Favorite Spiritual formation Apps, Part 2
Photo by Shane Rounce via Unsplash
A few years ago, we wrote up a blog post on our favorite spiritual formation apps for your phone and devices, and it’s in need of a refresh! Some new apps have come on the scene, and we’d love to share just a few favorites with you.
LECTIO 365
If there’s one spiritual formation app that gets the most use from both of us, it’s this one. From Pete Greig of the 24/7 prayer movement, this app has a daily lectio divina meditation through scripture for the morning, as well as a daily Examen prayer for the evening. Most are under 8 minutes. As we’ve been praying the Ignatian Exercises the last few months, the evening Examen from this app has become a daily practice. We recommend this app most often to our directees, friends, and colleagues.
And BONUS for those parents out there: they have an app called Lectio for Families with daily bible readings, prayers, reflections, and blessings.
A SIMPLE PAUSE
A fellow spiritual director, LuAnn Roberson, created A Simple Pause as a way to meet with God through lectio divina, visio divina (prayerful reflections on art and images), and audio divina (prayerful reflections on music and sound). She also includes simple readings of scripture and invitations to imaginative prayer by imagining you are a character in a story in scripture (ex: blind Bartamaeus or the two folks walking on the road to Emmaus). Our friend Sylvia actually created a few of the paintings in the visio divinas.
ONE MINUTE PAUSE
John Eldredge created this app as an opportunity to pause in prayer, for one minute to ten. There are options to pray silently, to be led through a prayer, or even to try a “30 days to Resilient” program with two 8-10 minute prayers a day. If you’re looking for a simple reminder to pause in prayer, even just for 60 seconds, this is a great app to try.
EVERY MOMENT HOLY
It’s no secret that we are fans of Doug McKelvey’s Every Moment Holy liturgies. We give these books away often, as they’ve become staples in our own prayer lives. (I mean, “A Liturgy for the Changing of Diapers”? Every moment holy, indeed.) The app includes a few of the liturgies from the books for free, with options of purchasing more. If you need quick access to some of your favorite liturgies from EMH, download this app!
CONTEMPLATE FAITH
This app includes self-guided practices such as prayer, scripture reading, praying the Examen, and journaling. It even has an option to enable your phone’s “Do Not Disturb” setting while using the app, so as to turn of notifications that may interrupt your prayer time. Bryan notes that the best feature is like the activity rings on your Apple watch - it measures your rhythms of prayer engagement (if you enjoy this kind of thing!).
DAILY PRAYER
This app was developed by Wellspring Church in Englewood, CO. It follows the lectionary and church calendar and includes options for morning, midday, evening, and late evening scripture reading and prayers each day. If you’re interested in an app that leads you through the daily lectionary or even a way to try praying the hours, this is a good one.
Any other apps you’ve come across that have been a help to your prayer life and journey with God? Share below! We’d love to hear about new ones!