March 2024
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
March 2024 from Father Tim
The month of March arrives in the midst of Lent and finishes with Easter Day, Sunday of the Resurrection (31st). In addition to Lent III (3rd) and Lent IV (10th) we have Passion Sunday (17th) and Holy Week. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday (24th), when Christians commemorate Jesus’ ‘triumphal entry’ into Jerusalem. The Gospels tell us he was greeted with crowds waving palm branches and crying ‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’ (Mark 11:9-10). Ironically, these same voices that greet Jesus as Messiah and King will be the same voices that shout ‘Crucify him!’ a few days later on Good Friday. Spy Wednesday (27th) commemorates the ‘Bargain of Judas’(recall the 30 pieces of silver) as a clandestine spy among the disciples. It is commemorated by the Tenebrae service. Maundy Thursday (28th) marks the Last Supper that Jesus shares with his disciples, his betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and his arrest at the Garden of Gethsemane. Maundy Thursday Mass includes the ‘Stripping of the Altar’ and reminds participants of the ‘new commandment’ that Jesus gave his disciples to love one another as he has loved them (John 15:12) – a love that is most readily seen in Jesus willingly giving up his life on the cross. Good Friday (29th) commemorates Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate, his sentence of death, his torture, his crucifixion, and burial. It is called ‘good’ Friday in the obsolete sense of the word ‘good’ – indicating something ‘holy’ or ‘pious’ (‘Holy Friday’), which is striking since ‘Good Friday’ is the most somber day for Christians, when the agony, death and burial of Jesus is remembered. For many Christians, Good Friday is a day of fasting, with the faithful attending the Good Friday Liturgy and venerating the cross of Christ. The Triduum of Holy Week concludes with Holy Saturday, an Easter Eve service (30th). First, a liturgy that recalls the vigil, the ‘keeping watch’ of Jesus’ female disciples at his tomb, which begins in darkness but is interrupted when ‘light shineth in darkness’, and a new paschal or Easter fire is kindled, followed by The Blessing of the Paschal Candle, The Holy Sabbath Prophecies, and the Blessing of the Baptismal Font. This, then, is followed by the joyous celebration of the first Eucharist of Easter on Sunday. I hope your March anticipates the hope and glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. ~ Father Tim
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Is there someone in your life who could benefit from Holy Week? Do they even know the story of the Passion of Christ? If not, March is the month to invite them to church to experience the very heart of the Christian Gospel and the center of Christian faith. ~ Father Tim
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You must keep your memory clean and pure, as it were a wedlock chamber, from all strange thoughts, fancies and imaginations, and it must be trimmed and adorned with holy meditations and virtues of Christ’s holy crucified life and passion: That God may continually and ever rest therein. ~ Robert Leighton, 1611-1684, Church of Scotland Archbishop and Scholar
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Did you know?
Did you know Saint John’s made a charitable gift to the Emergency Shelter of Northern KY in February? Did you know our Book of Life Club will be discussing The Way of the Pilgrim, translated by R.M. French? Did you know that we are moving forward on our final stain glass window protection and improvement in 2024? Did you know we have a new Landscape Company, Nature’s Touch, for 2024?
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Saint John March Ordo Kalendar
Friday, the 1st of March at 12:00 PM, Stations of the Cross
Sunday, the 3rd of March at 10:30 AM, Lent III Mass
Wednesday, the 6th of March at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Friday, the 8th of March at 12:00 PM, Stations of the Cross
Sat., the 9th of March, at 2:00 PM, The Usual Suspects Club, Bible Study Lineup
Sat., the 9th of March, at 3:15 PM, The Book of Life Club, The Way of the Pilgrim
Sun., the 10th of March, at 10:30 AM, Lent IV Mass, Mothering Sunday
Wed., the 13th of March, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Friday, the 15th of March at 12:00 PM, Stations of the Cross
Sun., the 17th of March , at 10:30 AM, Passion Sunday Mass, Birthday Coffee Hour
Wednesday., the 20th of March, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Friday, the 22nd of March at 12:00 PM, Stations of the Cross
Sun., the 24th of March, at 10:30 AM, Palm Sunday Mass
Wed., the 27th of March, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer, Spy Wednesday
Thursday, the 28th of March at 6:30 PM, Maundy Thursday – Stripping of the Altar
Friday, the 29th of March at 12:00 PM, Stations of the Cross
Friday, the 29th of March at 3:00 PM, Good Friday Liturgy
Saturday, the 30th of March, at 6:30 PM, Easter Eve – Lighting of the New Fire
Sunday, the 31st of March, at 10:30 AM, Easter Mass – Sunday of the Resurrection
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The real and true work of Christ’s passion is to make man conformable to Christ, so that man’s conscience is tormented by his sins in like measure as Christ was pitiably tormented in body and soul by our sins. ~ Martin Luther, 1483-1546, Priest, Theologian, and Augustinian friar
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The benefits [the Lord’s Supper] confers are spiritual, not physical. Its effects must be looked for in our inward man. It was intended to remind us, by the visible, tangible emblems of bread and wine, that the offering of Christ’s body and blood for us on the cross, is the only atonement for sin, and the life of a believer’s soul. It was meant to help our poor weak faith to closer fellowship with our crucified Savior, and to assist us in spiritually feeding on Christ’s body and blood. It is an ordinance for redeemed sinners, and not for unfallen angels. By receiving it we publicly declare our sense of guilt, and need of a Savior – our trust in Jesus, and our love to Him – our desire to live upon Him, and our hope to live with Him. Using it in this spirit, we shall find our repentance deepened, our faith increased, our hope brightened, and our love enlarged – our besetting sins weakened, and our graces strengthened. ~ J.C. Ryle, 1816-1900, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool
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March Birthdays & Anniversaries
Joanna Barnett – Birthday – March 16
Cora Adams – Birthday – March 17
Judy Hulsey – Birthday – March 28
Kay Matthews – Birthday – March 31
Kevin Matthews – Birthday – March 31
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Why should we want to worship Jesus well?
Christ is our attorney and His portfolio is His propitiation. He stands before His Father in heaven, and every time we sin, He doesn’t make a new propitiation. He doesn’t die again and again. Instead He opens his portfolio and lays the exhibits of Good Friday on the bench before the Judge. Photographs of the crown of thorns, the lashing, the mocking soldiers, the agonies of the cross, and the final cry of victory: It is finished. ~ John Piper, Pastor, Theologian, & Chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary
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An empty tomb proves Christianity; an empty church denies it. ~ Unknown Author
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The Women at Christ’s Empty Tomb, Peter Paul Rubens
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The evidence for our Lord’s life and death and resurrection may be and often has been shown to be satisfactory. It is good according to the common rules for distinguishing good evidence from bad. Thousands and tens of thousands of persons have gone through it piece by piece as carefully as every judge summing up a most important cause. I have myself done it many times over, not to persuade others but to satisfy myself. I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence than the great sign which God hath given us, that Christ died and rose again from the dead. ~ Thomas Arnold, 1795-1842, English Educator, Historian, & Anglican Layman
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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