenten reflections with the popular Brother Francis cartoon character who explains aspects of the season and offers something to think about each day of Lent. The Augustine Institute has been a distinguished leader in producing/publishing faithful Catholic catechetical materials in a variety of media formats for a number of years. Now, the Institute offers an app that utilizes much of its content, but centered around one specific theme: To help you encounter God through meditative prayer from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Led by Dr. Timothy Gray, their impressive catalogue of resources unlocks for public consumption the rich array of Catholic thought and spirituality to help fuel the New Evangelization led by laity.
You might be familiar with the Institute’s Lighthouse Catholic Media rack in the back of your church, or their amazing internet-based resource portal, Formed–which gathers together the best of Catholic entertainment, formation resources, educational series and more. Amen App also comes packed with other valuable Catholic audio/text resources to help inspire “your daily conversation with God through faithful Christian meditation, nourishing Scriptures and relaxing sleep sounds,” according to developers. Among resources, you get audio/text versions of:
Daily Mass readings and audio reflections
Meditations/reflections on a variety of topics by top Catholic theologians and speakers (like Chris Stefanick and Dr. Tim Gray).
Stories for children including Bible stories and the popular Brother Francis cartoon (just the audio, no video, unfortunately)
Catholic devotions including a variety of audio rosaries
Truth & Life Audio Bible: Enter into a fully dramatized reading of a new book from the New Testament each month.
Read-the-Bible-in-a-year audio program
Sermons by saints and Fathers of the Church
Morning and Evening psalms/prayers
Season-specific resources targeting Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas
Journal
Options include the ability to download resources for use offline and Spanish language. Check out Amen App’s video tutorial to discover all this beautiful app offers:
Hallow
Hallow Free download with access to a bunch of exquisite content. Get a 90-day free trial (offer extended for Lent!) with access to full content before you subscribe–monthly $8.99; annually $59.99 Apple | GooglePlay
When is the last time you learned a new way of praying? Lent is a good time to turn to prayer with intention. This serene, guided meditation app is all about you and your soul entering a blissful, meditative audio environment to help you pray. The goal? To slide you into a meaningful dialogue with God so you can nurture your relationship with him. The enormous catalog of content (prayer, meditations, scripture, reflections, bedtime Bible stories, etc.), utilizes peaceful, calming audio to stir your soul–from the velvety voices reading to you, to the soothing music/sounds in a variety of genres. Step by step, you will be led into prayerful meditation like you may never have experienced in your life.
For Lent, the Hallow app offers its #Pray40 Challenge, a daily spiritual journey. This year, you will be guided through the spiritual classic, He Leadeth Me, by Fr. Walter Ciszek. Mark Wahlberg, Jonathan Roumie (who portrays Jesus in The Chosen television series), and others narrate as you pray and meditate along with millions around the world who join in the session every day of Lent.
Catholic influencer, Fr. Mike Schmitz, said He Leadeth Me is probably the most influential book he has read in the past 20 years and perhaps his life. “It will change the way you look at God. It will change the way you look at your own life. It will change the way you pray,” he said. Fr. Ciszek was a Jesuit priest and missionary who was imprisoned for more than 20 years in the Soviet Union– first in solitary confinement and then in a Siberian worker camp under brutal conditions. As Hallow developers explain: “Fr. Walter underwent a profound spiritual journey. In fear, he found hope. In confinement, he surrendered his life to God. Together with He Leadeth Me and more powerful testimonies of surrender, you’ll experience a new kind of humility and hope in Christ, who laid down His life for you, in the 40 days leading up to Easter.” With the free 90-day trial you get the benefit of accessing this daily series during Lent AND work on cultivating a habit of daily prayer over that time period.
Hallow’s Lent retreat features Mark Wahlberg, Jonathan Roumie, Fr. Mike Schmitz, Sr. Miriam James, S.O.L.T., Sr. Mary Bernice (Missionary of Charity who served alongside Saint Mother Teresa), Tammy Peterson, Jim Wahlberg and Fr. Frankie Cicero.
On the free side of this app you get meditations on the Daily Gospel (updated every day), audio Rosary, Lent praylist, Spiritual Communion, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Examen (examination of conscience), Spiritual Writing, and Christian Meditation sessions. Each of these offerings comes with a choice of two voices as your guide, three length options, nine background music selections, a journal, prayer reminder options, goal setting and tracking. You also have access to all of the Guest Sessions, and Minute Meditation sessions. The free side also generously includes the Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz.
To unlock the full version of this app to access all its content, you must subscribe (monthly $8.99; annually $59.99). Before you squawk at the price (which I sure did at first!), please consider what you pay for streaming media subscriptions. Content in THIS app can help save your soul (Can you say that about Hulu or Netflix?) because it’s focused on one thing: to help get you in a mindset to talk to God. That relationship is the most important relationship in your life. And if you are a nominal Catholic routinely going through the motions of your faith, begrudgingly going to Sunday Mass when prodded or not giving God much thought, it’s time to grow up, spiritually speaking. Let’s be honest. Hallow is so jam-packed with content (packaged in tasteful, minimalist design), it takes eight full minutes to run through everything this amazing app offers (complete with celebrities), as this video demonstrates:
English and Spanish (limited). Developed by a University of Notre Dame alumnus and guided by experts in the Catholic Church, (including his bishop!), Hallow relies on the riches of the Catholic Church’s ancient teachings on prayer and meditation/contemplation.
Pray as You Go – Lent Retreat 2024
The Lent retreat theme this year is titled: The Cry From The Cross. It is a continuation of their Advent retreat theme, The Cry From the Manger. Gemma Simmonds CJ, who wrote the Advent retreat, continues with the theme for Lent, guiding listeners from how God speaks to us from the manger to how God speaks to us from the cross. The retreat will begin on Wednesday, February 14th, with all other following sessions released weekly on Mondays throughout Lent.
Pray as You Go is a valuable addition to your mobile device as a daily retreat you can engage all year long. In the regular section of Pray as You Go, a new prayer session is produced for each day of the week and one for weekends with material written by a number of Jesuits and other experts in the spirituality of St Ignatius of Loyola, according to developers. Although the content is different every day, it keeps to the same basic format of gently weaving together music, a passage of scripture and a few questions for personal reflection in a each prayer session. Developers say the framework of prayer allows you to:
become more aware of God’s presence in your life
listen to and reflect on God’s word
grow in your relationship with God
You will appreciate the ability to set the time you’d like reminder notifications to pray. The wide variety of music in this app is a significant feature, as this app review noted. Music is used as a conduit to help with your meditation. You WILL enjoy some pieces so much you will want them for you collection. No problem. Go to Pray as You Go’s web site to purchase/ download any of the music you discover on the app.
Passion of Jesus
Meditation on the Passion of our Lord is a particular devotion during the season of Lent. If you have never tried this app, do it this year. The Passion of Jesus app Apple ($1.39)| Apple Watch | Android ($.99) is designed to help you develop a tender daily devotion to Jesus Christ and his passion by engaging you–in real time–in the last 24 hours of Christ’s life. The events are put in sequence as found in Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Based on your local time, you are served a respective passion image, a corresponding reflection (based on the collective writings of Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri), response and suggested prayer intentions. This passion timeline enfolds over a 24 hour period, but you can change this to other timelines to accommodate your schedule– 8 hours, 1 hour and 30 minutes. Its developers note: “The primary goal of this reflection is to engage believers to ponder and reflect on each aspect of the Passion by allowing time and eternity to intersect, by allowing the power of the cross to pour into our daily lives, no matter where we are or what we are doing….for a few moments, to pause and cast a glance at our Lord and permit this awesome, life-changing reality to bear fruit, to illumine, to set free & to save.” If you only engage this app on Good Friday, you will be in for a powerful experience, no matter where you are during the course of that day! Also included with this app are:
[…] opportunities for your family • Think of Lent as time for a personal upgrade. • Get an app for Lent, or any time of the year for your mobile device.. • Follow the posts or tweets from a site like […]
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Another great Lenten app!
http://www.dbb.org.au/news/dsp-default-lectio.cfm?loadref=588
Another good one, in Spanish:
http://evangelizacionvalencia.org/el-arzobispado-lanza-una-aplicacion-movil-gratuita-para-preparar-la-cuaresma-y-la-pascua/
This was such an inspirational post for me, Thank you! This is just what my family needed this Lent. Wonderful post!
That’s why we do this. Glad you found some gems among our listing. Updating to 2021 in a few hours!