St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Savanna, Il

03/23/2025

I am angry about Cardinal Timothy Dolan's remark that the pontiff was “probably close to death.” What we need is Pope Francis back. The world needs him back.

03/08/2025

03/27/2024

The archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Dionisio Guillermo García, offered a lengthy prayer before the nation’s patroness, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre.

03/27/2024

The Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, is working to keep students safe by hiring retired police officers who become not only security detail but also mentors.

06/04/2023

A CELEBRATION OF THE SOLEMNITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY
Reflection By: Fr. Moises Apostol / June 4, 2023
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1. We are in the middle of the movements of priests' assignments in many parishes and dioceses. May goodwill and gratitude, and wisdom be present among God’s people. May our celebration of the solemnity of the Holy Trinity be truly faith-filled and meaningful for all.
2. We basically need to go back to our catechism about God as Trinity: the mystery of one God in three divine persons. The truth speaks of the unity and community of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It was only through the teaching of Jesus, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).
3. We need help understanding it. But our Church gives us a guiding wisdom: life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived – day by day. We try to live the mystery as we develop beautiful relationships among us in our homes, neighborhoods, and parish communities. With that, we can share smiles, donuts, coffee, and helping hands. . . .We can all have a dynamic attitude of faith in the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
4. Let us start our celebration today by asking God to help us become the kind of persons we are meant to be: true children of God our Father, a living image of Jesus his Son, and a consecrated temple of the Holy Spirit. It is beautiful to think this solemnity is between the celebrations of honoring our Mothers and Fathers of our homes. So, we wish to bring before God’s altar today our families, our friends, our co-workers – our parish communities to continue living the mystery of the Trinity.
5. We all try to keep loving and creative relationships in the family, hoping everyone is led into a deeper experience of the Holy Trinity. The simplest prayer we do, making the sign of the cross and expressing the words “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” provides already a powerful consciousness of God’s presence within us and among us. Such an invocation should always make us feel at home with God and in God.
6. Let us remember this: all of reality in the universe is the reality and power and glory of the living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the past 14.5 billion years. . . Scientists are telling us some data, for some time now that the whole Universe is continually expanding fast and broader out there. In short, the Holy Trinity continually offers us gifts of life and love and everything in the universe. All we have to do is respond with our sense of responsibility and freedom -- with love and gratitude to God. We hope and pray that all developments in technology and Artificial Intelligence be guided by the Holy Trinity.
7. Let us work together and grow together in the mystery of the love of God in our relationships.
8. Today, we will pray again for each other, like what we did last week on Pentecost Sunday; we invited the Spirit of God to bless ourselves and certain key persons in our lives . . . in our communities.
a. God – may your divine presence always be in our lives. Please help us to see and experience you as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
b. God – may your divine presence be in our homes, in our front or backyard, and may our family gatherings be faith-filled moments as well. Help us experience true respect and loving care for one another. Please help us sincerely forgive those who have hurt us and bring goodwill in everyone.
c. God -- may your divine presence be experienced in every space here in St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and be special moments of faith, hope, and love for all who come and open our lives before you. Amen.
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01/05/2023

Opss. . I have not visited this page for quite sometime simply because I am no longer assigned to be in this parish since January 2020. . .

06/03/2020

First of all thanks for your patience and curiosity, you are here. . . I thought of picking again the beauty of FB. . .

05/27/2019

A BLESSED MEMORIAL DAY!!!

01/05/2019

A community picture after the Christmas Eve / Day Mass: parishioners, guests and friends. . . .MERRY CHRISTMAS & A BLESSED NEW YEAR 2019!

12/11/2018

It is good to have this Page for St. John the Baptist Church, Savanna, IL

But, just demands time and extra care. . .

The good news for the parish is that we have now a website:
www.stjohnsavanna.org

08/29/2018

I hope I can post this to this Page. . . .

Sometimes all you can do is to put your mouth to the dust and wait. That’s a counsel from the Book of Lamentations and while perhaps not the best response to the recent revelations of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up in the Roman Catholic Church, it seems the only helpful response available to m...

07/29/2018

Good reflection. . ..

I remember growing up in a family in the mid-1950s into the mid-1970s, and not until the mid-1980s did my parents have an empty nest after my sister and brother left home to marry. Our family was a on...