St Norbert

Norbert was born into a rich family and he loved the good and easy life.  He didn’t like doing things that were hard.  He joined the German royal court and continued leading a very fun, easy and selfish life, thinking of only himself.  Then one day he was riding his horse in a storm.  There was a big strike of lightening that scared his horse and made it jump.  This threw Norbert off the horse and onto the muddy ground where he was knocked unconscious (not able to move or think).  He lay there in the mud getting wet by the rain for over an hour.  When he woke up he repeated the words that St. Paul said to God when he was knocked off his horse, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”  God said to him, “Turn from evil and do good.  Seek peace and pursue it.”  So Norbert sold everything he had and gave it to the poor.  He become a priest and started preaching, walking everywhere barefoot in order to do penance (doing hard things because you feel bad about the sins you have done or others have done) for the life he had lead.  The Pope saw how he had changed and gave him some land to start an Order, which was very popular because of its strict ways.  Soon there were 8 Abbeys and 2 Convents.  Fr. Norbert later became Pope and was very well respected by the Church all over the world.