Suncoast Celebrates Easter

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB)- Churches across the Suncoast welcomed in hundreds of people today for Easter masses and services.

For many across our area, Easter is about more than just one day. It’s about the time leading up to it and the meaning behind the special day.

“The Lenten season is spectacular, it has you reflect on yourself as a person and helps you look back on what you can do better, what can you improve upon?,” said Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School Manager of Marketing Melissa Tomasso. “Then the Easter season brings that to light and all of a sudden now you have hope. We have joy, we have renewal and we have rebirth.”

Tomasso visited the Church of St. Patrick for Easter mass. She explained that hope was shining through for her, bringing a tear to her eye at the end of the mass.

“We bring the children up to the alter and we say a prayer for them,” explained Tomasso. “Everybody puts out there hands and says a prayer for the kids. This one little boy reached out and thought we were waving to him and then he also did the same thing. It really means that’s the future, that’s the hope. If we can continue to show students and kids what we need to do in the future, it shines brightly.”

Eileen Kirk with the Church of Palms explained that Easter day celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and how that is inspirational for her.

“A risen Christ gives me great hope, not just for me but for peace in the world,” said Kirk. “It gave me hope this year in the midst of a lot of trials of my own.”

Many of the churches across the Suncoast also held additional Easter themed events like egg hunts and helicopter egg drops.