MORE than 300 Christian churches and groups across Ireland have come together to sing a blessing for key workers and others during the Covid-19 crisis.
The specially recorded blessing, Be Thou My Vision, was posted on YouTube yesterday and within hours had registered thousands of views.
Singers and musicians of all ages and backgrounds took part in the virtual performance and the instruments used ranged from bodhráns to Lambeg drums.
Fr Martin Magill, parish priest of St John's in Belfast and one of the project's organisers, said he was delighted by the response to the video, which lasts almost seven minutes.
“We are shocked by that sort of response, we didn't think we would get that response,” he said.
“It seems to have caught the public mood, that's encouraging.”
Fr Magill said “the idea was to pray a blessing” and he hopes the message will spread far and wide.
“The image I have been having is a bit like a ship - when it was launched from YouTube it was going into the sea and it will go as far a possible,” he said.
He said the blessing is intended "for the world" and he was thinking "especially of the United States".
"They are in a difficult place," he said.
