The Healing Journey

December 4, 2023

For ten years, Mike worked in midtown Manhattan. His office in the Chrysler Building was across the street from the Church of St. Agnes, which had an illustrious history and was where Venerable Fulton J. Sheen delivered his homilies.

From St. Agnes, Archbishop Sheen’s sermons were heard by millions around the world. He was such a venerated figure in the city that in 1980, then-Mayor Ed Koch named East 43rd Street the “Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Place.”

Mike would sneak out of the office at lunch, take the elevator down from the 53rd floor of the Chrysler Building, rush across the street and get to Mass five minutes before it started. The church was like a sanctuary from the noise, the mayhem and the traffic in midtown Manhattan. Every afternoon there was Eucharistic adoration, and on occasion, he’d sneak out again, if only to kneel in the last pew for a few minutes in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Once a week he’d go to the parish office and buy Mass cards for the repose of the souls of friends, family members and even strangers who had died.

Therese, the woman at the desk, would always tell him, “You can’t give anybody a greater gift than having Masses said for them. Someday, these people are going to thank you in Heaven.”

He certainly hoped she was right. Not that he was looking for any appreciation, but just thinking he may have helped them on their journey to Heaven was a reward in itself.

***