Healing Hands: Prayer guide for health workers

Source: Jesuit Communications

A new prayer guide for healthcare workers is joining the collection of Pray As You Go resources prompted by the coronavirus outbreak.

For many people, staying at home has become their new way of daily life. However, over the years we have received some amazing stories from doctors, nurses, carers and others who have found Pray As You Go a helpful part of their busy lives.

Therefore, we've produced two short prayer guides for healthcare workers: one for preparation before a shift and another as an Examen, a reflective prayer to look back at the end of a day or shift.

These prayer guides were written by Fr Paul O'Reilly SJ, a British Jesuit who is also doctor caring for homeless people in London. We asked Fr O'Reilly to combine his experiences of both medical life and Ignatian spirituality to produce a short burst of prayer and reflection for those working in the health care system.

Paul O'Reilly SJ said: "I created these prayer guides simply based on the way I pray as I go to and from my work as a GP for homeless people in Central London. I am blessed with a one-hour cycle ride each way via a beautiful parkland route that is particularly quiet and pleasant during the lockdown and it is then that I feel I pray my best. But what I offer here is not any form of guidance, consensus statement, established protocol, expert advice or, least of all, an example of good practice. It is simply how I pray as I go to and from the work I offer to the Lord. It helps me and I shall be delighted if it helps you."

Launched in 2006 as a podcast and website - and later as iOS and Android apps - Pray As You Go offers Ignatian Spirituality to millions of people, supporting them with a short moment of prayer in the midst of a busy life on the go. The app offers material written by Jesuits and other experts in the spirituality of St Ignatius of Loyola.

Emma Holland, producer of Pray As You Go, said: "We have received so many messages of thanks from the medical community for our resources, with stories coming in from doctors, nurses, carers and patients alike. One doctor told us she finishes her shift by listening to Pray As You Go in the bath. We have heard from frontline nurses who are helping hospitalised patients with the coronavirus listen to Pray As You Go during this time. These stories have all been moving and I hope that we will be able to support their prayer lives in the midst of a very difficult working environment."

Pray As You Go has users in over 150 countries, from the US, Australia and Singapore to Bhutan and Macau. There are also another nine language versions including Spanish, French, Arabic and Dutch.

The new content for healthcare workers can be found here:

Website: https://pray-as-you-go.org/retreat/healing-hands

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pray-as-you-go/sets/healing-hands

Pray As You Go - https://pray-as-you-go.org - is a daily prayer session that combines music, scripture and some questions for reflection, designed for use wherever you are, to help people pray whenever they can find time. In addition to Pray As You Go, there are other versions in Arabic, Dutch, French, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.