Stay connected with your faith while on the go : Apps for daily Mass readings

Like many of us I am on the go quite a bit and don’t always have access to a hard copy of the Bible or Daily Missal to keep up with daily Mass readings.   I usually do have my iPhone most of the time.   There are some great apps for the iPhone (and for Android as well) that help me in keeping connected to daily Scripture readings.    One resource that is no cost is The Catholic Directory.  This is an app that will help you find a church anywhere you are located at.  This is a great resource if you are on vacation and want to find a church to attend Mass or are traveling on business and need to find a place to find solace of a daily Mass or chapel to get some peace and quiet with our Lord. This app also has the daily Mass readings.

Another no cost app is Catholic Calendar by Universalis.  This app has a reflection for the day, the daily Mass readings, and Liturgy of the Hours.   You’ll need Internet access to be able to connect to the site, but there is a paid version if you would like to download all of the texts to your phone.

Another app that I use almost daily is iMissal, which costs $4.99 but is well worth it.   It has the daily Mass readings, the order of Mass, daily bible verses, prayers for all occasions, and news feed on Catholic related news.  This app also will have audio of the daily Mass readings (downloaded from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops web site).   This is probably something that I use the most for this app.   I usually start my day off with exercise in the morning and walk or run in the neighborhood and listen to the daily readings.  Sometimes I will listen to them several times in preparation for reading at Mass. I will also use the audio to listen to the Sunday readings several times throughout the week as well. After exercising I may also read the readings in iMissal as well while eating breakfast. Listening as well as reading the text multiple times really helps me to prepare for Sunday Mass, especially if I am preaching. Click on highlighted text if you want some background on iMissal and also agreat video on the new Roman Missal.

This week I heard several people talk about iMissal so I know it must be a popular app for helping people to connect with the faith.    Mark Prince is one of the users of iMissal I asked him for some feedback on how this app helps with his faith:

“I am a big Apple fan and love their products.  With my career change a few years ago, I felt that my connection to my faith and church being strained. I am on always on the go, on an airplane, staying in a hotel, always on the road, go, go, go.  As much as I would like to tell you that I was traveling with my Bible, I wasn’t.  I had heard that the Bible was coming out as app.  When I went to the app store, I searched Catholic Bible.  I was excited to see not only the Catholic Bible pop up, but the iMissal.  The iMissal keeps me focused to what is important.  I realized that attending Mass, centers me to my faith, but simply put, makes me happy.   Being on the road, catching flights, in meetings all day doesn’t allow me to attend Mass everyday.  But I have found that the iMissal app allows me to follow the Mass calendar, reading, the Gospel, prayers, and my Daily Bread really helps me stay centered.  If I am having a stressful day I will go to my iPhone and pull My Daily Bread and will scroll through Verses that brings peace and centers me back to what is important.  It’s my favorite app and I would highly recommend it.”

I appreciate Mark sharing this and I hope you will find this app along with the others mentioned as resources to spend time with our Lord Jesus every day.  If you have any apps you use please share in comments.