Mary

You all know of my special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and she is particularly to the fore of my mind at the moment when I am thinking so much about the World Mother. It's also the Feast of the Assumption on Friday, when Marian devotion pretty much reaches its pinnacle.
This is a pic of the beautiful Mary at St. Patrick's, Church Hill, where I often go to burn a candle.
I have also become particularly enamoured of the new image of the Virgin at St. Mary's Cathedral, the photo-realist Our Lady of the Southern Cross which was especially commissioned for World Youth Day. This is an unrepentantly anglo-saxon Mary, the Virgin as she'd almost certainly appear in Cronulla, replete with chubby little blonde haired Christ child. It is an exquisite piece of popular art, destined to become one of the most prized pieces of religious kitsch in the world. I was mortified to see that there are as yet no images of it available in the handy St. Mary's gift shop - I am waiting to shop up a storm. Indeed, it is very difficult to find a reproduction of it on-line.
I see that a family in the Philippines has witnessed the miracle of the BVM appearing in the glass of their TV cabinet!
Why don't these things ever happen to me?

St. James, King St

For anyone interested, I have a really ghastly cold - but I won't go on about it.
There are a number of spiritual sites in the City that I love, and I visit them often if I have a spare moment and I happen to be in the area. I go in, sit for a while and say some prayers and, if the facilities are there, light a candle for someone in my life who needs it.
One of these places is St. James Anglican church in King St. St. James carries the distinction of being the oldest church in Australia, having been designed by Francis Greenaway (though not, ironically, as a church!). These days it is distinguished by its gorgeous High Church ceremonies and its tolerant and open culture. They run a fantastic adult education program, do great charity work, and I sometimes go to meditation there on Wednesday mornings. And their musical program is just wonderful!
Sounds perfect, doesn't it? Even better, it is almost always open during the day, and so the perfect place to drop into for a spot of meditation or prayer. There's a kooky little chapel at the side, obviously added on in the 1980s, judging by its wild design. Now this is usually the sort of addition I'd despise, but its been there long enough now to have acquired a veneer of reverence, even style. It is a perfect little spot to hide away in and pray, and you can light a candle and leave a prayer request, making it almost heaven on earth in my equation.
Oh, and sometimes (it has exceedingly eccentric opening hours) the extraordinary children's chapel is open in the crypt, and that is my friend Maggie Hamilton's favourite place in Sydney.