16 million lost lives at war, Trump’s $16 million birthday, 16 million shared birthdays and 16 million blog readers

Patrick Comerford

There is a popular birthday available to buy on many online sites that says: ‘You share your birthday with 16 million people. Not so special now, are you?’

I was once fascinated by the many famous or influential people I shared my birthday with. Later, I was amused by the number of Facebook friends I share my birthday with. We think our birthdays are special days for each of us individually, until we realise how many people we share that one day with.

If your birthday falls on any day other than 29 February, the odds of sharing your birthday with anyone you meet should be about 1/365 in the population (0.274%). Since the world population is estimated at over eight billion, you should, in theory, share your birthday with over 22 million people (about 22,054,188).

However, if you were born on 29 February, you share your birthday with just 1/1,461 of the population as 366 + 365 + 365 + 365 is equal to 1,461. Because this day only comes around once every four years, a mere 0.068% of people worldwide share it as their birthday – that’s only about 5,510,000 people!

I was reminded of the significance of the figure 16 million – and of the mathematics of shared birthdays – at the weekend when this blog reached the staggering total of 16 million hits since I first began blogging about 15 years ago, back in 2010. But I almost missed the significance of this figure while I was visiting York and Durham at the weekend.

After I began blogging in 2010, it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. It was over a year before this figure rose to 1 million by September 2013. It climbed steadily to 2 million, June 2015; 3 million, October 2016; 4 million, November 2019; 5 million, March 2021; 6 million, July 2022; 7 million, 13 August 2023; 8 million, April 2024; and 9 million, October 2024.

But the rise in the number of readers has been phenomenal this year, reaching 9.5 million on 4 January 2025, 10 million over a week later (12 January 2025), 10.5 million two days after that (14 January 2025), 11 million a month later (12 February 2025), 11.5 million a month after that (10 March 2025), and 12 million early in May (3 May 2025).

The figures claimed steadily throughout June, July and August, from 12.5 million early in June (6 June 2025), 13 million less than two weeks later (17 June 2025), 13.5 million a week after that (24 June 2025), 14 million a week later (1 July 2025), 14.5 million ten days later (11 June), 15 million two weeks after that (25 July 2025), 15.5 million less than a month later (23 August 2025), and then 16 million late on Saturday night (6 September 2025).

So far this month, this blog has had over 315,000 hits by noon today. In July, for the third time, this blog had more than a million hits in a single month, with 1,195,456 hits in July; June 2025 was the second month that this blog had more than 1 million hits in one month, with 1,618,488 hits by the end of that month. These figures follow January’s record of 1 million hits by the early hours of 14 January, and a total of 1,420,383 by the end of that month (31 January 2025).

So far this year, the daily figures have been overwhelming on occasions. Seven of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog were in June, four were in January, and one was two months ago (1 July 2025):

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2025)
• 100,291 (10 January 2025)
• 82,043 (23 June 2025)
• 81,037 (21 June 2025)

• 80,625 (22 June 2025)
• 79,981 (19 June 2025)
• 79,165 (20 June 2025)
• 69,722 (18 June 2025)
• 69,714 (30 June 2025)
• 69,657 (1 July 2025)

This blog has already had about 6.6 million hits this year, over 40 per cent of all hits ever.

With this latest landmark figure of 16 million hits at the weekend, I once again found myself asking questions such as:

• What do 16 million people look like?
• Where do we find 16 million people?
• What does £16 million, €16 million or $16 million mean?
• What would it buy?

Donald Trump’s birthday military parade on 14 June caused as much as $16 million worth of damage to the streets of Washington DC, according to official figures. The parade, supposedly celebrating the US army’s 250th anniversary, was held on Trump’s own 79th birthday – which he shared with more than 16 million people – and cost around $45 million, including the estimated $16 million worth of damage. The chances of Trump paying this $16 million back to the city and people of Washington are probably not one-in-16 million, less than Nil.

The US media company Paramount Global agreed in July to pay $16 million to settle a legal dispute with Trump over the editing of an interview on CBS News.

The odds against identical boy triplets are 16 million to one.

There are 16 million disabled people in the UK: 11% of children are disabled; 23% of working age adults are disabled; 45% of pension age adults are disabled.

Some 16 million people in the UK suffer from high blood pressure, the biggest risk factor for stroke and heart attacks.

Hackers claimed last month they had leaked 16 million PayPal logins online. While PayPal denied the new breach, experts urged users to reset their passwords.

The Greek government is funding a €16 million restoration project to upgrade the Cave of Zeus or Diktaion Andron, which remains closed throughout this year (2025).

The British government has allocated almost £16 million to Staffordshire County Council this year to improve roads.

Asia has a total area of about 16 million square miles. Russia with a total land area of area of over 16 million sq km (16,376,870 sq km). The journey from London to Calcutta is about 16 million metres (16,000 km). Zimbabwe has a population of about 16 million; 16 million people are more than the combined populations of London, Paris and Rome.

The Canary Islands are visited by over 16 million people, counting both Spanish and non-Spanish visitors.Last year, Morocco emerged as the top tourist destination in Africa, boasting over 16 million arrivals and achieving a new record, while Egypt is experiencing a tourism surge, with almost 16 million tourists visiting last year … a surge in tourism that is directly connected with the current trends that are threatening the future of Mount Sinai and the monastic site at Saint Catherine’s, the world's oldest continuously used Christian monastery, and the plans for a ‘mega-resort’.

The Wall Street crash came on 29 October 1929 after almost 13 million shares were traded on the exchange 24 October 1929, known as ‘Black Thursday’, and over 16 million shares were traded on 29 October 1929, ‘Black Tuesday’. It was followed by the Great Depression that lasted until 1939.

About 16 million lives were lost in World War I.

Once again, this blog has reached another humbling statistic and a sobering figure, and once more I am left with a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.

One of the warming figures personally in the midst of all these statistics continues to be the one that shows my morning prayer diary reaches an average of 80-85 people each day. It is 3½ years now since I retired from active parish ministry. But I think many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches averaged or totalled 560 to 580 people a week.

Today, I am very grateful to all 16 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular grateful for the small and faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 121, Monday 8 September 2025, Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary

A traditional Greek icon of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. The week began with the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XII, 7 September 2025), and today the Church celebrates the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 September).

We got back to Stony Stratford late last night after a weekend visiting family and friends in York. As I awake slowly this morning, and before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Saint Anne with her young daughter, the Virgin Mary, holding the Christ Child, in a fresco by the icon writer Alexandra Kaouki of Rethymnon in Crete

Luke 1: 46-55 (NRSVA):

46 And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

The Virgin Mary with her parents, Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, in a mosaic by the Russian artist Boris Anrep (1883-1969) in Mullingar Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford; click on images for full-screen views)

Today’s Reflection:

Today is the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is one of four festivals in the Calendar of the Church of England that celebrate her life: the Annunciation (25 March), the Visitation (31 May), her death, the Dormition or the Assumption (15 August), and her birth (8 September).

There is a surprising number of cathedrals and churches in both the Church of England and the Church of Ireland that are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, including Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick, where I was the priest-in-charge for five years, Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, where I was once the canon precentor, and Saint Mary and Saint Giles, which is now my parish church in Stony Stratford.

Of course, the Gospels do not record the Virgin Mary’s birth. The earliest known account of her birth is found in the Protoevangelium of James (5: 2), a text from the late second century, in which her parents are named as Saint Anne and Saint Joachim. Tradition says they were childless and were fast approaching the years that would place Anna beyond the age of child-bearing.


Traditionally, the Church commemorates saints on the date of their death. The Virgin Mary, Saint John the Baptist and Christ are the only three whose birth dates are commemorated.

The reason for this is found in the singular mission each had in salvation history, but traditionally also because they were also seen as being holy in their birth – Saint John was believed to be sanctified in the womb of his mother, Saint Elizabeth, before his birth (see Luke 1: 15). In the same way, we respect that Christ first came to dwell among us in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

This morning’s Gospel reading includes the words of the canticle Magnificat:

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed

The canticle Magnificat, which is part of the Gospel reading today, is traditionally associated with Evensong, sung every evening in cathedrals and many churches in the Anglican Communion across the world.

Differences of opinion about the Virgin Mary were not divisive arguments at the Reformation in the 16th century. Martin Luther emphasised that the Virgin Mary was a recipient of God’s love and favour, accepted the Marian decrees of the ecumenical councils and the dogmas of the Church, and held to the belief that the Virgin Mary was a perpetual virgin and the Theotókos, the Mother of God.

Luther accepted the view of the Immaculate Conception that was popular then, over three centuries before Pope Pius IX, and he believed in the Virgin Mary’s life-long sinlessness. Although he pointed out that the Bible says nothing about her Assumption, he believed that the Virgin Mary and the saints live on after death.

Luther approved keeping Marian paintings and statues in churches, said ‘Mary prays for the Church,’ and advocated the use of a portion of the ‘Hail Mary.’

In 2004, the report of the Second Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ, noted: ‘In honouring Mary as Mother of the Lord, all generations of Anglicans and Roman Catholics have echoed the greeting of Elizabeth: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb’ (Luke 1: 42).’

In its response the following year, the Church of Ireland pointed out that in recognising the role of Mary in the incarnation, Anglicans are following the Council of Ephesus (431), which used the term Theotókos (‘God-bearer’) to affirm the oneness of Christ’s person by identifying Mary as the Mother of God the Word incarnate. The Church of Ireland also identified with the statement that ‘in receiving the Council of Ephesus and the definition of Chalcedon, Anglicans and Roman Catholics together confess Mary as Theotókos.’

The response welcomed the acknowledgement that some of the non-scriptural devotions associated with the Virgin Mary have been to ‘excess.’ On the other hand, it said, the full significance of the role of Mary as the Theotókos or God-bearer ‘has sometimes been lacking in the consciousness of some Anglicans.’

Some widely used, unofficial Anglican office books, such as Celebrating Common Prayer, include the Angelus and Regina Coeli. But the response pointed out that language such as ‘co-redeemer’ are ‘theologically impossible for members of the Church of Ireland.’

So, is there a way that as Anglicans we can talk about the Virgin Mary that is theologically appropriate, without compromising key Anglican traditions and beliefs for the sake of being ‘ecumenically correct’ or on the other hand descending into accepting a series of devotional practices that most Roman Catholics have long since come to regard as outdated, irrelevant and theologically questionable?

In our responses, Anglicans can fall back on culturally defensive ways of thinking. I admit that many of the plaster cast statues and framed images of the Virgin Mary lack cultural finesse and taste. But they, like many other practices, including May processions and Rosary-based prayer cycles are recent innovations.

I am reminded that devotion to the Virgin Mary was part-and-parcel of the piety that sustained many Christians through decades of suffering and oppression in Eastern Europe. The use of icons of the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox tradition and talk about her as the Theotókos is consonant with Anglican thinking theologically if not always culturally.

The Orthodox Church disagrees with the concept of the Immaculate Conception. The Orthodox position is that since Jesus Christ is God, he alone is born without sin. Orthodox theologians argue that if the immaculate conception is taken literally, the Virgin Mary would assume the status of a goddess alongside God. At the same time, the popularity of the name Mary attests to the fact that the Virgin Mary is revered throughout the Orthodox world.

The Orthodox believe that she was conceived in the normal way of humanity, and so was in the same need of salvation as all humanity. Orthodox thinking varies on whether she actually ever sinned, though there is general agreement that she was cleansed from sin at the Annunciation.

It is easy to forget that the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption are recent innovations, having been proclaimed by Popes in 1854 and 1950. They did not divide us and could not have divided us at the Reformation, and many Roman Catholics are still confused about their meaning. Places like Lourdes, the Knock Shrine, Fatima and Medjugorje do not share the antiquity or history of Anglican Marian sites such as Walsingham, the Anglican tradition of singing Magnificat at Evensong, or the names of our cathedrals, churches and lady chapels.

The Anglican tradition of singing Magnificat at Evensong, and the names of our cathedrals and many churches both in England and Ireland remind me of a message that she proclaims in the Gospel reading that challenges the rise of far-right racism and populism in the world today:

‘He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.’

Saint Andrew of Crete writes: ‘This day is for us the beginning of all holy days. It is the door to kindness and truth.’

Indeed, without the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, there would have been no birth of Christ, and then no Good Friday, no Crucifixion, no Easter, no Resurrection.

And there are only 108 days to Christmas.

The Virgin Mary with the Crown of Thorns in a window in a church in Bansha, Co Tipperary … without the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, there would have been no birth of Christ, and then no Good Friday and no Crucifixion, no Easter and no Resurrection (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 8 September 2025, the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary):

In my prayers this morning, I am remembering my parents, Stephen Edward Comerford (1918-2004) of Terenure and Ellen Murphy (1919-2014) of Monkstown, Co Dublin, but originally from Millstreet, Co Cork, who were married in Blackrock, Co Dublin, 80 years ago on 8 September 1945. They had waited until the end of World War II to get married; after their marriage, they lived in Bray, Co Wicklow, and then in Harold’s Cross and Rathfarnham in Dublin. He died on 27 December 2004, she died on 20 May 2014; five of their six children and nine of their ten grandchildren survive, as well as great-grandchildren.

The theme this week (7 to 13 September) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Cementing a Legacy’ (pp 36-37). This theme was introduced yesterday with reflections from Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 8 September 2025, the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary) invites us to pray:

Lord, we thank you for the life and legacy of Ms Eira Lloyd and her faithful service to you in Tanzania. May her example continue to inspire us to serve with love, dedication, and generosity.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
who stooped to raise fallen humanity
through the child–bearing of blessed Mary:
grant that we, who have seen your glory
revealed in our human nature
and your love made perfect in our weakness,
may daily be renewed in your image
and conformed to the pattern of your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God most high,
whose handmaid bore the Word made flesh:
we thank you that in this sacrament of our redemption
you visit us with your Holy Spirit
and overshadow us by your power;
strengthen us to walk with Mary the joyful path of obedience
and so to bring forth the fruits of holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

The birth of the Virgin Mary depicted in an icon by Mihai Cocu in the Lady Chapel in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

A statue of Saint Anne with her young daughter, the Virgin Mary, in Nicker Church, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)