Melbourne CBD feels different this Monday morning even as workers sit at their familiar desks while tourists wander the streets. It is not just the floral tribute to those who were killed and injured in Friday’s minutes of insanity by a lone driver evading police, it is the shock, grief and lingering uncertainty about safety in our streets.
A siren reverberates through the CBD on this Monday morning. How many hearts beat a little faster as they momentarily feel anxious, going back to a city filled with sirens just a matter of days ago? How many minds fill with dread and the devastating recollection of those mown down as they walked the pedestrian thoroughfares of central Melbourne?
At times of fear and sorrow, people often turn to prayer for solace. We offer you this prayer, written by St Augustine in the fourth century:
O loving God,
To turn away from you is to fall,
To turn towards you is to rise,
And to stand before you is to abide forever.
Grant us, dear God,
In all our duties your help;
In all our uncertainties your guidance;
In all our dangers your protection;
And in all our sorrows your peace;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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