9 Online retreats to help you have a prayerful Lent

In an ideal world, we could all sneak away for a few days of silence and prayer during Lent, imitating the example of Our Lord when he went away into the desert to fast and pray.

But in fact, many of us won’t have a chance to do that. Fortunately, there are ways to enter into a spirit of prayer and contemplation within our own daily lives, a kind of “monastic approach” to even the busiest of seasons. 

If you’re looking for a virtual option to pray and spend time with Christ this Lenten season, check out these great options. Most of them start on Ash Wednesday (and one starts the Sunday before!), so we are sharing them ahead of time so you can choose one and participate in it from Day One.

While not exactly a “retreat” per se, I just have to mention the daily online Lenten prayer sessions on Hallow. They are a goldmine for busy people who want to make time for prayer! Short but powerful, they pack a spiritual punch and will leave you with so much to pray and reflect about for the rest of the day.

I took part in Hallow’s Advent prayer challenge last December: It was very doable to keep up with daily, and it led me to have the most present and peaceful Advent I’ve had in years. I’m really looking forward to taking part in the Lent Pray40 Challenge.

This self-paced online retreat is filled with inspiring talks to help you grow closer to Christ. It begins February 14 and includes various speakers, online presentations, and study guides. 

The eight-week schedule of this adapted version of The Spiritual Exercises makes it perfectly timed as a Lent and Easter retreat. Join in a flexible experience of daily prayer and reflection. 

This retreat begins the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, continues through Easter Week and ends the Second Sunday of Easter. It is meant for busy people: 

If you have time to pray for a half an hour each day during Lent, that is wonderful. If you can’t, it is very important to carry on a brief conversation with the Lord, each day, about the graces asked for each week. That brief friend-to-friend conversation can happen when we wake up or in the shower or while getting dressed. It can happen in the in-between times throughout the day. Its purpose is to bring these reflections into the day and to let them interact with the real things of our day — and most of all, to let them become a growing part of our relationship with the Lord.

This online audio retreat is themed around the companion spiritual book of the same name. Each day of the week, follow along with different meditations designed to help participants enter deeply into a spirit of fasting and prayer.

The Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth offer a variety of Lenten retreats for spiritual renewal at the Spirituality Center at St. Walburga Monastery. All retreats offer time for contemplation and quiet reflection and are designed to help participants meet life’s challenges with grace and joy.

This retreat focuses on the mysteries of the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through prayer and contemplation of the Psalms. Participants can choose to take part virtually or in person but be aware that the in-person option is in the United Kingdom.

In the Jesuits in Scotland’s Lent Retreat this year, they are offering a daily reflection from Pope Francis along with a suitable quotation from scripture as well as an image and music to help with your prayer for the day.

A little different from the other options, The Hope of Lent is an online retreat specifically made for persons living with a chronic illness or disability and their caregivers, although others are welcome to attend too.

Read more:How a simple family road trip becomes a spiritual retreat

Read more:10 Catholic studies and devotionals worth your time this Lent