The invitation to reflect on wellbeing and illness this Lent at the Chapel of Christ the Healer, Cork University Hospital has brought many prayers from patients, staff and visitors to be placed on the Altar for inclusion in our Sunday Eucharist. I am always struck by the openness and honesty of these heartfelt prayers to God. Each prayer is placed on the prayer board using a sticky note. It will be my privilege on Sunday to weave these prayers into our 09:15 Sunday corporate prayer in the Eucharist that is broadcast throughout the hospital and city by Hospital Radio CUH102FM. Where is God to be found in the midst of illness? Why do our bodies let us down? Is physical physique the marker of wellness such as that represented in the male torso that is our image this week? Surely we are more than this.

Prayers brought to the Altar

Loving God, 

who inhabited our human frame in the person of Jesus Christ

fill me with your holy and life giving spirit

that I may have inner peace, and health

that goes beyond my physical body when it aches or groans. Amen