84. St. Emeric

Address: 185 Ave. D (@ E. 12th St.)
Phone: 212.228.4494
Weekend Mass Times: Sat: 4pm; Sun: 10am, 11:30am (Spanish)
Weekday Mass Times: M-F: 9am, 7pm (Spanish) (on Thursdays only at 9am!)
Confession: Sat: 3-3:45pm; Before each weekday and weekend Mass
Exposition: Everyday 9am-9pm
Adoration: Every first Friday 9pm-6am
St. Emeric of Hungary

BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

Somewhere in Alphabet City, on a dead end of Avenue D, sits the church of St. Emeric, found amidst the factory area of the lower east side, dropped in the middle of industrial smokestacks and a neighborhood - the last outpost between the city and the east river. The smokestacks spill out pure white sinister clouds on this sunny, cold Sunday morning, and this whole neighborhood feels like a strange distant land to me - even though my home is only eight or nine miles away.


I was happy to find this outpost, as that is what it felt like until I actually entered the church. It's funny, this trek, which brings me to all these places I've merely located on a map, that remain just that - points on a map - until I actually make the visits there. I'm always ecstatic to finally find them, to see what's there. Sometimes I am happy, pleasantly surprised by what I find - some kind of special place to have witnessed, and sometimes the churches are merely churches, not much else than simple basic points of interest that remain marks, insignificant, in my mind.

St. Emeric had something going for it though, especially the 10am youth Mass I attended this morning. Mistaken, I thought I'd be arriving late for a 9:30am Mass but found myself instead twenty minutes early for the 10am. Those twenty minutes revealed something so important to me - a kind of energy and excitement in the air, an electricity, like that you would witness before a big show or rock concert. The growing congregation was excited, and seemed to look so forward to what was to come. By the time Mass began, the church was nearly full. It was a good place to be for Mass, and everyone was quite into it.



Though the new year has brought with it new joys and fresh hope and much to look forward to, and I overall feel very positive about 2010, there is something not quite right with my chi lately. I'm off, somehow. My impatience grows. I find myself moreover angry all the time - and this is certainly not how it used to be with me. I'm short with people - my friends and family. Strangers set me off. Crowds on the street. Traffic. The trains. Everything. A mere symptom of simply intaking too much Curb Your Enthusiasm lately, or a growing trait of my personality?

Though I feel good about this year, there is something I'm still missing. So angry. So scared.

God help me.

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