$63 million in Trump’s pocket, $63 million for Notre Dame, 63 million km from Halley, 63 million readers of this blog

US donors alone gave $63 million towards the recent restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This blog reached a new record, with a total of 63 million readers or hits in the early hours of this morning (23 October 2026).

This is the fourth time this month that this blog has passed the million-reader mark, having reached 62 million readers less than a week ago (17 October 2026), 61 million readers six days earlier (11 October 2026) and 60 million readers or hits a week before that (4 October 2026). Last month (September 2026) was exceptionally busy on this blog, with a steady, overwhelming rise in viewing and reading figures, passing the million mark on 10 occasions last month alone, and more than 10.4 million hits in September, the highest total in any single month since I began blogging.

These viewing and readership figures continue to be overpowering as this blog continues to reach volumes of readers I never expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago.

At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 42 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone, so that two-thirds of readers or hits have been in this year alone. Half of all hits or reader figures have been within little more than six months or so, with 31.5 million hits since mid-April 2026.

I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year, the daily figures have often been overwhelming, with an average of 140,000 to 150,000 so far this month.

Some curious though random statistics may help to put this new figure of 63 million into perspective:

ABC, Meta, X and Paramount have promised as much as $63 million in donations to Trump’s future Presidential Library. Senator Elizabeth Warren says the companies that donated as much as $63 million to Trump’s presidential library fund either have no clue or won’t tell us where their money went, and she has asked bluntly: ‘Is that money in Trump’s pockets?’

Mind you, what also surprises me is the concept that anyone would think Trump would need a library.

Disney is facing calls to refund consumers across Europe up to €63 million after it removed some features of its premium subscription plan in response to a court ruling.

US donors contributed $63 million towards the recent restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

South Africa has a total population of about 63 million people – estimated at 63,212,384 by the UN in mid-2023 and officially reported at 63 million by Statistics South Africa.

63 million metres is 63,000 km and 63 million sq m is 63,000 sq km. 63,000 sq km is the approximate original size of the territory of Greece when the modern state first achieved independence and established its initial borders in the 1830s. Over the next century, with historical conflicts and treaties – most notably the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) – Greece steadily expanded and its territory almost doubled to 120,000 to 122,000 sq km, adding parts of Macedonia and Epirus, the island of Crete and the North Aegean islands. Today, Greece has a total area of 131,957 sq km.

Halley’s Comet is often called the most famous comet because it marked the first time astronomers understood comets could be repeat visitors to our night skies. Astronomers have now linked the comet’s appearances to observations dating back more than 2,000 years. Halley was last seen from Earth in 1986 and will return in 2061 on its regular 76-year journey around the Sun. In 1986, Halley’s nearest approach to Earth was on the outbound leg of the trip at a distance of 0.42 AU (63 million km).

63 million minutes translate into 119 years, 9 month, and 12 days, which means that if this blog was receiving just one hit a minute, I would need to have started blogging back xxx.

I retired from active parish ministry on 31 March 2022. These days, though, about 150 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning, or more than 1,000 people each week. As this blog moves beyond 63 million hits, I am truly grateful today to the real readers among that 63 million. In particular, I am thankful for the faithful core group of people who join me in prayer, scripture reading and reflections each day.

Syntagma Square in Athens … the original size of Greece at independence in the 1830s was 63,000 sq km or 63 million square metres (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 168, Friday 23 October 2026

‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens’ (Luke 12: 54) … clouds to west seen from the Cathedral Close in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XX, 18 October 2026).

Before the day begins, before having breakfast, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Which way to Maroulas? Confusing street signs in Tsesmes near Rethymnon in Crete … but do we know how to read the signs of the end of the times? (see Luke 12: 54-56) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 12: 54-59 (NRSVA):

54 He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

57 ‘And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 Thus, when you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case, or you may be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.’

‘I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny’ (Luke 12: 59) … old pennies on a table in a bar in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Luke 12: 54-59) continues on from the difficult images we had yesterday of division and strife, shattering all our expectations of Gospel values that emphasise domestic bliss and harmony.

We heard warnings of fire on earth (verse 49), and of families and households divided and fighting each other to the death (verses 52-53). The verses that follow today include images of people being blown about by the storms and tempests of the day (verses 54-56).

Christ chides those who are listening for not recognising the signs he bears. They know how to forecast the weather, but they cannot forecast, watch for the signs of, the coming Kingdom of God.

There is a fashion in the Church today for ‘fresh expressions of Church’ that blow where the wind blows. They seek to be fashionable and claim that they are relevant.

Sometimes, you may not know whether you are in a coffee shop or in a church, whether you are in the guiding hands of a barista or of a priest. The old forms of church have been abandoned, and with it we may ask whether they have thrown out the core content too.

I visited one such churches some years ago. Yes, there was a rambling sermon of 35 or more minutes. Yes, there was a time of ‘fellowship’ where people turned around their chairs and were chummy with one another, in a clumsy sort of way.

There was one reading, but no Gospel reading. There was no confession and absolution, no Credal statement, no Trinitarian formula in the prayers. The prayers prayed for those present and those like them, but there were no prayers for those outside, no prayers for a world that is divided and suffering, no challenge or judgment for those who have created the plight and sufferings of wars, refugees, racism, homelessness, economic injustice and climate change.

In this smug self-assurance, without any reference to the world outside, there was no challenge to discipleship, to live up to the promises and challenges of Baptism.

And, needless to say, there was no Sacrament, and no hint of there ever being a sacramental ministry.

Content had been abandoned for the sake of form. But the form had become a charade. For the sake of relevance, the church had become irrelevant.

The challenge of our Baptism is a challenge for the Church to be a sign of, a sacrament of, the Kingdom of God.

We can be distracted by the demands and fashions of what pass as ‘fresh expressions of Church’ and never meet the needs of a divided and suffering world.

Or we can be nourished by Word and Sacrament and respond to the demands of our Baptism in a discipleship that seeks to challenge and confront a suffering and divided world with the values and promises of the Kingdom of God.

But it is costly. And in that struggle, like Simeon warns Mary when she brings the Christ Child to the Temple, we may find ‘a sword will pierce your own soul too.’

Coffee choices in a café in Rethymnon … some experiences of church today seem to be more like fresh espresso than fresh expressions of church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 23 October 2026):

The theme this week (18 to 24 October) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Inclusive Education in Handeni’ (pp 48-49). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Father John George Sembuyagi, Programme Lead, Diocese of Tanga, Anglican Church of Tanzania.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 23 October 2026) invites us to pray:

Loving God, we give thanks for the new programme that champions inclusive education for children living with disability and affected by polio. Strengthen the relationship between USPG, Kwamkono Disabled Centre, and the Diocese of Tanga, that together we may trust in you.

The Collect of the Day:

God, the giver of life,
whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church:
by the Spirit’s gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ
and make us eager to do your will,
that we may share with the whole creation
the joys of eternal life;
through Jesus Christ your Son 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 our Father,
whose Son, the light unfailing,
has come from heaven to deliver the world
from the darkness of ignorance:
let these holy mysteries open the eyes of our understanding
that we may know the way of life,
and walk in it without stumbling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God, our light and our salvation:
illuminate our lives,
that we may see your goodness in the land of the living,
and looking on your beauty
may be changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘When you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case’ (Luke 12: 58) … judges and barristers at the Judges’ Service in Liverpool Cathedral (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