Spirit of the Eagle – May 2020

Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC

Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
May 2020 from Father Tim

As the Spring blossoms forth, and we are surrounded by beautiful new life, we spend the month of May filled with the joy of our Easter celebration, beginning with the feast of SS. Philip & James (1st), and in the anticipation of the coming Ascension Day (21st). We conclude the month with Whitsunday (31st), or Pentecost, and the arrival of the Holy Ghost, our Comforter and Advocator. The world is resplendent with Spring’s increased light and new growth. May is a month to remember Saint Mary as all of nature rejoices with the Queen of heaven at the Resurrection of the Son she was worthy to bear. Thus we should recite the Regina Coeli until Whitsunday, and recall Mary’s maidenly spirituality with its origins in Isaiah’s prophecy of the Virgin birth of the Messiah under the figure of the Blossoming Rod, or Root of Jesse. The flower symbolism of Mary was extended by the Church Fathers, and in the liturgy, by applying to her the flower figures of the Sapiential Books-Canticles, Wisdom, Proverbs, and Sirach. The rose was eventually adopted as the flower symbol of the Virgin Birth, as expressed in Dante’s phrase, ‘The Rose wherein the Divine Word was made flesh,’ and depicted in the central rose windows of the great gothic cathedrals from which came the Christmas carol, ‘Lo, How a Rose ‘ere Blooming.’ Whitsunday, the birth of the Church, is also among the celebrations of May. Though sprung from the side of Christ while hanging on the Cross, the Holy Church marks as her birthday the descent of the Holy Spirit on Mary and the Apostles. At the ‘birth’ of the world, the Holy Spirit — the Breath of God — was the “mighty wind [that] swept over the waters” (Gen 1:2); at the birth of the Church He is present again “like the rush of a mighty wind” to recreate the world in the image of Christ through His Holy Church (Acts 2:2). We, the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, are the present-day disciples sent by the Holy Ghost to bring Christ to the world. I pray the Holy Spirit descends upon each of you this month so that all may proclaim the greatness of the Lord who has done great things for each of us! ~ Father Tim

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Is there someone in your life who is currently experiencing suffering, despair, or hopelessness? Are they struggling with a life filled mostly with an old life-style which is out of control? May is a time of Resurrection, new life, and a perfect time to speak with a lost soul about the peace of Jesus Christ. How about inviting them to attend Saint John’s with you after the current crisis ends? Could this May bring the new life of Christ into the heart of someone you cherish? Help someone experience a true commitment by assisting them to begin their own holy pilgrimage which in May ends in the upper room with the Divine Breath of a new beginning. ~ Father Tim

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This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul. ~ St. Irenaeus of Lyons

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Bible Study & Spirituality Class

During this Eastertide Season, the class in May will attempt once again to complete the 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 24th of May (hopefully) 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.

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St. John May Ordo Kalendar

Sunday, the 3rd of May at 10:30 AM, Easter III
Wednesday, the 6th of May at 3:00 PM, Vestry Meeting TBD; 4:30 PM, Evening Prayer; 5:30 PM Life of Prayer or Bible Study TBD
Sunday, the 10th of May at 10:30 AM, Easter IV
Sunday, the 17th of May at 10:30 AM, Easter V
Sunday, the 24th of May at 10:30 AM, Sun. after Ascension, Bible Study TBD
Sunday, the 31st of May at 10:30 AM, Whitsunday

Combined Easter, Mother’s Day, Ascension Day, Whitsunday Coffee Hour TBD

The Gloria in excelsis has been moved to the beginning of the Holy Mass, right after the Kyrie eleison, in order to align Saint John’s with other ACC parishes and the ancient church.

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May Birthdays & Anniversaries

Abigail Evans – Birthday – May 4
Maria & Mike Whalen – Anniversary – May 8
Carol & Bob Petrie – Anniversary – May 9
Samuel Masters – May 9
Judie & Rich Boughner – Anniversary – May 15
Natalie Evans – Birthday – May 16
Mike Murray – Birthday – May 16
Fr. Richard Bryant – Birthday – May 17
Terry and Jean Centers – Anniversary – May 22
Kim & Jim Marshall – Anniversary – May 23
Judy Hiltenbeitel – Birthday – May 26

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Ascension

Christianity simply cannot do without the story of the Ascension – just as we cannot do without the Resurrection. We confess it every Sunday in the Nicene creed. According to C.S. Lewis, we can only drop the Ascension story (as a real event – for it was seen by more than one person at the same time and group hallucination or dreams are impossible) if we are prepared to throw out the Resurrection as well. Lewis writes:

We can do so only if we regard the Resurrection appearances as those of a ghost or hallucination. For a phantom can just fade away; but an objective entity must go somewhere – something must happen to it. And if the Risen Body were not objective, then all of us (Christian or not) must invent some explanation for the disappearance of the corpse. And all Christians must explain why God sent or permitted a ‘vision’ or a ‘ghost’ whose behaviour seems almost exclusively directed to convincing the disciples that it was not a vision or a ghost but a really corporeal being. If it were a vision then it was the most systematically deceptive and lying on record. But if it were real, then something happened to it after it ceased to appear. You cannot take away the Ascension without putting something else in its place. ~ C.S. Lewis, Miracles

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Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies. ~ St. Augustine, Sermo de Ascensione Domini, Mai 98, 1-7: PLS 2, 429-495

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Whitsunday

The union between the Father and the Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable, but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the ‘spirit’ of that family, club, or trade union. They talk about its ‘spirit’ because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and the Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God. This Third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the ‘spirit’ of God. Do not be worried or surprised if you find it (or Him) rather vaguer or more shadowy in your mind than the other two. I think there is a reason why that must be so. In the Christian life you are not usually looking at Him. He is always acting through you. If you think of the Father as something ‘out there’, in front of you, and of the Son as someone standing at your side, helping you to pray, trying to turn you into another son, then you have to think of the third Person as something inside you, or behind you…God is love, and that love works through men-especially through the whole community of Christians. But this spirit of love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and the Son. ~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

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As the body dieth when the soul departeth, so the soul of man dieth, when it hath not the knowledge of God. ~ John Jewell, English Bishop of Salisbury from 1559 to 1571.

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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