Taizé - Birmingham 2017

 Friday 28 April - Monday 1 May 2017

for 16-35s

Contact: taizebirmingham@gmail.com

www.taize.fr/birmingham

  Twitter: @TaizeBirmingham

In cooperation with the churches of the city, the Taizé Community will be facilitating a young adult gathering in Birmingham next year, over the Early May Bank Holiday weekend. Brother Alois, prior of the community will take part.

Find out more <here>

Read the programme <here>

You Are Very Special: A Tale of Forgiveness

I first heard the story of Steven McDonald in 2008 during the HCPT Trust Mass. He was a New York police officer, shot in the face, throat and body while on duty in 1984. He spent 18 months in hospital. 

He was able to forgive the man who shot him. Steven wrote to him and eventually the man called from prison and apologised. Sadly they never met as 3 days after being released from prison Shavod Jones was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Steven said:

I forgave Shavod because I believe the only thing worse than receiving a bullet in my spine would have been to nurture revenge in my heart. Such an attitude would have extended my injury to my soul, hurting my wife, son, and others even more. It’s bad enough that the physical effects are permanent, but at least I can choose to prevent spiritual injury.

Again, I have my ups and downs. Some days, when I am not feeling very well, I can get angry. I get depressed. There have been times when I even felt like killing myself. But I have come to realize that anger is a wasted emotion…

Of course, I didn’t forgive Shavod right away. It took time. Things have evolved over fourteen years. I think about it almost every day. But I can say this: I’ve never regretted forgiving him.

Read more about Steven's life <here>

During the Trust Mass in 2008, Steven read this poem by Peta Crane:

You Are Very Special

In all the world there is nobody like you.

Since the beginning of time, there has never been another person like you.

Nobody has your smile, your eyes, your hands, your hair.

Nobody owns your voice, your handwriting, your unique way of communicating with others.

You’re Special.

Nobody can paint like you.

Nobody has your taste for food, music, dance or art.

Nobody in the world sees things as you do.

In all time, there has never been anyone who laughs in exactly your way, and what makes you

laugh or cry or think may have a totally different response in another.

So, You’re Special.

You’re different from any other person who has ever lived in the history of the world.

You are the only one in the whole world who has your particular set of abilities.

There is always someone who is better at one thing or another.

Every person is your superior in at least one way.

But nobody in this world can reach the quality of the combination of your talents, your feelings. Through all eternity, no one will ever love, walk, talk, think or act exactly like you.

Remember, You’re Special.

You’re rare, and in all rarity there is enormous value.

You’re Special, and it is no accident you are.

Please realize that God made you for a special purpose.

God has a job for you to do that nobody else can do as well as you can.

Out of the billions of applicants, only one is qualified.

Only one has the unique and right combination of what it takes, and that one is you.

You Are Very Special!

Poetry text reproduced from HCPT Group 101
Image courtesy of NY Daily News

A Prayer From Santa to Jesus

I'm never sure how Father Christmas and Jesus can be fully reconciled... Here's an attempt. What do you think?

My dear precious Jesus, I did not mean to take your place,

I only bring toys and things and you bring love and grace.

People give me lists of wishes and hope that they came true;

But you hear prayers of the heart and promise your will to do.

Children try to be good and not to cry when I am coming to town;

But you love them unconditionally and that love will abound.

I leave only a bag of toys and temporary joy for a season;

But you leave a heart of love, full of purpose and reasons.

I have a lot of believers and what one might call fame;

But I never healed the blind or tried to help the lame.

I have rosy cheeks and a voice full of laughter;

But no nail—scarred hands or a promise of the hereafter.

You may find several of me in town or at a mall;

But there is only one omnipotent you, to answer a sinner’s call.

And so, my dear precious Jesus, I kneel here to pray;

To worship and adore you on this, your holy birthday.

Source: Unknown

Image courtesy: http://famvin.org/en/2013/12/24/santa-claus-jesus/

#PopeCupSunday

Catholic News Service

After a few days of 'could it be'? The two World Cup Semi-Finals have been decided and it will be Pope Francis' Argentina versus Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's Germany. This has raised much speculation of a 'lads footy night' between the two Pope's. 

Pope Francis is a big football fan and card-carrying member of the San Lorenzo de Almagro football club since childhood. On the other hand, football is not really Pope Benedict's thing, "...he is not a fan. It would be like inflicting an infinite penitence on him at the age of 87. He has never been able to watch a football match from beginning to end in his life.". The Vatican have also said it is past Pope Francis' usual bedtime but they "will see".

Despite this, the internet has gone into overdrive (apologies, I don't have credits for all of these, please email TalkingDonkeyRE@gmail.com or Tweet @TalkingDonkeyRE and credit will be added):

Catholic News Service

MySpiritFM

Happy Saints

Catholic News Agency

Father Thomas Rosica, a member of the Vatican communications, also said in a tweet: "Unconfirmed reports in Italian media: large quantities of mate and Fanta delivered to Vatican for private event Sunday" -- a reference to the famous Argentine tipple and the German fizzy drink.

The Vatican's own official daily newspaper, the Osservatore Romano predicted that Argentine and Germany would reach the final. Former footballer player and Catholic, Tommaso Damiani, said that "there could be a final that will go down in history because of its unusual supporters [Francis and Benedict]".

Despite claiming that he would not be praying for Argentina in the World Cup, the Vatican affairs news agency I.Media reported that when a group of the Vatican's Swiss Guards invited him to watch the Argentina-Switzerland game in their barracks, he declined the offer saying: "There would be a war!"

See more on World Cup Prayers on the blog: <here>

Read more on this story from:

• Sports NDTV <here>
• The Independent <here>

After Germany's 7-1 victory over Brazil:

 

Throughout the tournament:

World Cup Prayers

Image courtesy of The FA

It was a frustrating start to England's World Cup campaign, despite an encouraging performance, loosing to Italy. However, Daniel Sturridge managed to get on the score sheet and after doing so, clearly offered the goal up in prayer to God.

It is not the first time that Sturridge has mentioned his faith. In an interview in May 2013, he said: "I've kept praying every game – which I always do. God showed me how I need to be strong mentally. Being strong mentally is the one thing that can separate you from anyone else. When I worked with Didier Drogba at Chelsea, the one strength he had above everybody was his mental strength. I learned a lot from working with him about what it takes to be a top player. Hopefully I'll become one." (see more <here>)

[Drogba has been featured in a previous blog post about prayer <here>]

When he first broke in to the England team in October 2013 he said, "At the moment, things are going well and I've been blessed by god to have this sort of form and my faith in god has got me to where I am today" (see more <here>)

It's not the only prayer that has featured so far at the World Cup. When Algeria scored against Belgium in their opening game, they celebrated with this:

Image courtesy of Yahoo

Sofiane Feghouli and several teammates ran to the corner flag and celebrated by kneeling down together. It was rather subdued compared with some of the general craziness of other teams' goal celebrations. However the Sujud (a prayer position in which the forehead, nose, hands, knees and toes all touch the ground) has become a customary goal celebration for Muslim players including Chelsea's Demba Ba.

Aside from the players praying, there is also a encouragement for fans to get praying too. The Bible Society are distributing free World Cup edition Bibles (see <here>), papers like the Catholic Herald have written articles reminding Christians to learn from the World Cup (see <here>) and CAFOD have used the opportunity to educate young people about some of the global issues connected to Brazil including poverty and fair trade putting their prayer into action (see <here>).

Thankfully Pope Francis has promised to not pray for his homeland in Argentina, see <here>. However Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera has asked Mexico to pray to their team! <here>

The Church of England have even gone as far as to release five prayers for the World Cup:

Prayer 1 - A Prayer for the World Cup

Lord of all the nations, who played the cosmos into being, guide, guard and protect all who work or play in the World Cup.
May all find in this competition a source of celebration, an experience of common humanity and a growing attitude of generous sportsmanship to others.
Amen.

Prayer 2 - A Prayer for Brazil

God of the nations, who has always called his people to be a blessing for the world, bless all who take part in the World Cup.
Smile on Brazil in her hosting,
on the nations represented in competition and on those who travel to join in the party.
Amen.

Prayer 3 - A prayer for those simply not interested

Lord, as all around are gripped with World Cup fever, bless us with understanding, strengthen us with patience and grant us the gift of sympathy if needed.
Amen.

Prayer 4 - Prayer for the England Football team

"Oh God..."

Prayer 5 - Prayer for the England Football team

"God, who played the cosmos into being, please help England rediscover their legs, their eyes and their hunger: that they might run more clearly, pass more nearly and enjoy the game more dearly. Amen."

(Based on The Prayer commemorating Richard, Bishop of Chichester in 1253 and used by the Church of England on 16 June each year)

See press release <here>

Do you think the World Cup is a good place to pray? Do you think the footballers do provide good Christian role models? Is it right that Christian organisations use this opportunity? Will you be praying for England?!

Personal Faith: Bono

Paul Hewson, aka Bono, is one of the world's most famous and richest musicians. He is frontman for the band U2, but is also a businessman, spokesperson and philanthropist. Many of U2's songs, which he writes, contain religious, social, and political themes. He was brought up a mixture of Church of Ireland (Protestant) and Catholic, although baptised Catholic.

His faith remains a key feature of his music, and is said to have inspired his philanthropist work, particularly in Africa. In this interview he talks frankly about his faith:

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money"

Matthew 6:24

Bono is said to be worth nearly £400million... is it still possible for him to be a good Christian? He has been accused of not paying taxes, which are (in part) used to fund the welfare state in Ireland, is this Christian? Is it possible to serve two masters? Does Bono not use his fame and fortune to benefit the poor? Does it surprise you that he and his family still have a deep personal faith?

Frank Skinner, Fatherhood & Meditation

Frank Skinner is most commonly associated with his popular Saturday morning radio show on Absolute. However he is also a stand up comedian, former prime time chat show host and committed Catholic. He regularly attends Mass at Farm Street Jesuit Church in Mayfair.

He returned to the Catholic Church in his late-20s, after being disillusioned with it in his teens. Now he feels he is able to discuss his faith openly, even on his radio show, "I find that the people in my line of work who talk to me about religion are often very interested, rather than very disparaging... Atheists and agnostics are often more interested in religion than the religious people."

His son, Buzz, was born in May 2012 and was baptised at Farm Street Jesuit Church in Mayfair; "When you've got a child, the love that you feel is like nothing else you feel in the rest of your life. And I think for the believer - certainly the parent - it gives you the clearer view of what a big painful, awful sacrifice that was. When they become your primary concern, ahead of yourself - for me, it's helped me to understand that sort of love of God, that selfless, forgiving love."

Frank Skinner has developed an interest in silent reflection and in his last book about life on the road as a stand up comedian he talks about Lectio Divina; "Through short periods of time, I developed the ability to stop thinking and clear my mind... And I suppose afterwards you feel peace. You start to feel very centred and that starts to inform the rest of your life. I feel that God is in that - in everything - and it's like that silence can make you feel it in yourself." 

Why do you think it is still unusual for celebrities to talk openly about their faith? Is there many Catholics who are as proud and as open about their faith as Frank Skinner? Do you think this helps others? Do you think its common for people to change their outlook to their faith as they go through life?

Read more <here>
Full interview: Read the interview with Frank Skinner - alongside features on the first Jesuit Pope (Francis), a preview of World Youth Day in Brazil and expressions of hope for Zimbabwe in the light of forthcoming elections - in the summer edition of Jesuits and Friends, available online at: www.jesuitmissions.org , from Jesuit parishes throughout Britain or by post from Jesuit Missions, 11 Edge Hill, London SW19 4LR.

Praying Isn't Enough

Two parents who believed that visiting a doctor was akin to worshipping a false idol have been found guilty separately of second-degree reckless homicide. They prayed to save their child instead of taking her to hospital, and as a result their 11 year-old daughter Madeline Kara Neumann (pictured above) died of undiagnosed diabetes.

The Neumanns had contended their convictions, claiming they were unconstitutional because of the Wisconsin state's law that allows residents to pursue "treatment through prayer." However the judge over ruled this effectively eliminating legal immunity for prayer treatment.

The girls grandparents have pleaded for her to be taken to a doctor but her mother, Leilani Neumann, claimed that would take away the glory of God. After the girl died, Leilani told police God would raise Kara from the dead.

Do you think someone should have intervened before the girl had died? Do churches that promote this idea of prayer over medicine need to be challenged? How do you think this effects the perceptions of Christians?

Read more <here>

Exams & Prayer

The excellent CatholicYouthWork.com shared an article from Youthwork Magazine, in which a Christian youth minister shares an open letter to students everywhere:

Dear young people,

This letter is written with nothing but love and respect for you. We've entered exam season. I remember well the stress and tension, the constant reminders from teachers that 'these are the most important exams you'll ever take' and the feeling that you are going to do nothing but spend the next three months of your life revising.

I wanted to write to you to try and speak some different words into your life. In this time of stress and tension I wanted you to hear some other messages apart from 'revise, revise, revise!' and that feeling that your future success and achievements are all based on getting straight A*s.

This isn't about detracting from the importance of exams, or going against what your teachers are saying! These exams are important, revision is necessary, but what I'm trying to say is that there is more to life:

 

Firstly, before you take your exams, remember this simple fact - you are amazing. You have gifts, talents and abilities that are unique to you. You have something to offer to this world, something that cannot be taken away, or added to, by these exams. Please remember that. Your worth, your value, in God's eyes is not affected by your performance over these next few months. He already thinks you are amazing.

Secondly - and I say this without any intent of guilt - please don't give up on church. Whether that's Sunday services, house groups, youth groups - whatever and wherever it is that you connect with God, please don't give up on it. Right now, in this intense period of your life you need God more than ever, and you need the support of those around you - to pray for you, to support you. You also need times of fun, times of laughter, times of complete relaxation to not only enjoy yourself but also to help your brain process what you've been revising.

I understand that you may not be able to come every week, or to every session but please don't disappear until your last exam has finished. We want to help you, care for you and pray with you. Also, when your exams have finished - please come back! Don't think that not being able to come all the time means you can never return - we want to hang out with you, to celebrate the achievement of finishing your exams with you!

Finally - don't forget your personal faith. Your own Bible time and times of personal worship are equally important at this time. It's vital that you find time to speak to God, to give him your concerns, your worries and your fears and also receive from him - his hope, his strength, his love.

 

So please, remember God, remember us, and I hope we will see you soon.

(Article found here. This was written by Nick Francis who is "a youth minister in a Methodist, URC & Baptist LEP church in Buckingham. He is married with two kids, is a bit of a geek and if he wasn't landlocked would love to surf every day.")

I would also obviously recommend a prayer to Saint Joseph of Cupertino (the flying Saint!) who you can read about here.

A prayer for the undertaking of exams from the Catholic Youth Ministry site:

Loving God, be with me now, as I prepare for my exams.
Thank you for the many talents and gifts you have given me and for the opportunity of education.
Calm my nerves and anxiety, help me to remember all that I have studied, to express it clearly and to answer the questions the very best that I can.
Holy Spirit, sit with me in my exam - and always.
In Jesus' name
Amen 
Matthew Huish, a Unification church pastor also shares this advice:

"I would encourage a student to pray like this at the start of the exams: “Heavenly Father, I’ve been working for months to prepare for this exam. This is now my opportunity to make an offering to you by performing well. I hope I can make you (and my parents and teachers) happy by getting the top grade!"

He goes on to give a final piece of advice (I'm not 100% on this one...):

One last word of encouragement: When the exam supervisor announces, “You may now begin the exam,” I advise you to do nothing for 30 seconds. Don’t open the exam booklet. Don’t lift a pen. Don’t even open your eyes. Just sit in calm meditation knowing that you are more important that this exam, remembering that God loves you and you love God, and be aware not just the small exam hall in which you sit in silence but also of your position in the entire cosmos. I always found that it helps me relax and be prepared to perform to the best of my ability (according to my preparation) in that situation.

(Read the full article here)

 

 

Can Christians and Muslims share a place of worship?

An Aberdeen Church has take the unusual step of allowing Muslims to pray in the church. This is as the mosque is no longer big enough and people were having to pray outside.

The rector of St John's church, Rev Isaac Poobalan said, "One day when I was walking past the mosque, I found 20 or 30 people outside on the ground around the pavements with their hands and feet exposed. You could see their breath. When I spoke to people at the church about the situation, someone actually said to me this was not our problem, but I had seen it with my own eyes, so it was a problem."
The two groups have worked closely together over the years, offering joint services and initatives. Rev Poobalan grew up in India and had many Muslim and Hindu friends. He said: "Religion does not play a role when it comes to friendship and hospitality. They transcend the religious divide."

The Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, the Right Rev Dr Robert Gillies, said: "Internationally, the news speaks of tension and struggles between Islam and Christianity. Yet, here in Aberdeen, a mosque and a church have built bonds of affection and friendship. It must be stressed that neither has surrendered or compromised any aspect of the historic faith to which each holds. But mutual hospitality and goodwill exists."

It's important to remember the common root of Abraham in Christianity, Islam and Judasim:

Do you think Christians and Muslims should be working together more? Why do you think some of the congregation were unhappy? Do you think friendhship and hospitality do transcend religion?

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/18/aberdeen-muslims-christians-share-church

Frank Skinner's Prayer About The Hell Thing

I'm not sure it's a coincidence that one of my favourite teaching resources, is from one of my favourite books, written by one of my favourite comedians. In Frank Skinner's autobiography as a committed Catholic, he includes a series of prayers. This one always struck me, and continues to do so as I read and re-read it over the years. Increasingly the students I teach are not familiar with Skinner, but the sentiment remains. I do always tell them that he was one of the most famous faces on TV for many years with his chat show ("Yes, like Jonathan Ross, but better...") and is on Absolute Radio ("I only listen to Kiss and Capital..."). However I like to mention that many years ago when he was very famous and performing at the Brentwood Centre, he came to Mass at our very own Brentwood Cathedral. His prayer is a great source of inspiration and reflection when contemplating issues of reconciliation and the big questions about life after death. Here it is, the Hell thing...

"Dear Lord,

I think taboo subjects are bad for a relationship. You know what I’m going to say. We need to talk about the Hell thing. Now, let me get this right. We fail the course and then you have us tortured forever. Not just till we die. We get teased and toasted for all eternity.

When I read about two kids torturing an old-age pensioner for a day and a half in his own home, until he died broken and humiliated I felt like crying. I even thought, ‘This is what happens to society when religion isn’t a big deal anymore.’ Please don’t tell me that this is the your-own-image you made us in. Of course, even as torturers we fall short. We can only keep ‘em alive for a day and a half.

This Hell thing, it’s just not you. You’re better than that. Even cattle get it short and sharp. This is the bad thing about working on your own. If only you’d had a team. When you brought up hell at a meeting, you’d have picked up on the raised eyebrows. You’d have gone away and come up with something better. I suppose purgatory was your compromise, but I think that’s something you put in for the Catholics: ‘Ok, we’ll go to heaven but we insist on some suffering beforehand.’ Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I have a corrupted-by-liberalism view of things that has strayed from the truth. Maybe eternal torture is a good thing, but do me one favour.

Don’t torture anyone for what they did to me. I forgive them. I’m the forgiving type. I wonder where I get that from.

Amen."

Atheist Prayer Experiment

The Atheist Prayer Experiement is being organised by Premier Christian Radio. From Mon 17 Sep to Fri 26 Oct 2012. The rational for this experiement is as follows:

"The experiment is based on the paper by Oxford philosopher Tim Mawson titled Praying to Stop Being an Atheist. In it Mawson argues that, on balance, it is in the interests of those atheists who don't think it's absolutely impossible that there's a God to investigate the issue of whether or not he exists by 'the experimental method' - trying to ask him."

Many of the participants are part of a Facebook group - http://www.facebook.com/groups/atheistprayerexperiment - and the below video gives some updates from people joining in.

Do you think this is a good idea? How do you think some atheists would feel about this? Obviously it is voluntary, do you think many people will convert or return to their atheistic beliefs?

Read more here: http://www.premier.org.uk/atheistprayerexperiment

The Tweeting Nun!

Why not follow Sister Elizabeth Pio? On behalf of the Sisters of Bethany, an Anglican order who spend hours each day in silent reflection, she has started tweeting!

Watch a video interview here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-18620474

She said: "It's great that we can communicate with an online community, most of whom we'll never meet."

Sister Elizabeth said: "We recognised that social media was how people often communicated these days, so it made us have a look at it.

"We're still trying it out, really, and it is a bit of a learning curve."

Follow: @bethanysister

She is not the first member of the Church to try tweeting... an Anglican Bishop tweeted his pilgrimage around his Diocese last August: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-14431784

Her tweets have been prayerful and also commentary on the recent England football match. She tweeted: "The Sabbath was made for man, but was it made for professional football matches.......? God won, England out!"

Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-18590242

Do you think that this is a good way for clergy and the religious to engage with an 'online generation'? Would you follow a Bishop or nun? As Sr Elizabeth said: "It's important to show that nuns and monks can use current technology - we're not so far behind the times."

Drogba: "I pray a lot. It was written a long time ago. God is wonderful."

The Sports Office in the Vatican have highlighted Chelsea striker Didier Drogba after the footballer celebrated his teams victory in the Champions League. He is a committed Catholic who has spoken about his faith before in interviews and when leaving his former club, Olympique de Marseille, he gave his team shirt to the local Cathedral of Notre-Dame de la Garde. It's still on display today.

Father Kevin Lixey, the director of the Vatican’s Office of Church and Sport, said: “The Vatican and the Holy Father is always very interested in such athletes as they are role models for others... if they give thanks to God for their talents, it is good for the young people who admire these star athletes.”

Drogba was seen making the sign of the cross both after scoring the equaliser with 2 minutes to go, and then again after holding his nerve and scoring the winning penalty. In an interview after the game he said, "It was fate, I believe a lot in destiny. I pray a lot. It was written a long time ago. God is wonderful. This team is amazing."

Father Lixey went on to compare Drogba and American football player Tim Tebow; both players recognise they have "a short time to witness to their faith" and that their careers are a "window of opportunity" to evangelise.

However Father Lixey believes that there is “no correlation between victory and their prayers,” yet Christian sportsmen are more likely to “give more to others in the team and can get along better with teammates".

Does Drogba promote a positive Christian image? He has been accused of diving and misleading referees in the past, is this a model of Christian behaviour? Is it important that young people do see committed and openly Christian sports stars?


Read original article: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-pays-tribute-to-soccer-star-didier-drogba/

#PrayForMuamba - The world of praying football fans

The footballing world was shocked and stunned into silence seeing a seemingly fit young footballer collapse on the pitch last weekend. It brought back awful memories from when I was 17 and watching Southend versus Mansfield and referee Mike North collapsed and died from a heart attack on the pitch. After the initial jeer and "she fell over!", everyone realised quite quickly that actually there was something very serious going and a hushed silence fell over the ground, like it did at White Hart Lane. We left the ground knowing we had seen something really awful happen, and the news on the radio in the car on the way home confirmed that he had died.

Fabrice Muamba is a popular 23 year old, engaged and with a young child. To see him collapse and have a serious heart attack on the pitch, surrounded fans who had come to be entertained and cheer their team on to victory was sobering.

Twitter was full of tributes and well wishes from all other the world, and the has tag #PrayForMuamba trended for a large part of the weekend. Fans, clubs, fellow players and the public at large were overcome by the upsetting scenes and wanted to add their thoughts and prayers to the cause.

Muamba, unlike Mike North, did survive. His heart didn't beat on its own for several hours, and perhaps he was saved by the rule change that Jose Mourinho and Chelsea instigated after serious injuries to their players that an ambulance had to be at the ground?

However the fascinating aspect of the story, as Muamba starts the long road to recovery, is the prominence of prayer in the healing process.

A BBC blog wrote:

Have you prayed for Fabrice Muamba today? His family are exhorting the country to believe in the power of prayer, and I suspect many millions of Britons, whether they have faith or not, will have felt moved to offer a silent appeal to an invisible power asking that the young footballer pull through.

The front page of today's Sun newspaper is devoted to the headline "God is in Control" below the subheading "Praying for Muamba". "In God's Hands" says the Daily Star. Chelsea defender Gary Cahill pulled off his shirt after scoring yesterday to reveal a vest encouraging supporters to "Pray 4 Muamba", his former team-mate.

Whatever you might think about its links to a supernatural being, intercessory prayer is a straightforward way for an individual to focus the mind on their capacity to think nice thoughts. Anyone can close their eyes and make a wish that bad things do not happen. Right now, Britain is praying that Fabrice Muamba makes a speedy and full recovery.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17429779

Andrew Brown from the Guardian, suggests that prayer is actually something that comes very naturally to many footballers, but that it is seemingly counter-cultural:

This isn't marginalised religion. In fact it is such a public demonstration of faith and prayer that it's hard to reconcile it with our normal worldview. So what's going on? Is it as simple as there are no atheists in intensive care?

"They pray from instinct, like the rest of us, unless we think we know better," said the Rev Owen Beamont, the chaplain to Millwall football club, when I asked him.

One of the craziest bishops I ever knew once said to me, with relish: "There are no atheists in cancer wards." But that has not been my experience. I rang a couple of priest friends to ask if this kind of outburst of reverence was normal. None seemed to think it was inevitable. One of them said that she had, of course, come across cases of the opposite, in which deeply religious people seemed to lose their interest in God as death approached. "I have to see one woman who is so busy dying she doesn't have any time for anything else." This wasn't a loss of faith, she said. It was just a loss of interest. Perhaps the question of God becomes entirely theoretical when you know what the outcome will be. The time for prayer is before, or after the fact: in either case, when everything is uncertain, as it is now with Muamba.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2012/mar/19/fabrice-muamba-football-prayer-natural?newsfeed=true

So what can we make from this reaction to Muamba's heart-attack? Footballers are more like us than we imagine? That when things get tough, people still return to God? Is prayer a great healer, as Muamba's family are suggesting?

Get well soon Muamba.