|TOP|The British Jesuits have reported a huge response to their new prayer service via iPods launched earlier in the month.

Since the pray-as-you-go service was launched at the start of the month commuters have been able to de-stress on the way home from work or school by tuning into soothing spiritual music and Bible readings on their iPods, mobile phones or other MP3 players.

Already at its launch on Ash Wednesday, 3,300 prayer sessions were downloaded from the web in countries as far afield as Australia, Mexico and the United States.

The service was intended to provide spiritual support to Christians during the period of Lent and originally due to end Easter but has proved so successful in Britain and abroad that the Jesuits are now considering extending the service beyond Lent.

In the few weeks the pray-as-you-go service has been running, it has amassed an impressive 30,000 downloads from the Jesuit website, with interest continuing to grow day-by-day.

|AD|Fr Peter Scally, director of Jesuit Media Initiatives, said he had received many emails from users expressing their gratitude for the new service, reports The Telegraph.

Audrey Newbury, a commuter from Harrow, north London, said: “There is no better way to spend the Tube journey home, after all the stresses of the day.”
Fr Scally said: "So many people have been enthused by pray-as-you-go that we are left in no doubt that it is addressing a very real need in people's spiritual lives."
The prayer sessions, each about ten minutes long, are available free to download from the Jesuit website at www.jesuit.org.uk

A new prayer session is offered every day, featuring a short reading from the scriptures as well as well as music selected from a wide range from modern hymns to Gregorian chants.

Each session finishes with questions which invite the listener to self-reflect following the session.





Courtney Lee
Christian Today Correspondent