God's action in our life is according to his own plan rather than ours, Pope Francis taught in his daily homily June 28, and this requires patience on both his part and ours. “The Lord takes his time. But even he, in this relationship with us, has a lot of patience,” preached the Bishop of Rome at the chapel of the Vatican's Saint Martha House. “Not only do we have to have patience: He has. He waits for us. And he waits for us until the end of life. Think of the good thief – right at the end, at the very end, he acknowledged God.” Pope Francis gave Abraham as an example of God's sometimes lengthy timetable: when he was 99, and his wife 90, God promised him a son. On the other hand, God immediately acts in the life of the leper who in the day's Gospel asked for healing. “When the Lord intervenes, he does not always do so in the same way,” explained the Roman Pontiff. “There is no 'set protocol' of action of God in our life; it does not exist.” God acted one way with Abraham, and “in a different way” with the leper, but he always acts in our lives. There is “always this meeting between us and the Lord,” yet he “always chooses his way to enter into our lives. He always enters, he is involved with us, but he does so in his own way and when he thinks it's best.” We are often “in danger of losing our patience a little,” because of this, as we pray, “But Lord, when?” On the other hand, “when we think of what the Lord has promised us, that it is such a huge thing, we don’t believe it; we are a little sceptical” as Abraham was when promised a son by his 90 year old wife. “How often, when the Lord does not intervene, does not perform a miracle – does not do what we want him to do – do we become impatient or sceptical,” Pope Francis reflected. In the face of temptations to disbelief and impatience, we must remember that “the Lord walks with us, but often does not reveal himself, as in the case of the disciples of Emmaus. The Lord is involved in our lives … but often we do not see. This demands our patience. But the Lord who walks with us, he also has a lot of patience with us.” The “mystery of God's patience,” said the Bishop of Rome, is that “in walking, (he) walks at our pace.” We are called to imitate his patience, because when life is at its darkest, when we “are in trouble,” “we want … to come down from the cross. And when we come down from the cross,, we always do so just five minutes before our release comes, at the very moment when our impatience is greatest.” Christ too “heard them challenging him” while he was on cross to “come down,” but chose not to. “Patience until the end,” Pope Francis urged, “because he has patience with us. He tells us exactly what he told Abraham: Walk in my presence and be blameless.'” The Roman Pontiff concluded, saying, “This is the journey with the Lord and he intervenes, but we have to wait for the moment” he chooses. “We ask this grace from the Lord, to always walk in his presence, trying to be blameless.”

Christians are called to be revolutionaries, changing the world one heart at a time, Pope Francis said. "A Christian who is not a revolutionary today isn't a Christian," the pope said June 17 during a conference that quickly turned into a rally for evangelization and care of the poor. More than 10,000 people gathered at the Vatican -- most in the audience hall, but also in the parking lot outside -- to listen to Pope Francis kick off the annual Rome diocesan convention, a three-day gathering of priests, religious and laypeople to set pastoral priorities for the coming year. Speaking for 30 minutes without a prepared text, Pope Francis repeatedly called upon Rome's Catholics to take seriously their responsibility to bring God's love and the promise of salvation to the poor, the sad and the suffering. The revolution started 2,000 years ago by Jesus, who accepted death in order to save humanity, is the longest lasting revolution in history and the one with the greatest impact on the world because it focused not on territory or power, but on changing human hearts, the pope said.

President Obama suggested to a Northern Ireland crowd that gathered for the Group of Eight summit that parochial education leads to a divided community, irking some in the Catholic Church. “If towns remain divided — if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another and fear or resentment are allowed to harden — that too encourages division and discourages cooperation,” he said, the Scottish Catholic Observer reported. About 2,000 were in attendance — many of whom were Catholic — and heard the remarks, The Blaze reported. Catholic World News called the timing of the comments curious, given the recent address of one archbishop who touted the many benefits of religious eduction. “Ironically, President Obama made his comments just as Archbishop Gerhard Muller, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told a crowd in Scotland that religious education upholds the dignity of the human person,” the organization stated, as reported by The Blaze. “Archbishop Muller said that Catholic schools should promote ‘all that is good in the philosophies of societies and human culture.’” And the attack against the Church created by Jesus Christ continues.

Two weeks after giving birth to her second child, Julia Schoch received an e-mail that would forever change her life. It was February 2003, and she was at home recovering from a C-section with her husband, her two-year-old son, and her newborn daughter when her husband Andy told her she had an e-mail that she needed to see immediately. It was from a friend who knew of a 13-year-old pregnant rape victim who needed help. It turned out that Julia was exactly the help this girl and her baby needed. “It’s one of those kind of bizarre God stories,” explains Julia, “I’d been involved in pro-life stuff since high school, and I had monitored a message board for CBR [The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform]. I would come into contact with people who were post-abortive. In that, I met a woman who had an abortion at 18 weeks and five days, and I ended up becoming friends with her. Over two years of encouraging her and loving her, she finally felt ready to share her story. She was telling [that] story at a Campus Crusade for Christ event at her campus. In the audience, was a young woman who shared that her 13-year-old sister had been raped and was pregnant. Their mother was pressuring her to abort the baby. This girl was reaching out for help.” Julia knew that if she asked this young girl, just an 8th-grader, to go against her mother, she would need to make it a practical, realistic option. She immediately started praying that it was God’s plan for her to adopt this baby. Then, while she was nursing her daughter and praying about adopting, she realized Andy would think she was nuts. Adoption hadn’t been on their radar. They hadn’t ever researched it or budgeted for it. But just then, Andy walked into the room and told Julia that he wanted to adopt the baby. “It was just that gut feeling that God gives you sometimes,” Julia explains. Julia let her friend know that she and her husband wanted to adopt the baby, and then continued to pray. Finally, she heard back that the girl was willing to talk with her, so Julia, her friend, and the young girl – states away – chatted on the phone. Julia found out some disconcerting information. The girl had already gone to a clinic for an abortion. She told Julia that she was at the abortion clinic for six hours, and that the clinic tested her for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and performed an ultrasound. However, they wouldn’t allow her to look at the ultrasound and didn’t inform her of the results of the STD tests. But that wasn’t the most astounding part. The clinic informed her that she was 20 weeks pregnant, but that at 20 weeks, the baby wasn’t formed yet. That was lie number one. They went on to tell her that if she did have the baby, she wouldn’t survive labor because she was so young. That was lie number two. When the girl asked about adoption, the clinic told her that no one would want to adopt a “biracial” “rapist’s baby.” That was lie number three. Pray for an end to our culture of death. June 18 is a special day for me as I experienced the miracle of life in the birth of one of my children. Stories like Julies help me to realize that we can end the murder of innocent babies if we pray and ask God to use us as his vessel in this important fight.

Today is the feast day celebrating St. Anthony of Padua who is recognized as a Doctor of the Church. This high honor indicates the importance of Anthony's writings and his life in general. Even though he died in 1231, his life is still a great example for those of us living in 2013. He also has a link with Pope Francis as Anthony was a Franciscan. He died at the age of 36 and was elevated to sainthood less than a year after his death. His teaching was very impactful as he strove to speak simply so that the message of salvation though Jesus Christ could be revealed to everyone regardless of their educational training. You will typically see Anthony pictured with a book in his hand indicating his teaching mission. He is also frequently pictured holding the Child Jesus because Anthony was visited miraculously by Christ in this form. For many years, Catholics created action groups in their parishes to feed the hungry, in response to Jesus' instruction. These groups were typically named for Anthony to signify his feeding of the minds of people by teaching the message of Jesus Christ. Anthony did have occasion to interact with St. Francis of Assisi. Francis had held a strong distrust of the place of theological studies in the life of his brotherhood, fearing that it might lead to an abandonment of their commitment to a life of real poverty. In Anthony, however, he found a kindred spirit for his vision, who was also able to provide the teaching needed by young members of the order who might seek ordination. He thereby entrusted the pursuit of studies for any of his friars to the care of Brother Anthony. From then on his skills were used to the utmost by the Church. The reason for invoking St. Anthony’s help in finding lost or stolen things is traced back to an incident in his own life. As the story goes, Anthony had a book of psalms that was very important to him. Besides the value of any book before the invention of printing, the psalter had the notes and comments he had made to use in teaching students in his Franciscan Order. A novice who had already grown tired of living religious life decided to depart the community. Besides going AWOL he also took Anthony’s psalter! Upon realizing his psalter was missing, Anthony prayed it would be found or returned to him. And after his prayer the thieving novice was moved to return the psalter to Anthony and to return to the Order, which accepted him back. Legend has embroidered this story a bit. It has the novice stopped in his flight by a horrible devil, brandishing an ax and threatening to trample him underfoot if he did not immediately return the book. Obviously a devil would hardly command anyone to do something good. But the core of the story would seem to be true. And the stolen book is said to be preserved in the Franciscan friary in Bologna. In any event, shortly after his death people began praying through Anthony to find or recover lost and stolen articles. And the Responsory of St. Anthony composed by his contemporary, Julian of Spires, O.F.M., proclaims, “The sea obeys and fetters break/And lifeless limbs thou dost restore/While treasures lost are found again/When young or old thine aid implore.” Today, as we remember and celebrate St. Anthony, I encourage you to take the message of the Gospels to everyone. Be zealous like Anthony and if they do not want to listen, say it anyway.

Pope Francis asked the tens of thousands of Catholics gathered in Saint Peter’s Square to overcome divisions and the fear of evangelizing by trusting that “God is stronger.” “Just as I said, it is enough to open a newspaper and we see that around us there is the presence of evil, the Devil is at work,” he said. “But I would like to say in a loud voice God is stronger, Do you believe this, that God is stronger?” he asked the thousands of pilgrims. He asked several times for them to repeat with him, “God is stronger! And you know why he is stronger?” he asked. “Because he is the Lord, the only Lord, God is stronger!” Pope Francis delivered his reflection on “the people of God” as part of a series on the Church as depicted in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. The Pope called on the crowd to make their lives “a light of Christ” to “bring the light of the Gospel to the whole world. Let’s think of the Olympic Stadium in Rome or that of San Lorenzo in Buenos Aires,” he said. “If on a dark night one person lights up a lamp, you can barely see it, but if each of over 70,000 spectators switches on his own light, the whole stadium lights up,” he remarked. Pope Francis also urged the crowd not be close themselves off from the world around them. “Jesus does not tell the Apostles and us to form an exclusive group, an elite group, Jesus says, ‘go and make disciples of all nations,’” he underscored. “The Church’s doors must be open so that all may come and that we can go out of those doors and proclaim the Gospel,” he added. The Pope also asked Catholics to be “yeast that ferments the dough, the salt that gives flavor and preserves from decay, and the light that brightens.” The pontiff explained that the term means “God does not really belong to any people.” He noted that the law of “the people of God” is “the law of love, love for God and love for our neighbor according to the new commandment that the Lord left us. It is recognizing God as the only Lord of life and, at the same time, accepting the other as a true brother, overcoming divisions, rivalry, misunderstandings, selfishness,” said Pope Francis. But according to him, the Church still has “far to go” to be able to live the law of love and we must ask God “to help us understand it. When we see in the many wars between Christians in the newspapers or on TV, how can the people of God understand this?” he asked. “Within the people of God there are so many wars and in neighborhoods, in workplaces, so many wars due to envy, jealousy!” the Pope remarked. The pontiff underscored that even within the same family, there are “so many internal wars.” He also spent time explaining how people become a part of “the people of God.” It is not through physical birth, he said, but through “a new birth. It is through Baptism that we are introduced to this people, through faith in Christ, the gift of God which must be nurtured and tended to throughout our whole life,” the Pope taught. The pontiff advised the pilgrims to ask themselves how they tend to the faith they have received and how they can make it grow. The Pope then explained that the ultimate goal is full communion with the Lord. “It’s to enter into his divine life where we will live the joy of his love without measure, that full joy,” he said.

On June 6 the Catholic Church honors Saint Norbert of Xanten – who started out as a frivolous and worldly cleric, but was changed by God’s grace into a powerful preacher and an important reformer of the Church during the early 12th century. He is the founder of the Norbertine order. Born around the year 1080 in the German town of Xanten, Norbert belonged to a high-ranking family with ties to the imperial court. As a young man he showed a high degree of intelligence and sophistication – which marked him out as a contender for offices within the Church, the state, or both. None of this, however, was any guarantee of a holy life. On the contrary, Norbert's gifts and advantages would prove to be a source of temptation even after he joined the ranks of the clergy. Norbert was ordained as a subdeacon, and enrolled with a group of clerics in his town, before moving on to an appointment with the powerful Archbishop of Cologne. He went on to serve the German Emperor Henry V, in a position which involved the distribution of aid to the poor. In all of this, however, Norbert displayed no particular piety or personal seriousness, living a rather pleasurable and luxurious life. His worldly outlook had been called into question in 1110, when he accompanied Emperor Henry V on a trip to Rome. The Pope and emperor were involved in a long-running dispute over the right to right to choose the Church's clergy and control its properties. As their negotiations failed, Norbert was moved by the Pope's argument that the Church must govern itself. At the same time, he saw his master Henry V take the extreme measure of imprisoning the Pope in order to have his way in the matter. This was not enough, in itself, to prompt a reform of Norbert's own life. That change would come from a brush with death, in approximately 1112: while riding on horseback near Xanten, he was caught in a storm and nearly killed by a lightning bolt. The frightened horse threw Norbert off, and he lay unconscious for some time. Sobered by the experience, he left his imperial post and began a period of prayer and discernment in a monastery. At age 35, he heard God calling him to the priesthood. Radically converted to the ideals of the Gospel, Norbert was now set against the worldly attitude he had once embodied. This made him unpopular with local clerics, who responded with insults and condemnation. But Norbert was not turning back. He gave all of his wealth to the poor, reducing himself to a barefoot and begging pilgrim who possessed nothing except the means to celebrate Mass. Pope Callixtus II gave Norbert permission to live as an itinerant preacher, and he was asked to found a religious order so that others might live after his example. He settled in the northern French region of Aisne, along with a small group of disciples who were to live according to the Rule of St. Augustine. On December 25, 1121, they were established as the Canons Regular of Premontre, also known as the Premonstratensians or Norbertines. Their founder also established a women’s branch of the order, before returning to Germany for a successful preaching tour. He founded a lay branch of the Premonstratensians (the Third Order of St. Norbert), and went on to Belgium, where he preached against a sect that denied the power of the sacraments. His order was invited into many Northern European dioceses, and there was talk of making Norbert a bishop. Though he avoided an earlier attempt to make him the Bishop of Wurzburg, Norbert was eventually chosen to become the Archbishop of Magdeburg in Germany. The archdiocese was in serious moral and financial trouble, and the new archbishop worked hard to reform it. His efforts were partly successful, but not universally accepted: Norbert was the target of three failed assassination attempts, made by opponents of his reforms. When a dispute arose over the papal succession in 1130, Norbert traveled to Rome to support the legitimate Pope Innocent II. Afterward he returned to Germany and became a close adviser to its Emperor Lothar. In a sense, his life seems to have come full-circle: the first hints of his conversion had come on a trip to Rome two decades earlier, when he accompanied a previous emperor. This time, however, Norbert was seeking God’s will, not his own advancement. With his health failing, Norbert was brought back to Magdeburg. He died there on June 6, 1134. Pope Gregory XIII canonized St. Norbert in 1582. As of 2012, the Premonstratensians are present in 25 nations around the world.