St Francis, the oldest Catholic Church in Victoria, is popular to visit during the lunch hour of the working week, outside of COVID-19 times.<\/p>\n
Within the church itself, on the western side, is the \u201cLadye Chapel\u201d, a space dedicated to the Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n
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St Francis\u2019 in Melbourne\u2019s Lonsdale Street is the oldest Catholic Church in Victoria.<\/span>Credit:<\/span>Penny Stephens<\/cite><\/p>\n Among the words that run above the stained-glass windows of the chapel are these: \u201cIs there any sorrow like unto my sorrow\u201d. The phrase reminds us that while Mary may be Queen of Heaven, she is also a mother who was hurt deeply by the suffering and death of her son on the cross.<\/p>\n The Ladye Chapel is a place of great beauty, and of deep peace that is not disturbed by the constant turnover of people popping in to offer a prayer to Our Lady.<\/p>\n I happened to be in the chapel one lunchtime. I was ready to leave but a sense that I should stay kept me there. I delayed my departure until I sensed that there was no longer resistance to my leaving and then I headed off, crossing Lonsdale Street and walking back towards the heart of the city along Elizabeth Street.<\/p>\n The chapel is a place of great beauty and deep peace.<\/span>Credit:<\/span>Penny Stephens<\/cite><\/p>\n Elizabeth Street was packed with people hurrying through the city on their lunchtime break. When I paused at the lights on a small one-way cross street, a little boy, perhaps three or four years of age, came bursting through the crowd behind me and arrived by my side on the edge of the road. He was alone.<\/p>\n I immediately, instinctively, put my arm out in front of him, barring his way across the road, asking him where his mother was. The crowd pushed all around us.<\/p>\n I looked back behind us and, after a long minute, I saw what I was looking for; the mother, wide-eyed and frantic, fighting forwards through the crowd. She reached us and enfolded the boy, giving voice to her fears and relief. They disappeared and I went on my way.<\/p>\n I might have thought that the encounter was a lucky coincidence, that I had just happened to be in the right place at the right time but for that strong sense I had received in the chapel that the timing of my departure was very important that day.<\/p>\n We should not be surprised at the notion that God might sometimes work through us; we are taught that God takes a personal interest in our welfare to the point that the very hairs on our head are numbered.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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