Long-time pop artist Gwen Stefani, who came onto the music scene in the 1990s with her brother in the band No Doubt and since spawned decades of commercial and critical success as a solo artist, renewed encouragement to download and follow along with the world’s most popular prayer app, Hallow, as the 2026 Lenten season commences.
For context, Stefani had previously plugged the Catholic prayer app at the onset of the Christmas season. She, along with ‘The Chosen’ actor Jonathan Roumie and other celebrities like Mark Wahlberg and Chris Pratt, are outspoken about their Christian faith and invite their millions of fans and followers to seek out the power of daily prayer.
Wearing a tasteful black blazer to accompany the black ash on her forehead, Stefani proudly beamed as she let everyone know she had just come from mass and wanted to join with others in the 40-day prayer challenge on the Hallow app. “Everyone. I just got my ashes, and I’m ready for Lent. This year I’ll be doing Hallow’s 40 day lent prayer challenge. It’s going to be incredible. Check it out. God Bless,” the singer-songwriter stated.
As mentioned, it was the second promotional video put out by the wife of country music’s Blake Shelton in recent months. As Christmas approached in the winter of 2025, Stefani took to social media to share her holiday prayer plans.
“It is important this holiday season to spend time in prayer. That is what Christmas is all about, letting God into our hearts and letting Jesus bring us His peace. Download hallow today and join me and millions of others in praying every day this Advent and Christmas season on Hallow,” she said in a short video released to her social media accounts.
Actor Jonathan Roumie, featured as the spokesman for Hallow, also shared how he will be spending Lent through the Hallow app. “I think every year the noise in the culture, the global noise, just seems to get louder and louder and louder. So as we mark these next 40 ish days leading up to Easter, Lent becomes a time for just meditation and peace and reflection,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Roumie also cited the aforementioned Hallow app that features him as the reader for daily prayer. “The 40-Day prayer challenge is essentially the epitome of what it means to take time for yourself to return to this time of meditation and prayerfulness with God. The theme of this prayer challenge that we’re doing on how this year is called the return, particularly it’s, what does it mean to return to the Father? How do we find our way back to the Lord during these 40 days?” he added.
Ash Wednesday has long been a tradition in the Catholic Church, dating back to at least the first few hundred years after Christ’s crucifixion. Borrowing from Genesis, biblical tradition holds that God formed Man from dust and was told he would also return to dust. Therefore, the ash symbolizes mankind’s creation and ultimate passing in this lifetime.
The ash can also be seen as a physical reminder of repentance, as it kicks off what is now traditional 40 days – previous observations ranged from 36 to 42 days – following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ’s 40 days alone in the wilderness.