Date: November 2, 2026
One of the richest gifts of our tradition is the Book of Common Prayer, which made the prayer life of monasteries and priests accessible to the common person. Yet in our time, it can be increasingly hard to set time aside each day to enter the presence of God and be formed by His love. For the past year, my ministry partner, Union seminarian Annabelle Helsel, and I have been building an app called Phoebe: Daily Prayer. It helps young adults cultivate and sustain a daily habit of prayer, combining Benedictine wisdom with modern app design.
In recent months, we introduced Phoebe to college students at NYU, and a few weeks ago we launched it at Bishop Budde’s young adult gathering in Washington, D.C., which happened to fall on the feast of Thomas Cranmer, the architect of the Book of Common Prayer. At its heart, Phoebe helps each person shape a simple rule of life. You choose how you want to pray in the morning and evening. You might pray the full Morning or Evening Office from the Book of Common Prayer, following the Daily Office Lectionary and set in large, quiet type, or you might begin with the Psalms or a short devotion. From there, you can add other practices, such as Midday Prayer, Compline, the Examen, or a few minutes of silence, and even create practices of your own. Gentle reminders help the day keep its rhythm, and a simple home screen shows what you have prayed and what comes next.
Phoebe also gathers daily reflections from trusted voices across the wider Church, including Forward Day by Day, the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, Henri Nouwen, Taizé, and the Center for Action and Contemplation. It also features an audio series with Bishop Budde on the Way of Love. And yes, you can read the Dean’s Commentary there each morning. We are currently building a program to pilot Phoebe in parishes in New York City, and we would welcome all the feedback we can get as we shape this resource. You can find Phoebe on the App Store, or by searching “Phoebe Daily Prayer” on Google. Please feel free to stop me on campus and share your thoughts.
Jeremy Cannon
Seminarian, Virginia Theological Seminary