Over 200 young people gathered near the Olympic Park were encouraged to live for a higher glory.

Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood and Bishop Richard Moth of the Forces were there to celebrate with the youngsters at St Francis of Assisi Catholic church in Stratford.

Bishop Moth spoke of the power of prayer, including the prayers being offered by many people for the Games.

He said prayer would have “a far greater influence on the Games than any of us can see”.

He spoke of the need to “see what is going on in silence around the Olympic Park”.

The Olympics were presenting the nation with “people striving to be their best after years of training for something that takes only a little time … for some this requires constant struggle and striving”, he noted.

He went on to compare this to the ups and downs of the Christian life.

“Lots of questions and difficulties surrounded by people who don’t always understand what we are about,” he said.

“The reward, however, is much more than 10 seconds of sporting glory but eternal life itself.”

Whilst the Olympics symbolise “the pursuit of personal and team excellence, a living and vibrant expression of the human person”, he cautioned people not to be “taken up by the razzmatazz” and instead see “an expression of the glory of God”.

Turning his attention to the Paralympic Games later in the summer, Bishop Moth said they would be a celebration not so much of sport but of “the glory of God fully alive and manifest in the human person”.

He petitioned people to “pray that the world will see not only sport, as wonderful as it is, but the glory of God” in the hope that “the Olympics will not just transform those who participate and watch but will draw all people into a close encounter with the Lord of glory who is life itself”.