Hallow Lenten Challenge

St. Isaac Jogues has been selected by the Diocese of Joliet as a pilot parish for Hallow's Lenten Challenge.

For those of you who don't know Hallow, it is the number-one Catholic app in the world with over 7 million downloads and 150 million prayers completed within the app.

Every Lent, Hallow organizes one of the largest community prayer programs in the world, with over 200,000 projected participants in 2023. This year, we will be journeying through this content together as a parish, which is centered around the spiritual masterpiece, Imitation of Christ, written by Thomas à Kempis in the 15th century. 

To truly immerse ourselves in this content, we'll be working with Hallow directly to host a 7-week program through Lent with weekly dinners and discussions. 

Weekly Meeting Format

Two Remaining Events (Thursday, 3/30 at Ss Peter & Paul, and Monday, 4/3 at SIJ).

• Complimentary Dinner (30 minutes) 
• Hallow member shares reflection (15 minutes) 
• Hallow Prayer session is played (10 minutes) 
• Small group discussion (25 minutes) 

Lenten Challenge Signup

If you are unable to attend on in person, but would still like to participate in the program, please sign up. The challenge is built to allow for fully remote participants and we would love to have you journey through this content with us even if you are unable to make any of the in-person sessions. 

1. Sign up

LENTEN CHALLENGE SIGN UP

2. Participate in the In-Person Weekly Meetings

3. Participate Virtually

Need technical support? Email [email protected]
 

This year, Hallow’s Lenten Challenge will cover all 3 pillars of Lent: praying, fasting, and giving. We will primarily be focusing on Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis as our guide. The Challenge will run from Ash Wednesday (2/22) until Easter Sunday (4/9).

Each week will follow a similar structure:

• Sundays: Weekly homily by Father Mike Schmitz
• Mondays: Meditation on excerpt of Imitation of Christ — readings by Jonathan Roumie and Jim Caviezel (reader’s choice)
• Tuesdays: Devotional prayer based on the weekly theme, led by Immaculée Ilibagiza
• Wednesdays: Meditation on excerpt of Imitation of Christ
• Thursdays: Extended silent prayer (reader’s choice between Jonathan and Jim)
• Fridays: Fasting challenge led by Mark Wahlberg
• Saturdays: Almsgiving & corporal works of mercy led by Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart

The weekly themes are as follows:

• ​​​​​​Ash Wednesday (2/22-2/25): Humility
• 1st Sunday of Lent (2/26-3/4): Resisting Temptation & Perseverance
• 2nd Sun of Lent (3/5-3/11): Glory of God
• 3rd Sun of Lent (3/12-3/18): Prayer
• 4th Sun of Lent (3/19-3/25): Surrender
• 5th Sun of Lent (3/26-4/1): Stations of the Cross
• Palm Sun (4/2-4/8): Stations of the Cross
• Easter Sun (4/9): Imitation of Christ & the Resurrection

One of the key features of the Pilot Program is having everyone at SIJ join the in-app Parish Groups. This is where we will interact with the Lenten Challenge and where the Parish will be posting daily reflections and discussion questions.

SIJ will have two Groups: one primarily for the reflections and discussions and one for intentions.

There are two ways to join the Groups. The easiest way is to click on the below links directly from a mobile device that has Hallow installed.

• Overall Parish Group: https://hallow.com/groups/join/9X7KE7
• Intentions Group: https://hallow.com/groups/join/94J2QV

The other way to join is to navigate to the Groups section of your app within Hallow (the three-circle icon in the top right corner of either the Home tab or the Community tab depending on your version of Hallow). From there, you tap the + in the top right corner and hit “Join Group” and use the following codes to join:

• Overall Parish Group: 9X7KE7
• Intentions Group: 94J2QV

Need technical support? Email [email protected]

 

More Help to Get Hallow Working For You

How to Join the Challenge in the App