I have a hard time turning my mind off and focusing on, well, anything. But especially during prayer time and reading the Bible. I’ve heard many, many times that mediating on Scripture is so crucial to spiritual development. I’ve received that for penance, I’ve tried it during Lent, I’ve attempted it during Adoration. I’m trying, I promise, but it’s hard.

The Hallow app, which I had heard about from fellow Catholics, has made this aspect of my prayer so much better and I am just thrilled to say that The Real Deal of Parenting has partnered with this incredible resource for the benefit of our readers.

And we are just thrilled to be able to offer our readers a special 30-day FREE trial using our dedicated link. Let me tell you why I think you should do it.

The daily Gospel has been a gamechanger

I was looking for something to help me take a few minutes each morning or evening and just mediate on the Gospel reading for the day. Since I heard about Hallow from trusted friends, I figured that was good enough.

After I downloaded Hallow (the free version mind you), I started listening every morning to the Gospel reading of the day. You can set it for 5, 10, or even 20 minutes if you want.

I chose the 10 minute version. It starts with taking a few deep breaths, helping your body to relax and quieting your heart and mind. You acknowledge your intent, to grow closer to God, and then listen to a portion of the Gospel reading for the day. Thankfully you get to listen to it twice (I have a wandering mind) and then you’re invited to think about what stood out to you and mediate it on it for a couple minutes, to pray about what God is trying to tell you.

This was hard in the beginning but the voice is so slow and inviting and I love that you get to hear the words of Jesus twice through so you can really focus on what He is saying. I try to do this every morning as soon as I wake up and then read through the readings on my own after – so I get to hear/read the Gospel at least a few times and let it really sink in.

This is what we Catholics call Lectio Divina, a prayerful and intentional reading of Scripture. It has been so helpful for me to do this every day with the Hallow app. I really appreciate the ease of use (you can set a reminder if you want) and that I can set aside a few minutes every day to spend dedicated time with God.

Other cool things about the Hallow app

Hallow has a lot of neat options available. You can say a guided Rosary, participate in night prayer, the Divine Mercy chaplet, novenas, listen to Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year podcast, listen to the all the Gospels, or listen to a short clip about the saint of the day.

One of the neatest features is the sleep and nightly routine section. I don’t think I’m alone in having sleeping issues. Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep, other nights I wake up at 3 am and cannot go back to sleep. The Hallow app has a lot of features that help you with sleeping with saint prayers, sleep meditations, a sleep reading of Scriptures, music, and even a 30-day Sleep Challenge.

You can see how many people are praying with you during these challenges and novenas as well, which promotes a true sense of community.

There is also music dedicated to seasons, sleep, Holy Hour, peaceful instrumental songs, and even Gregorian chants. Minute meditations, litanies, sermons, and mediations on relieving stress are all popular with users of the Hallow app as well. You can easily meditate on the lives of the saints and even sleep better, big wins.

The sleep meditations are the best

This is an update to my original post. I’ve started using the sleep meditations and Bible stories at bedtime and oh my gosh, I go to sleep so fast. Like within minutes instead of hours. And if I wake up in the middle of the night, I just pick a sleep meditation and I go back to sleep.

This is huge. Huge. Sleeping is just one of those I’m not that great at. I am so, so happy to have found something that helps me drift off to sleep listening to Scripture or meditating on God’s love and mercy. This aspect of the app alone is worth downloading it.

Ready to download the Hallow app?

We have a special link just for The Real Deal of Parenting readers to download the app – download it here.