77. St. Veronica

(mass times & church info last updated 10/25/2009)
(as of 04/29/2016 I can't find a website or current phone number - if you have any info on this church's Mass times and other info, please leave in the comments section below. Thanks!)
Address: 149 Christopher St. (between Washington and Greenwich)
Phone: 212.924.5628 (seems disconnected though - sorry!)
Weekend Mass Times: 
Sat: 5pm (English)
Sun: 10am (English), 11:10am (Spanish)
Weekday Mass Times: 
Tue, Wed: 12:15pm (English)
Confession: Sat: 4:30pm-5:30pm
Links:
About the Organ
About St.Veronica

Creeping downtown in the number one train this morning on my way to St. Veronica in the West Village and, due to construction, "all trains running express between 96th and 42nd street!," the conductor screaming, we crawl along slower than if we had run local from the beginning. (What is this, the local?) I am back in New York again, where public transport (when it works) is the best, and one's own feet can carry them across entire worlds. As great and terrible a city as it is, it's my city, for the time being, and I am glad to be back in it.

This is a comfortable church to visit. The West Village is always a nice neighborhood in my opinion, and St. Veronica's fits that vibe. The priest at the 10am Mass (sorry, didn't catch his name) gave a beautiful sermon, and somewhere between constant distraction and worry, I was able to very clearly hear him, and take away some of his words with me. He was talking about those bad times in life, when we all go off to dark places.

He was saying that through these bad dark times, which are times of bad thoughts and bad spirits invading our lives, Divine assistance always remains and that God's help is always there for us. And much as when one is hungry they had better not go grocery shopping as they are more than likely to buy up a bunch of impulse food items they do not really want, so should we not make great changes in our lives when we've reached these low bad points. Wait, and be patient. The good spirit will return.

Divine assistance remains. God's help is constant.

I've got these two sides to me. Sometimes the one side takes over, the one that spends money recklessly and wants only to be reckless, drink into oblivion, sin, again and again, and make not just bad decisions, but really terrible ones. This other side I got wants simply to pray. Wants just to hide away in the dark on days and find some solace and pray.

I sat near this stained glass window through which none of the bright sunlight from outside shone through. A building put up right beside the church after it was constructed, most likely, has hidden the light from this window, and robbed it of all its colorful, bright and inspiring potential. Still, the outline remains, and kind of story, but not the full one the stained glass artist had intended.