Easter is for family, never rang so true than at St Margaret Mary’s Parish Merrylands.
Parish Priest of St Margaret Mary’s, Fr Wojciech Sliwa, literally brought the children to the Holy Table during the joyous and glorious occasion of Easter, making them feel involved.
“Life is about being faithful to Jesus,” Fr Wojciech told the boys and girls.
During his homily, he invited the boys and girls to sit together at the front of the church, where he asked them if they noticed anything different about the church (the new Paschal candle) before introducing them to the “glass half-full” and “glass half-empty” analogy.
Easter Sunday Mass at St Margaret Mary’s Parish, Merrylands 2025. Image: Alphonsus Fok/ Diocese of Parramatta
He asked the children to walk with him to the tomb prop to identify what had gone missing since Good Friday — Jesus, they all agreed — and then to the crucifix, where they were asked whether Jesus looked joyful on the cross. To which they replied all “no.”
Fr Wojciech told them they were wrong to think this, outlining to them the concept of joy associated with Jesus on the cross, how His joy came from pleasing His Father in Heaven.
“Jesus fulfils the will of the Father, so we can live,” he said. “Jesus gives us smiles.”
Fr Wojciech told the children that if they obey Father’s will and live like Jesus, “you will experience joy all the time.”
Children of the parish bring forth the offertory during Easter Mass at St Margaret Mary’s, Merrylands. Image: Alphonsus Fok/ Diocese of Parramatta
“Usually when the kids understand, the adults understand,” Fr Wojciech said after the Mass, when asked about his more child-friendly approach to the Easter Sunday Homily.
Fr Wojciech said this year he is making youth visible in the parish through their involvement in the readings, the liturgy and the choir. “Every third Sunday is always Kids Mass,” he said.
“It looks like the numbers are increasing here, especially young families,” Fr Wojciech said.
This is evidenced in the latest National Catholic Census which tells us that 47.4% of the Merrylands parish faith community was aged 0-19 years old.
A young girl reads during Easter Mass at St Margaret Mary’s, Merrylands. Image: Alphonsus Fok/ Diocese of Parramatta
Responding to the homily message
Iliana Terkes, 8, took from Sunday’s homily that “you can see it [the Passion] in different ways.” Dad Miro Terkes nodded his head in agreement.
He too found the homily insightful and revealing, saying he’d previously not thought of the cross as representing something good, agreeing with Fr Wojciech that “instead of focusing on the pain and suffering,” we should “just accept [Jesus’ dying] as being God’s will.”
A former St Margaret Mary’s Primary school boy who grew up in the Catholic tradition, Miro attended this year’s Easter Sunday Mass with his children, Iliana, Nikola, 6, Valentina, 5, Mateo, 3 (“for another 3 days”), and Mila, 3. His youngest, Ella, 1, was home with Mum.
Pictured on Easter Sunday are Miro Terkes with his children, Iliana, 8, Nikola, 6, Valentina, 5, Mateo, 4, and Mila, 3. Image: Alphonsus Fok/ Diocese of Parramatta
Margarite Manenti told Catholic Outlook that she found the Mass “very uplifting,” saying “involving the kids, I think, is the best bit, especially during Christmas and Easter.”
Her twin 16-year-old daughters, Sylvana and Michaela, said the Homily offered a reminder to continue building a relationship with Jesus after Easter.
In his final remarks, Fr Wojciech read a shared parish bulletin message, from Fr Jeremy Santoso and himself, which invites the faith community to “rejoice in the grace and peace that Easter brings,” to “live more fully in the love and teachings of Christ” and to “extend that love to those around us, serving as instruments of His mercy and compassion.”
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