Spirit of the Eagle – March 2020
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
March 2020 from Father Tim
The month of March includes the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (25th) and the entire month falls during the liturgical season of Lent. The Lenten Season is represented by the liturgical color purple — a symbol of penance, mortification and the sorrow of a contrite heart. As we continue our pilgrimage “up to Jerusalem” in March, we pass through the Ember Days during the first week of the month. We should also contemplate our penance and the upcoming Passion of Christ. The Feast of St. Joseph (but we still Fast due to the Lenten Season) is a special day on the 19th in which we should celebrate the great honor bestowed upon the foster father of Jesus. And if you are Irish (aren’t we all?), Saint Patrick’s day (17th) is another cause for a joyful celebration. Scattered here and there, in the stark March landscape, a few plants and trees are beginning to show evidence of new life. New life that the winter season had concealed from our eyes. The Holy Church’s vibrant new life will be obscured as well by the austerity of the penitential season of Lent. But that new life is indisputable, and it will burst forth on Easter as Christ coming forth from his tomb! During Lent we will continue our pilgrimage to the cross with our acts of penitence. We will reflect on our mortality (“Remember, O man, that thou art dust”) and the shortness of life (“and unto dust shalt thou return”). Each of us will heed the call, “Now is the acceptable time, now is “the day of salvation (II Corinthians vi:2).” Just like Our Lord’s earthly life, every moment of our lives leads up to our last moment—when for all eternity we will either go to God or suffer eternal separation (the fires of hell or worse). During this month of Lent, as C.S. Lewis wrote, “Each day we are becoming a creature of splendid glory or one of unthinkable horror.” As the weeks of Lent progress let us pray for strength, while doing good works and penance, and continue with the enthusiasm toward Easter Sunday. I pray your Lenten Season will be a joyful journey — and not a forced march. ~ Father Tim
✠✠✠
Lent is a perfect time to grow spiritually. Join Andrew Masters every Wednesday evening at 5:30 PM this March Lenten Season in the parish hall for Evening Prayer, some light refreshments, and a discussion on cultivating a “Life of Prayer.” A life of prayer leads to a rule of prayer that includes the daily offices, fasting, and other spiritual disciplines to draw one closer to God and ultimately to saturate one’s own life in holiness. This once per week meeting will help everyone who struggles with Lenten discipline.
✠✠✠
Is there someone in your life who would join you for a Holy Lent? Are they struggling with a life filled mostly with sorrow? March is a journey, filled with contrition, and a perfect time to invite someone to visit St. John’s to experience the pilgrimage of the Lenten Season. How about the Wednesday evening Lenten “Life of Prayer” group? Could this March bring the cross and our Savior into the heart of someone you cherish? Help someone experience a true commitment by assisting them to begin their own spiritual pilgrimage — which in March begins our journey towards the Holy City. ~ Father Tim
✠✠✠
Repentance is not something God demands of you before He will take you back and which He could let you off if He chose; it is simply a description of what going back is like. Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. ~ C.S. Lewis
✠✠✠
March Spirituality Class
In March we will be continuing our transitional class with both Spirituality and Bible Study. During this Lenten Season, with Easter approaching, the class in March will do an in depth study of Simon of Cyrene found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27 verse 32. The study of God’s word is central to the life and mission of our parish church of St. John the Evangelist. Please join us after Holy Mass on the 22nd of March for an engaging, dynamic, and informative exploration of the Holy Scriptures. All are welcome, but be warned: continued exposure to God’s word will change your life.
✠✠✠
St. John March Ordo Kalendar
Sunday, the 1st of March at 10:30 AM, Lent I, Vestry Meeting
Sunday, the 8th of March at 10:30 AM, Lent II, Coffee Hour
Sunday, the 15th of March at 10:30 AM, Lent III
Sunday, the 22nd of March at 10:30 AM, Lent IV Laetare or Mothering Sunday, Bible Study
Sunday, the 29th of March at 10:30 AM, Passion Sunday
Each Wednesday of March, at 5:30 PM, Life of Prayer
✠✠✠
Never talk with any man, or undertake any trifling employment, merely to pass the time away; for every day well spent may become a “day of salvation,” and time rightly employed is an “acceptable time.” And remember, that the time thou triflest away, was given thee to repent in, to pray for pardon of sins, to work out thy salvation, to do the work of grace, to lay up against the day of judgment a treasure of good works, that thy time may be crowned with eternity. ~ ✠ Jeremy Taylor, Anglican Shakespeare of Divines
✠✠✠
March Birthdays & Anniversaries
Joanna Barnett – Birthday – March 16
Judy Hulsey – Birthday – March 28
Kay Matthews – Birthday – March 31
Kevin Matthews – Birthday – March 31
✠✠✠
Repentance
Virtue is not a mushroom that springeth up of itself in one night, when we are asleep or regard it not; but a delicate plant, that groweth slowly and tenderly, needing much pains to cultivate it, much care to guide it, much time to mature it. Neither is vice a spirit that will be conjured away with a charm, slain by a single blow, or despatched by one stab. Who, then, will be so foolish as to leave the eradicating of vice, and the planting in of virtue in its place, to a few years or weeks? Yet he who procrastinates his repentance and amendment grossly does so: with his eyes open, he abridges the time allotted for the longest and most important work he has to perform: he is a fool. ~ Bishop Joseph Butler, Anglican theologian, apologist, and philosopher
✠✠✠
The seeking of Jesus Christ, and the quest for chivalry combined, lead directly to one place only: Anglican-Catholicism. Courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help and defend the weak and the poor. Welcome to the Anglican Catholic Church. ~ Father Timothy Butler