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Heart and Soul: Reflections on Faith in a Global Crisis: Prayer

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05/06/2020 GMT

Prayer

Reflections on Faith in a Global Crisis

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Reflections on Faith in a Global Crisis, Prayer

John McCarthy shares the reflections of people of faith around the world during a pandemic

In this fifth programme of our special series, John hears how people are reaching for prayer at this time - in an age old response to such a crisis

A man finds himself by chance in the country he fled as a political prisoner as the virus spreads and he is trapped. An atheist looking for peace in lockdown. A writer looking for a way to stay united with her community. Very different people, with very different beliefs, united in prayer.

In a special Heart and Soul series for the BBC World Service, amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, the journalist John McCarthy brings together reflections from people of faith around the world. In this fifth programme, John hears how people are reaching for prayer at this time - in an age old response to such a crisis. Prayer can be a repeated phrase, a daily ritual, a casual conversation or a cry for help and it is not just people of conventional faith who are doing it.

Sanderson Jones does not believe in God, but the stand-up comedian says he has found something akin to prayer whilst pushing his son in a buggy in his allotted daily exercise. Mario Aguilar is a hermit who lives a life of quiet contemplation. But he was on a short visit in his native Chile when lockdown began. Order, discipline and simple prayer have carried him through what he admits has been a tough time.

As the world faces the prospect of many months of lockdown we hear how prayer and meditation can bring comfort and calm.

Presenter: John McCarthy
Producer: Olive Clancy

Heart and Soul: Reflections on Faith in a Global Crisis

In the first programme of a special Heart and Soul series for the BBC World Service, amidst a global pandemic of Coronavirus, the journalist John McCarthy brings together reflections from people of faith around the world. In each programme specially chosen contributors reflect on the horrendous situation the whole world is dealing with.

Rituals are at the heart of many religions, they are vital to the practice of faith giving structure, comfort and focus.
The best-selling Indian writer Amish Tripathi sees daily yoga practice as central to his Hindu faith. He loves the calm and balance it brings. But with the virus bringing fear of respiratory problems he newly appreciates the breathing techniques which ease anxiety. Miriam Camerini is an Italian trainee Rabbi who is stranded in Canada, unable to travel home. She is heartbroken to hear of sick friends, but comforted by new online connections with Jerusalem. And a pastor used to non-stop cross-border travel to look after Mexican and US parishioners finds strength in bible passages he never had time to sit and study before.
With much of the world in lockdown the rituals and sacraments of conventional religion are impossible. John McCarthy hears how people are finding new ways to live out their faith in retreat.

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