Pastor's Note from Fr. Szparagowski 📝 - [May 24th Bulletin]

Dear St. Philip Neri Family and Friends, we give praise and thanks to God for His graces and blessings.

Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday is one of the most beautiful feasts of the Church because today we celebrate the great gift of the Holy Spirit—the very breath of God poured into our hearts. In the Gospel, Jesus breathes upon His disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

The frightened disciples were changed forever. Their hearts were strengthened, their fears were lifted, and they were filled with the fire of God’s love. Pentecost changed the disciples’ lives forever.

They allowed the Holy Spirit to live within them and give them the graces and courage to go out into the world and proclaim Jesus to everyone, even when they were rejected and persecuted. They allowed the Holy Spirit to work through them and proclaim the Gospel to all people.

No longer were they afraid. No longer were they hiding behind locked doors. The Holy Spirit filled them with courage, zeal, faith, and trust in God. Because of the Holy Spirit, they became bold witnesses of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit with Us

My brothers and sisters, the same Holy Spirit has been given to us. The Holy Spirit is not distant from us. He is loving, tender, kind, faithful, and always present. He desires to fill our hearts with His love, His grace, His peace, and His blessings.

So often we carry burdens, worries, disappointments, fears, and struggles within us. Yet today the Lord reminds us: open your heart to the Holy Spirit. Let His breath renew you. Let His presence strengthen you. Let the fire of His love warm your heart with the assurance that God is always with you.

The Holy Spirit draws us into a deeper personal relationship with the Father and the Son. He keeps us united in communion with God. He reminds us that we are never abandoned. That is why Saint Paul tells us that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. God dwells within us.

Think about that beautiful truth — the Spirit of God lives within your heart. And when the Holy Spirit fills our hearts, His graces are never meant to remain there only for ourselves. They are meant to flow outward.

The Holy Spirit calls us to share God’s love, mercy, kindness, and compassion with our brothers and sisters. Through our words, our example, our prayers, and our acts of charity, we help build up the Body of Christ, the Church. We become instruments that may help bring someone back home to God.

How much our world needs the Holy Spirit today. So many people are searching for hope, for peace, for meaning, for love. The Holy Spirit can speak through us if we allow Him.

Sometimes it may simply be a kind word, a listening ear, forgiveness offered, encouragement given, or praying with someone who is suffering. The Holy Spirit is always working — always loving, always healing, always calling hearts closer to God.

A Personal Note

Pentecost Sunday holds a very special place in my heart personally because 24 years ago on Pentecost Sunday, I celebrated my first Mass of Thanksgiving as a newly ordained priest. I will always thank God for the beautiful gift of my priesthood beginning on this great feast of the Holy Spirit.

This past week has also been a week of ordination anniversaries, and we thank God for the gift of the priesthood and for the priests who have touched our lives and the lives of our families.

We remember with gratitude the priests who baptized us and our children, who celebrated marriages, who heard our confessions and spoke God’s mercy to us, who brought us the Holy Eucharist, who anointed loved ones in sickness, and who were present in moments of sorrow and joy.

Priests are humbled to share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. None of us are worthy of so great a gift, yet Jesus lovingly calls us to serve His people.

So today I ask you: please pray for your priests. We truly need your prayers, your support, and your love so that we may be faithful shepherds after the heart of Christ and continue bringing God’s sacraments, mercy, and love to His people.

This week we give thanks for these ordination anniversaries:

• Father Dooner - 56 years of priesthood
• Father Redcay - 37 years of priesthood
• Father Szparagowski - 24 years of priesthood
• Father Mirenda - 1 week of priesthood

We thank you so much for your prayers and support, and please know that we are always praying for you.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Amen.

Please invite someone to Mass today.

St. Philip Neri, pray for us.

Have a blessed Easter Season,

Fr. Szparagowski