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"You have no idea, when you get on that rig no matter how big the call, no matter how small, you have no idea what God's calling you to do,??? the priest told an assemblage of fire-fighters and officials.

"You show up, you put one foot in front of another, you get on the rig and you do the job, which is a mystery and a surprise.

"That's the way it is," Father Judge said in front of a makeshift altar.

"Good days, bad days. Up days, down days.

Sad days, happy days ? but never a boring day on this job.

“You love this job. We all do.

“What a blessing that is. A difficult, difficult job, and God calls you to it, and he gives you a love for it, so that a difficult job will be well done.

“Isn't He a wonderful God?"

Father Judge spoke on the morning of September 10 at a newly reconstructed firehouse in the Bronx to a gathering of fire-fighters past and present.

Also present were Mayor Giuliani and Fire Department chief Pete Ganci, who would also lose his life the next day.

Last November Pope John Paul II received the fire helmet of Mychal Judge.

Following a speech where the Pope welcomed the New York fire-fighters and offered comfort to the families of those who perished in the attack, one fire-fighter kneeled before the Pope and offered Judge's fire helmet decorated with a cross.

The Pontiff did not speak directly about Judge, a Franciscan priest who was more commonly referred to as Father Mike, or the fact that he was gay.

After Judge perished in the aftermath of the attacks, New York Archbishop Edward Cardinal Egan proclaimed "Ground Zero," the area around the World Trade Centre, as "Ground Hero," as he remembered the beloved Father Mike.

Judge’s speech is just one of many stories told in So Others Might Live, Terry Golway's history of the New York City Fire Department, out later this month.

The New York Observer's city editor got the sermon from a fire department videotape.

Article reproduced with permission of BNews.