Prayers for Lent and Advent

Prayers for Lent and Advent is a simple app built for the Church's two great seasons of preparation. It gives you one prayer for each day of Lent and each day of Advent.

That's the whole design. Open it during Lent and there's a daily prayer to carry you from Ash Wednesday toward Easter. Open it in Advent and the prayers walk with you toward Christmas. The app includes short explanations of both seasons — the forty days in the desert, the fasting and confession and acts of mercy of Lent, the expectant waiting of Advent.

What I like is that it takes Advent as seriously as Lent. Most of us know to give something up in March, but Advent gets swallowed by shopping and parties, and the Church has always meant it as a quieter season of preparation too. A single daily prayer is a small discipline, but small disciplines are the ones that survive busy weeks.

This works well for anyone who wants to add one steady thing to Lent or Advent without taking on a full devotional program. It's simple enough for older kids, and a family could read the day's prayer at dinner. If your Lenten resolutions tend to collapse by the second week, one short prayer a day is a humbler, sturdier promise.

Be aware of what it isn't. For most of the year — Ordinary Time, Easter, Christmas — the app has nothing for you; it's seasonal by design. It's also a modest app from a small independent developer, so don't expect audio, reminders with bells on, or frequent updates. It's a prayer book, not a platform.

Free, made by Maria Chua. Available on the App Store: Prayers for Lent and Advent. Download it now and it will be waiting when the next season of preparation comes around.