Pastor's Note from Fr. Szparagowski 📝 - [April 5th (Easter) Bulletin]

Dear St. Philip Neri Family and Friends,

We give praise and thanks to God for the graces and blessings He has given us.

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. We give praise and thanks to God for the graces and blessings on this Easter morning, we hear the astonishing news: the tomb is empty.

Mary Magdalene runs to tell Peter and the beloved disciple. They come, they see, and slowly they begin to believe. What once held death now holds nothing at all.

But the Gospel invites us to look deeper. Yes, the tomb is empty—but our lives are not.

Our lives are filled… filled with burdens we carry: our faults, our fears, our worries, our loneliness, the dark and hidden places we would rather no one see.

Easter is not just about an empty tomb long ago. It is about what we bring to the tomb today.

Bring everything to Jesus. Bring your sins—Jesus has already conquered them. Bring your fears—Jesus has already overcome them. Bring your grief and loneliness—Jesus has already entered into them.

Bring even the darkest parts of your life—the places that feel sealed, forgotten, or beyond hope.

Because the truth of Easter is this:

• There is no tomb so closed that Christ cannot open it.
• There is no darkness so deep that His light cannot reach it.

Jesus has conquered sin and death. Not partially. Not temporarily. Completely.

And because of that, the tomb is no longer a place of endings - it has become a place of transformation and new life.

What we place there does not remain the same.

For in Christ our sin is met with mercy. Our fear is met with peace. Our despair is met with hope. Our death is met with new life.

This is the great exchange of Easter.

So do not stand at a distance like a spectator to the empty tomb. Enter into it. Bring your whole life with you.

Let Christ fill what feels empty. Let Him shine light where there is darkness. Let Him breathe new life where things feel dead or lost.

And then, like Mary Magdalene, like Peter and John, we are sent.

We do not leave the tomb the same way we entered.

We leave filled—with grace, with hope, with new life.

The tomb is empty…

but our lives are now filled with the risen Christ.

And that changes everything.

Alleluia.

Please invite someone to Mass today.

St. Philip Neri, pray for us.

Have a blessed Easter,

Fr. Szparagowski