Sunday

Yesterday was a special day here at St. John's.

Jorge & Ilaria got married.

They are a great couple that have really made me feel welcome here in Enterprise. They have fed me several times and helped introduce me to other Hispanic families in the parish. They are also famous around here for helping to organize the celebration for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe here in Enterprise. In fact, the statue of Our Lady that is used for the Feast sits proudly on their front porch throughout the year.

They are also very involved in a Movement called "El Movimiento Familiar Cristiano." It is an international Catholic movement which aims to bring together couples so that they may grow deeper in their relationships, parenting, faith, organization, etc. I have been really impressed with the Movement as I have learned about it through Jorge and Ilaria as well as Deacon Alfonso Diaz who is the Spiritual Director for this movement in the area. I would recommend it to anyone in the area.

Here are a couple links where you can check it out....if you speak Spanish that is...haha

Their "LatinoAmerica" Website

Info Put out by the Diocese of Brownsville

There are many other English speaking organizations like this. One I am familiar with and would recommend to any couple looking to deepen and strengthen their relationship with one another is called "Marriage Encounter." Here is there main website.

Anyways, back to Jorge and Ilaria. They wedding was really beautiful. They came with their friends and really decorated the whole Church well.

Here is Jorge just before the Mass started. Little bit Nervous...but looking sharp

Here is the Wedding Party getting in Line

Congrats to you Jorge and Ilaria. May God Bless you both richly with many happy and faith-filled years together!

Tonight, the 4th Degree Knights of Columbus had a social out at "PoFolks" restaurant.

They graciously invited Father Gregory and I to attend as well as the priest (Army Chaplain) stationed out at Ft. Rucker, Fr. Chris Butera. I was surprised to run into Chris there tonight. We actually spent one year together in seminary up in Philly at St. Charles Borromeo. Small world!

Sorry it's blurry. But here is the group mingling and keeping it real

Here I am with the Grand Knights of the Councils in Enterprise (L) and Daleville (R).

Both seem to be very active Councils of the Knights of Columbus, a group especially dedicated to "fraternity, charity, and unity." They also are sincerely dedicated in the support of Priests, Seminarians, and their ministry. Thank God for them. Check them out HERE if you don't know much about them.

Thanks ya'll for your hospitality.

It was a great evening.

Peace.

Mary

Before Mass this morning, I walked around the grounds of St. John's as I said my Morning Prayer. Just as I finished, I walked by the grotto here and was struck by its beauty. I took a couple shots which I think turned out really well.

I love the way the light is gently covering Mary in this one. It is so fitting for her--our gentle and loving Mother.

Our Mother. She became the Mother of us all at the foot of the cross. When all other of Jesus' disciples had abandoned him out of fear, there his Mother remained with St. John, Mary of Magdala, and another Mary.

John 19: 26-27

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."

Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother."

Here Jesus gives one of his greatest treasures to his beloved disciple--his very own Mother. And in doing so, he gave Mary to be the Mother of the Church...of the World.

As Catholics, we do not worship Mary but we are deeply grateful to Jesus for sharing his Mother with us. We honor her just as God honored her in sending his angel Gabriel (meaning "messenger") to greet her with the message, "Hail (Rejoice/Be Glad) Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with you!" (Luke 1:28). We honor her just as Elizabeth honored her saying, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb" (Luke 1:42).

Some point to a scene in Mark chapter 3, as a moment when Jesus downplays the importance of his Mother. Here Mary and Jesus' cousins (Referred to as "brothers" here because the Hebrew culture did not have the word or really concept of "cousin." All relatives were just referred to as "brothers"/"siblings") were waiting outside of a home asking for Jesus. The disciples tell Jesus that his Mother and "brothers" are looking for him to which he responds,

"(For) whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother" (3:35).

Rather than rejecting Mary as his Mother in that moment or even downplaying her role as Mother, Jesus is reaffirming the Motherhood of Mary. For who more than her opened her heart to the will of God?

When God wanted to bring to fruition his plan for the world since the beginning of time, he came to her saying, "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, [...] and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God."

Confronted with such a mind-boggling proposition...something defying the logic of the world...something fully incomprehensible to the human mind...how did she respond?

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

And with her "YES," the door was opened. She conceived a child in that moment with her YES, and history itself changed forever. Emmanuel... Wondercounselor... Christ... Messiah... Lion of Judah... King of Kings... Prince of Peace...the Word...was made Flesh in her womb. Such that the Flesh of Jesus IS the Flesh of Mary. Through her YES, Jesus came to us. And through her YES, Jesus continues to come to us.

So we have Mary as our Model of the Christian life. For ultimately, God wants to do in us exactly what he did in Mary--Fill us with the Holy Spirit...so much so that God himself unites himself to our Flesh and Blood. So that we become the Body of Christ...His Flesh and Blood for the World. However, he will never force this upon us. But always, He stands at the doors of our hearts, gently knocking...sending a host of angels...inviting us to take part in the Mystery of his Love. But it is only our YES...following the perfect example of Mary, Our Loving, Gentle, and Patient Mother, that opens that door to the Will of God. The more we say Yes...the more we open ourselves to the Will of God in our lives...the more God is able to unite himself to our person...our body and soul...and thus...the more we truly become the "mothers, sisters, brothers" of Jesus.

So Yes...we honor Mary, but only because she brought us Jesus and continues to POINT us...to carry us to Him. Just as she told the servants at the wedding feast in Cana, she gives her best advice to us today, "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5).

All true Devotion to Mary leads to Jesus. And so the ancient Christian tradition continues today: To Christ through Mary. If we run to her, she will never fall to take us to her Son. Nobody knows a Son like His Mother. Nobody can get the attention of a Son better than His Mother. And Nobody is prouder and more eager to share their Son, than their Mother. So who could be better to help us follow, know, and love Jesus than his Mother?

Here are some folks here at St. John's that seem to understand all of this all too well: The Rosary Club.

1...2....3....Marryyy!

They Pray the Rosary every day after 9AM Mass. Except on Wednesday's they pray it at 5PM just before Benediction and Mass.

The Rosary is ultimately a meditation on the life of Jesus. It is a powerful prayer that has been near and dear to the life of the Saints for centuries. In this prayer, we turn to Mary to help us to enter more deeply into the Mystery of Her Son Son's Conception, Life, Death, and Resurrection.

It was the favorite prayer of Blessed Pope John Paul II and has grown to be near and dear to me as well. In a letter he wrote about the Rosary, he states:

The Rosary, precisely because it starts with Mary's own experience, is an exquisitely contemplative prayer. Without this contemplative dimension, it would lose its meaning, as Pope Paul VI clearly pointed out: “Without contemplation, the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation runs the risk of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas, in violation of the admonition of Christ: 'In praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think they will be heard for their many words' (Mt 6:7). By its nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are disclosed”.

It is worth pausing to consider this profound insight of Paul VI, in order to bring out certain aspects of the Rosary which show that it is really a form of Christocentric contemplation.

Again, Contemplating Jesus is key.

Here is a link to the entire letter he wrote about the Rosary.

If you would like to learn how to pray the rosary, here are two helpful websites:

*Very practical

*Little more explanation

Have a great night ya'll.

To Jesus through Mary,

Let's aim to do whatever he tells us.

Peace.

Youth Group

As it has been said, "The rub is in the details." So here is St. John's sign showing Mass times to all those driving by on Alberta St.

Also here are a couple shots from Youth Group tonight. Special thanks to all ya'll who came tonight. Also to Firehouse Subs for providing us with nourishment. And to our guest speaker for the evening--Sarah Butler--who shared about her experience growing up at St. John's and how it has helped her to live her faith down at South Alabama in Mobile where she will be a Senior this year. Sarah will be pursuing a career in optometry after graduating from USA, so she is asking that we all start staring into the sun for a couple minutes each day so that she will have a nice cliental waiting for her when she returns back to Enterprise one day...hahaha. We'll see what we can do....uhhhhh

Everyone was showing their ping-pong prowess tonight.

Sean here seems to be lost in the intensity of the moment as Father dominates in the background

Here are the lovely ladies that made Youth Group possible tonight. Thanks ya'll.

God Bless.

Peace.

Debt

So, anytime we have turned on the News in the past two weeks, it is all about "Debt" and "Debt Ceilings" and "Defaulting on Debt" and any other permutation of "Debt" Washington or News Anchors can come up with.

The focus of course has been about the politicians in D.C., our President, bipartisanship, compromise, the upcoming election, and what our Congressmen are going to do to "fix" America.

Surely those we have elected have an important role to play and a great responsibility to carry out. But what about us?

Do we have any responsibility for the situation we are in?

This part of the "we," mentioned above, is taken from the Youth Groups of Eufaula, Enterprise, Dothan, and Ozark converging at Water World last week

Does "Debt" have anything to do with our lives? What is our responsibility as Americans, as people of faith, and particularly as Christians to those who are less fortunate than ourselves?

Also, are the materially poor, the only "poor" amongst us?

Are there important lessons that we ought to...need to learn from the materially poor?

Is poverty really a problem to solve? Or something else?

Here are a couple thought provoking articles that I have come across in the past week which I thought I would share.

"Ending Poverty with Global Christianity's Phantom Trillion" by Christopher Cocca

*This explores the question of "tithing": wonder what kind of "spending power" would exist if

all Christians tithed the Biblical 10% of their wealth?

9 Jesus Quotes About the Poor by The Huffington Post

*Just what it says--a compilation of Jesus' commentary on the poor in the Gospels. Great

pictures attached to each verse

"St. John Chrysostom and the Problem of Wealth" by Dr. John D. Jones, Professor of Philosophy at Marquette University

*What lessons do the poor have for us?

*Is wealth itself evil? Is poverty itself evil? Or is it the "love of money" that poisons our

relationship with each other and our God?

*******

On a lighter note, I'd like to Thank Mr. Brook Benton for helping us to better appreciate the Boll Weevil down here in the Wiregrass of Alabama. Also, thanks to Prattville Seminarian standout Chris Boutin for drawing my attention to Brook's work.

Click Here-> "The Boll Weevil Song"

Or Here on Brook

Reflection

Just want to share something that struck me today as I prayed over part of Psalm 63 (2-6)

"O God, you are my God, for you I long;

for you my soul is thirsting.

My body pines for you

like a dry, weary land without water.

So I gaze on you in the sanctuary

to see your strength and your glory.

For you love is better than life,

my lips will speak your praise.

So I will bless you all my life,

in your name I will life up my hands.

My soul shall be filled as with a banquet,

my mouth shall praise you with joy."

------

"Long"

"Thirst"

"Pine"

Such rich words. Each denoting such an intense, all encompassing desire, demanding all of one's attention and effort.

And these are the words the Psalmist uses to describe his desire for God. Longing for Him, like a kid on the last day of school on the brink of summer. Thirsting for Him, like for water after and hour outside in Enterprise. Pining for Him, like a wife thinking of her husband off at war.

Such do our hearts feel for God. At times we cannot pinpoint the feeling, we just know there is an emptiness...a restlessness within. We long to be happy...to be loved...to be made whole. And we wonder, at times, if we are crazy for hoping...for believing that these intense, deeply laden feelings may ever be requited.

It is only faith...only believe in a loving God that could lead the Psalmist to respond as he does...

"For your love is better than life...My soul shall be filled as with a banquet, My mouth shall praise you with joy."

His love is the only banquet that can fill us. For our desire is bottomless and only His love is eternal and abiding enough to fill it. Only His his love can fill to the brim and overflow into a Praise of Joy.

A Praise of Joy. This is ultimately what we are made for--to make a Joyful noise of Thanksgiving to our Lover and Creator. This is what a human life looks like fulfilled. This is the best thing. In fact, it is everything. We have only to allow our longings...our thirsts...our pining to be filled by the One who can. The One who is.

"Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee"

-St. Augustine

Closing Prayer:

Come and Fill what is lacking

Fill to the Brim and overflow around

Have Mercy on the cottonmouth of heart

Soften the pining of body and mind

Respond to the longing of spirit and grit

Vessels begin to crack when long without water

The Potter is needed also to Fill

So come and Fill as you Mold

That Joy may overflow and grow

Bringing taste and sight to a world groaning

Praise is the Remedy

May its balm fill the air

AMEN.

Walk Around Town: Enterprise

Here is a shot of the sanctuary at St. John's. I was in their Saturday evening after Mass, noticing how nice it is, so I took this picture.

Also, each Saturday after the 5PM Mass, a Hispanic group comes and has Praise/ Preaching/Prayer Session from 7-10PM. I joined them yesterday evening and really enjoyed it. They were all very kind and hospitable and even asked me to read some Scripture and preach a little bit. I was so impressed by their commitment to this prayer. 3 hours!!! Every week! And then Mass in the morning. And only because they desire to be there, praising God and seeking further conversion of their hearts.

Here is some of the band cleaning up their gear after the Prayer Session:

This afternoon I went to Walmart to get some groceries. It is one of the most important landmark's in Enterprise

Afterwards, I decided to run by downtown and get some shots to share with ya'll.

Although Walmart is a big landmark, all landmarks in Enterprise fall short of THE landmark in Enterprise--the BOLL WEEVIL.

The Boll Weevil is indigenous to Mexico. But showed up in Enterprise somehow in 1915 and quickly began to destroy the cotton crops growing there. This led a couple guys to start growing peanuts and other crops instead which did very well. Whereas this area was tied solely to cotton, the Boll Weevil forced the farmers to explore other crops which turned out to be very lucrative for all involved. To show their appreciation for Mr. Weevil, the town had this statue erected right at the crosshairs of downtown.

Here are some other shots of the quaint and charming historic downtown of Enterprise:

The water tower--a hall mark of any Southern small town

I've noticed this guy a couple times before--guess its a little bit easier to get roping trash cans down pat before moving onto other less sedentary objects. Haha. I gotta talk to this guy and figure out the story behind it.

God Bless America.

God Bless Enterprise.

God Bless You.

Peace.

Happy Anniversary Father Gregory!

Today Father Gregory Okorobia celebrates the 32nd Anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood!

Happy Anniversary Father Gregory!

As I am having a hard time fathoming that I will be ordained a priest in less than a year...it is all the more mind boggling to consider what all lies between here and now and 32 years of priesthood!

I shared this thought with Fr. Gregory who responded, "Don't worry, I felt the same way before I was ordained. In fact, I couldn't even imagine 25 years. And here I am at 32!"

Reassuring but still mind-boggling....

His Anniversary gave us the occasion to listen to him recall how the Lord called him to priesthood.

Growing up in Nigeria, Fr. Gregory describes himself as a very "pugnacious" kid. He said he was always fighting somebody for any reason he could find...especially his older brother. His older brother, on the other hand was the quiet and kind one that everyone expected to go to seminary.

However, when Father was 14, four close friends with whom he was an altar boy, decided to enter the Junior Seminary in the diocese. Whereas his friends were very enthusiastic and zealous about going to seminary and becoming priests, Gregory was not really interested, but his father thought it would be a good experience for him to give it a try. So, without really having an interest or an understanding of priesthood, Gregory went off to Junior Seminary. His parents expected him to shortly be sent home for getting in fights or something else of that nature.

Interestingly, Gregory was the only one of the 5 that actually went all the way through seminary and became a priest!

Father said that slowly he changed in Seminary. He cites it as a real example in his life as to how the Word of God has power to change any heart into the image of Christ's. He slowly learned to calm his temper and temper his fists. He also slowly came to believe that God really was calling him to be a priest.

With a smirk, he recalled how he failed Latin and refused to make up the course because it was so troublesome to him. Also, how he left seminary for a couple days to visit his family without permission. These and other things, were behaviors that should have meant immediate expulsion from Seminary. In fact, he had seen other guys get kicked out for lesser things. In fact, he expected that he would get kicked out. However...somehow....some way...his path was never brought to an end.

All this and more...began to slowly make Father Gregory realize that the priesthood is not something that you choose...but that you are chosen for. "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you" (John 15:16).

And over 32 years later, Father Gregory is still responding to the call...to lay it all down...for the sake of the Gospel.

Today the staff had lunch together to celebrate Father's Anniversary. At some point, I commented to Father, "Well....32 years Father! So now what? What is your goal?" I found his response simple yet profound, "Just keep being a priest. Keep following his Plan. This has always been His idea."

Please take some time and pray for Father this week. Pray that he may have the courage and strength to keep joyfully living out his call to the priesthood. Pray the he may continue to make Christ present in the lives of those he serves. Pray that he may rejoice in his sufferings, as he carries his cross, following Christ.

And Pray a prayer of Thanksgiving. That this man has opened his heart to the Good and All Powerful God. May he continue to do so until one day he finds himself resting in that City on a Hill.

Amen.