April 2025
Spirit of the Eagle
St. John the Evangelist ACC
Spiritual Tidbits & Rector’s Reflections for
April 2025 from Father Tim
The season of Spring is underway as we enter April. We celebrate Passion Sunday on the 6th, Palm Sunday on the 13th, followed by the Holy Week Maundy Thursday (17th), Good Friday (18th), and Easter Eve (19th). Easter Day, Sunday of the Resurrection, arrives in glory on the 20th. We begin Eastertide thereafter and conclude April with Low Sunday on the 27th and S. Mark the Evangelist on the 28th. Holy Week includes the Triduum Sacrum. This is the name given to the last three days of Holy Week – the most solemn days of the Christian year – when the services of the Church take on a character of special solemnity. Holy Week is a time to pick up the pieces of our lives, gather those portions that once gave us a strong faith during our childhood (or when we first turned to Christ), that time we trusted and believed that God not only could, but would work through all events, the bitter and the sweet, for our good and His glory. Holy week is the time to not only prune our gardens, but also our lives. It is the time of year to plow under the hard, crusted shell of indifference and wrong attitudes that deprive us of knowing the full joy of the Christian life. Holy Week is the time to be open to the Holy Ghost, to avoid premature closure on the meaning of the scriptures, even the difficult passages that cause us to struggle for their correct meaning. Holy Week is the time to nourish our weak, impoverished souls, after a bitter cold season of doubts and tribulations that have caused possibly more than one crisis in our faith. Holy Week is the time to assume again, or for the first time, the minimum disciplines of the Christian life, such as The Order for Daily Morning and Evening Prayer, Bible Study, renewed regular attendance for Sunday Holy Communion, personal mission to seek lost souls, and even a fresh look at the tithing of our income. Holy Week is our time to read again the events of the Passion long ago, and ponder anew what God is saying to us. Consider John 18:37-38, which describes part of the dialogue Jesus had with Pontius Pilate. When asked if he is the King of the Jews, Jesus replied, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth (about God). And so Jesus did. As disciples of Christ each of us can say the same thing. With God’s promised help, let us stand for truth this most holy season, even the unpopular truths, no matter the consequences, for God will always have the last word. ~ Father Tim
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Do you know someone who has not turned to Christ? If yes, invite them to church this April, where they can find the truth of the Gospel and by listening to the answers from the Word of God. ~ Father Tim
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[Christ] wants a child’s heart, but a grown-up’s head. He wants us to be simple, single-minded, affectionate, and teachable, as good children are; but He also wants every bit of intelligence we have to be alert at its job, and in first-class fighting trim. ~ C.S. Lewis, 1898-1963, British Author, Literary Scholar, and Anglican Lay Theologian
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Do you know?
Do you know Saint John’s finished our CareNet ‘Baby Bottle Campaign’ in March? Do you know our Book of Life Club will continue our Lenten discussion of the book of Christ’s Seven Last Words From The Cross, by John Mann in April? Do you know our Confirmation Classes are underway? Do you know the O’Fallon side nave window restoration is now complete? Do you know that we have begun a restore of our pews in the choir and nave?
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Saint John April Ordo Kalendar
Wednesday, the 2nd of April, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Fri., the 4th of April, at 11:30 AM, Morning Prayer, at 12:00 PM, Stations of the Cross
Saturday, the 5th of April, at 7:30 AM, Rule of Faith Meeting
Sunday, the 6th of April, at 10:30 AM, Passion Sunday Mass
Wednesday, the 9th of April, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Fri., the 11th of April, at 11:30 AM, Morning Prayer, at 12:00 PM, Stations of the Cross
Sunday, the 13th of April, at 10:30 AM, Palm Sunday Mass
Wed., the 16th of April, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer, Spy Wednesday
Thurs., the 17th of April, at 6:30 PM, Maundy Thursday – Stripping of the Altar
Friday, the 18th of April, at 12:00 PM, Stations of the Cross
Friday, the 18th of April, at 3:00 PM, Good Friday Liturgy
Saturday, the 19th of April, at 9:00 AM, Rule of Faith Meeting
Sat., the 19th of April, at 6:30 PM, Easter Eve – Lighting of the New Fire
Sun., the 20th of April, at 10:30 AM, Easter Mass – Sunday of the Resurrection
Sunday, the 20th of April, at 11:45 AM, Easter Egg hunt – Church Garden
Wednesday, the 23rd of April, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
Saturday, the 26th of April, at 9:00 AM, Morning Prayer
Sat., the 26th of April, at 9:45 AM, Book of Life Club, Christ’s 7 Words from the Cross
Saturday, the 26th of April, at 11:00 AM, Confirmation Class
Sun., the 27th of April, at 10:30 AM, Easter I Mass
Wednesday, the 30th of April, at 6:30 PM, Evening Prayer
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But someone will say, “Didn’t Jesus say that, to be saved, you have to be as a little child?” Of course he did. But did you ever see a little child who didn’t ask questions? People who use this argument must never have listened to a little child or been one. My four children gave me a harder time with their endless flow of questions than university people ever have… What Jesus was talking about is that the little child, when he has an adequate answer, accepts the answer. He has the simplicity of not having a built-in grid whereby, regardless of the validity of the answer, he rejects it. ~ Francis Schaeffer, 1912-1984, American Evangelical Theologian, & Philosopher
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April Birthdays & Anniversaries
Madeleine Miller – Birthday – April 15
Judy Adams – Birthday – April 19
Carol Petrie – Birthday – April 22
Mike & Julie Murray – Anniversary – April 28
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Why should we want to worship Jesus well?
[Jesus Christ’s] zeal never degenerated into passion, nor His constancy into obstinacy, nor His benevolence into weakness, nor His tenderness into sentimentality. His unworldliness was free from indifference and unsociability, His dignity from pride and presumption, His affectability from undue familiarity, His self-denial from moroseness, His temperance from austerity. He combined child-like innocency with manly strength, absorbing devotion to God with untiring interest in the welfare of man, tender love to the sinner with uncompromising severity against sin, commanding dignity with winning humility, fearless courage with wise caution, unyielding firmness with sweet gentleness! ~ Philip Schaff, 1819-1893, Swiss Theologian and Ecclesiastical Historian
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I have observed many persons rejoicing, and saying one to another, “We have conquered, we have prevailed; the half of the fast is spent.” But I exhort such persons not to rejoice on this account, that the half of the fast is gone, but to consider whether the half of their sins be gone; and if so, then to exult. ~ S. John Chrysostom, 347-407, Archbishop of Constantinople & Doctor of the Church
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Who are they that have been saved and received the inheritance? Those, doubtless, who believe God and who have continued in his love, as did Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun, and innocent children, who have had no sense of evil. ~ S. Irenaeus, 130-202 AD, Bishop & Doctor of the Church
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. . . Children of God . . .
Living is death; dying is life. On this side of the grave we are exiles, on that, citizens; on this side, orphans, on that, children; on this side, captives; on that, freemen; on this side, disguised, unknown; on that, disclosed and proclaimed as the sons of God. ~ Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, American Clergyman, Social Reformer, Speaker & Abolitionist
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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