Tuesday, August 19, 2014

At Heathrow airport...

...a multi-faith prayer room. Used to be called a chapel. No cross marks it now. It is divided into three: two rooms (male and females) for Muslims, one for Christians. I went in. The Christian space had a table, with a cloth on it and a couple of Bibles, and some Christian leaflets. No cross. I prayed the Lord's Prayer aloud, and could sense the silence descending in the adjoining rooms where there had been voices.  I took up one of the Bibles (attractive, a gift from the Gideons) and read aloud from St Paul's letter to the Corinthians. I prayed silently for a while, made the Sign of the Cross aloud, and left.

Now:  let's all make a commitment. Next time you are in an airport, find the prayer-room and go there and pray aloud. Alone or with others. It is good to pray before you travel, it is an opportunity to praise God and ask his blessing, and it is an act of witness. Claim the space for Christ.

LATER NOTE:

I've been corrected - see COMMENT to this blog. There is indeed a proper  chapel at Heathrow. The one I encountered was simply a Prayer Room at terminal 4. Thank God for the work and witness of all involved with St George's Chapel at Heathrow, where a Cross stands tall, and where Mass is regularly celebrated.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this article and the suggestion that we avail of the opportunity to pray aloud at an airport prayer room.

Bob Hayes

Savonarola said...

Heathrow Airport has a chapel of St. George with a large cross outside and inside altar, crucifix, tabernacle. There is a regular Catholic mass on Sunday and some weekdays. The regulars there would be quite insulted to be told they need to claim space for Christ.

Joanna Bogle said...

This is good to know and I will add an amendment to my Blog accordingly. Thank you for writing in.

Raquel Rivera Ford said...

I do appreciate your suggestion Mrs Bogle re: reading The Word aloud, and why not, if it fits the situation. There could be a day we will not be able to read it. Gid forbid.

Sharon said...


Sharon from Australia - where they do indeed speak English. lol

Lauren Walton said...

I think all airports in UK has its own prayer room. and it's is nice to see people that often comes there. car parking at Heathrow Airport