A group of young adults in Spain are bringing to the big screen a novel about the renewal of the Cistercian Order by three saints who strove to recover the poverty, simplicity and austerity of the early monastic era. “Three Rebel Monks” tells the story of Saint Robert of Molesmes, Saint Albéric, and Saint Stephen Harding, who overcame the challenges of monasteries that resisted their efforts. The film is an adaptation of the book with the same title written by M. Raymond. The film director, Aleix Forcada, said that he began with a short university project and ended up with a thorough production. The film was shot at the medieval monastery of Santa Maria de Huerta in Soria, Spain, where there is currently a Cistercian community. Forcada and the other filmmakers are young adults in the Schoenstatt movement in Madrid. They spent four years in filming and editing, a period of time that they say has been an opportunity to encounter God, according to a press release on the movie. Although the film is set in the 12th century, Forcada said it can be considered contemporary “because it speaks to us of eternal values such as constancy, perseverance, trust, humility, effort, courage…values that don’t have anything to do with ideologies or distinctions, are for everyone.” He also emphasized that it has a special message for young people that are trying “to wake up from the toxic anesthesia of the ephemeral, of the ‘here and now.’ Things in life take time, and nothing comes without effort.” Forcada also said that “the whole process of filming was an experience of God. I couldn’t pick out an exact moment…the simple fact of having been able to complete the film is a clear sign of the presence of God.” The entire production and filming were made possible through small donations. Forcada said they received help from “anyone who could teach us how to organize film shoots with extras, anyone who gave us free lighting, the community of monks that welcomed us with such affection, the people that gave of their time to help us.” Forcada said he hopes that people who see the film “leave the movie theater in a reflective mood,” regardless of whether they are Christian.

Second-grader Taylor Garrison got the best birthday present ever April 12 -- her first Communion. She received the sacrament at St. Mark's Church in Edgewood on the day she turned 8. Her journey to meeting Jesus in the Eucharist wasn't easy, but came about through a combination of hard work, modern technology -- like an iPad and the Internet -- and God's grace. "I feel really excited," she said told The Witness, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, in an interview a few days before the special ceremony. "It was a little difficult, but I really wanted to have my first Communion." As a member of a military family, she currently lives at Fort Knox, an Army post in Kentucky, where her father is stationed. Because the Catholic resources there were lacking, Taylor's parents, Pam and Shane Garrison, looked elsewhere to enroll their daughter in a preparation class for the sacrament. "There are no religious education teachers here," said the mother. Both natives of Iowa, the Garrisons tried to sign up Taylor for first Communion classes at a parish near the Rock Island Arsenal, an island in the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. The family was hoping to get stationed there this summer after being on that base once before. Previously, their son had made his first confession in that parish. But the parish officials said preparations could not be done at a distance, as the family wanted, because their policy was to teach religious education only to children physically living in the parish community. Pam Garrison was discouraged, but did not give up.

To avoid living like pagans, Christians must guard against the temptation of "slipping toward worldliness and power" and of seeking Jesus only to fulfill their material interests, said Pope Francis. "This is the daily temptation for Christians, for all of us who make up the church," the pope said at his morning Mass April 20 in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. After the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the people in the day's Gospel account (Jn 6:22-29) seek Jesus not "because of the religious awe that leads one to worship God," the pope said, but "for their material interests." When one tries to profit from following Jesus -- an attitude frequently shown in the Gospels -- then one "risks not understanding" and even obscuring the "true mission of Jesus," said the pope. "Many people follow Jesus for their own interests," the pope said. "Even among his apostles: the sons of Zebedee, who wanted to be prime minister and finance minister, sought power. That fervor to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed and to proclaim a year of favor, becomes obscured," he said. "It is lost and it is transformed into something of power."

People from a variety of faiths and backgrounds will unite in Washington, D.C., April 25 to uphold marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the third annual March for Marriage. “It’s going to be a diverse group, and it’s going to highlight how people of different faiths and backgrounds all come together to support the truth, and marriage is the union of a man and a woman,” Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, told CNA. The third annual March for Marriage will take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and precedes April 28 oral arguments at the Supreme Court on a critical marriage case that could determine the civil definition of marriage nationwide. The march normally takes place in June, but Brown told CNA that this year it was rescheduled to April to coincide with the oral arguments for Obergefell v. Hodges. That case involves four marriage decisions by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in November. At that time, the court upheld traditional marriage laws in the four states in its jurisdiction – Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It was the first major victory for defense of marriage advocates at the federal circuit court level. The case is now before the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on whether same-sex have the legal “right to marry” nationwide under the 14th Amendment. An avalanche of amicus briefs have been filed for both sides of the case – hundreds of businesses, states, members of Congress, mayors, and religious leaders, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, have all weighed in on marriage before the Court. The final ruling will likely be issued near the end of June. “The Court will be deciding the most important decision on marriage that it’s ever faced,” Brown said, adding that through the march, “we have a chance to tell the Court” not to “short-circuit the democratic process and put into the Constitution something that’s clearly not there.” Defense of marriage advocates have argued that there is no legal right to “same-sex marriage” in the Constitution. They say that laws recognizing marriage as the union of man and woman are valid, as they recognize the uniquely procreative nature of the male-female union. Many also object to courts redefining marriage without any say from voters. March participants have come from all over the country in the past, Brown said. The national march in D.C. is expected to draw crowds from all faiths, as smaller marches take place around the country. “We’ll have a major turnout from Hispanic and African-American supporters,” Brown said, noting that New York Democratic state senator Rubén Díaz will join the New York Hispanic Clergy Association in leading “over 80, 90 buses coming up from the Bronx.” Speakers will include the Papal Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is also supporting the march, along with various Orthodox Catholic churches and other Christian leaders including Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Church in San Diego and Ryan Dobson, son of Dr. James Dobson. Orthodox and conservative Jews have also marched in the past, along with people of no religion who believe in traditional marriage, Brown noted. “We’re marching for freedom, we’re marching for truth, and we’re marching to tell the Court that it does not have the right to re-define something as fundamental as marriage as the union of a man and a woman,” he said.

For a "good Easter," Christians must do more than simply recall the passion of Jesus during Holy Week; they must "enter into the mystery" of the Easter Triduum and make Jesus' feelings and attitudes their own, Pope Francis said. During his general audience April 1, he also recalled the "true martyrs" of today, men and women who "offer their lives with Jesus" for their Christian faith. Their witness, in imitation of Christ's sacrifice, "reflects a ray of this perfect, full and pure love (of Christ)," he said. Theirs, he added, "is a service of Christian witness to the point of bloodshed. It is the service Christ did for us, he redeemed us." The pope began his catechesis, dedicated to the celebration of Holy Week and Easter, by saying that the death and resurrection of Christ are "the culmination" of the entire liturgical year and of the Christian life. The pope offered reflections for each day of the Triduum, beginning with Holy Thursday. With the "prophetic gesture" of washing the apostles' feet, Jesus expressed "the meaning of his life and passion -- service to God and brother," the pope said.