Saturday, August 30, 2008

41. Our Lady of Esperanza

(mass times & church info last updated 03/24/2016)
Address: 624 W. 156th (West of Broadway)
Phone: 212.283.4340
Weekend Mass Times: 
Sat: 6pm (Spanish)
Sun: 9am (Spanish), 10:30am (English), 12pm (Spanish)
Weekday Mass Times: 
Mon-Sat: 9am (Spanish)
Confession: Sat: 5pm-6pm
Adoration: First Fridays: 9:30am-10:30am

Links:
Official Website
About the Organ
Washington Heights Info
Museum Planet Tour
New York Landsmarks Conservancy
From Hudson Heights Owner Coalition

SATURDAY DAILY MASS

Spanish Mass again, and intinction again.

This church is awesome - small and beautiful. It's richly decorated and well taken care of. Elegant. And Holy.


Once again I wasn't really able to follow along with the readings, Gospel or homily, however when it came time for the Eucharist I knew what to do - and this time around there was very little hesitation or fear. But I admit, there was a little.

There are two beautiful portraits that flank the altar: the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus, and St. Joseph doing the same.

This church is just around the corner from St. Catherine of Genoa, a church I really enjoyed when I visited. There is something very nice about this part of Washington Heights - the streets are wide yet peaceful. There is a wonderful openness to the whole neighborhood that you don't find a lot of in Manahattan.

I am not sure if ever I did, but now I certainly do not, no longer belong in bars. There is nothing for me there any longer - when I enter them and sit down on the stools and order up some beers or cocktails or whatever, this is all just another form of my wanderings. And yet I keep going back. And once there my wandering mind becomes only capable of focusing on any passing girl. And all of this will only lead me down a road I do not wish to go down. Alcohol once consumed my passions, and now it is only consuming my wallet, as I throw away my money, basically into fire of obsession and waste.

I have begun regular spiritual advisement. And though I am only just beginning to learn what it is and what exactly it can do for me, I already realize it will be wholly beneficial to me as I strive for direction in this, my life, an up-to-now wandering clusterfuck of darkness, ignorance, wrecklessness and waste.

3 comments:

  1. Somebody told me there is a beatiful statue of Our Lady of Charity in this church. May you tell me the history or it? Thank you!

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  2. 1. The statue of our Lady in the alcove behind the altar is NOT what was there originally. I wonder what happened to the original and PRICELESS statue of our Lady which was there. Also, the two painted images shown in your pictures are replicas. The church had to remove the priceless originals due what the neighborhood was becoming - thieves had attempted to steal the images on more than one occasion. I think it is a desecration of a holy space and extremely ugly to have those large screen TVs there. So glad my parents are not alive to see how they have mistreated our first family church!!

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  3. 7/27/17 The famous carved wood image of O L of Charity (Cobre) is currently displayed in a beautiful shrine in the upper lobby of the church where many pray daily. Since the statue is small and at eye level its beauty can now be fully appreciated. The Marian statue above the main altar of the church represents Mary holding the child Jesus and the symbolic anchor - sign of Hope (Esperanza. The wonderful painting of St Joseph holding the child Jesus by the artist Sorolla is located in the beautiful shrine on the right side of the sanctuary.

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