Born in the late 11th century in the Premontre region of northern France, Norbert founded the religious order of the Norbertines. He lived in an area of great warfare and enmity. He faced a lot of indifference amongst the faithful. With a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, he and the Norbertines had great success in converting heretics back to the faith and rebuilding the faith in indifferent believers. The members of the Norbertines lived in priories during the week and served in ministry in parishes on the weekends. Norbert was named archbishop of Magdeburg in central Germany, a region that had a large pagan population. He worked courageously for the faith until his death in 1134.
In the Gospel today, Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment of all, in which he states it is love of God and love of neighbor. I remember telling some friends in Yazoo City the other week that if our ministry is not full of the love of Christ, we are missing the point. I remember the Norbertine priests who served in our Diocese for many years, with their priory in Raymond, the order founded by St Norbert. We give thanks for the many priests and sisters who have come to our Diocese from different parts of the United States and from different parts of the world, bringing us the Gospel message and the love of Christ.
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