From the Radiomessage of Albino Cardinal Luciani, Patriarch of Venice, and future Pope John Paul I, December 25, 1971.
The Christmas crib . . . does not only fill the eyes of the children with enchantment and wonder, it is not only a happy note of color; it is a book that even the adults must decipher and read. It sums up life as it appears to the eyes of us Christians. At the top, above the stable, the angels who announce Christ’s birth. In the middle, the baby. Near him Mary, the “wondrous mother” and Joseph her husband. Around them, the poor shepherds and the rich Magi. Also standing around are the animals most closely tied to man: the ox and the ass in the stall, the shepherds’ lambs. Here there is an ecumenical brotherhood; there is an covenant between the high and the low, between the beasts and man, of all men with each other, between men and God.
But the center, the light, the sun of this picture is the baby: God made man, who has become our brother. Looking at him, the Christians of the East are accustomed to say: “How great you have made us, Lord!” We Venetians, on the other hand, say, “How small you have made yourself, Lord!” And we add: “It is truly fortunate that you have come! We are wretched and burdened with debts towards God the Father, but between the Father and us, now there is you. It is like when we put on red glasses and everything appears red to us: the Father looks at us through the red of your goodness and makes us good and finds us good too!”
You have loved us, O Lord! The crib and Bethlehem are only a beginning. Nazareth, Jerusalem, Calvary, the cross and the resurrection are the completion. They say to us, “He has done everything for you. What will you do for him?”
A Blessed Christmas to everyone!
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Here is the news that went out today. Now that the film is completed at last, I look forward to regular blogging again Thanks to everyone for your patience.
Yes, the DVDs are here at last! The documentary on St. Elizabeth is done!
The first shipment went out on December 17. I am gradually filling orders over vacation. Many of you who ordered or donated will be receiving your copies very soon, if you haven’t received them already.
If you have not ordered yet, now is the time! Go here for your copy.
A few other notes. I wasn’t able to finish all the subtitles, but this version, for the North American release, has subtitles in English, Spanish and Italian. The wonderful woman, a Secular Franciscan, who is doing the French subtitles was unexpectedly hospitalized, and could not finish them
in time. (She has many troubles and could use your prayers). We are still working on the French, German and Hungarian subtitles, and they will go on the next release, hopefully right after Christmas. No closed-captioning as yet; I am also working on that.
Due to the time-consuming nature of putting subtitles into the whole film, I didn’t have time to finish the study guide in time to put it on the DVD in PDF form as planned, though I expect to do so in later issues. In the meantime, I will start putting up the parts that are finished on the
film’s website
www.stelizabethdocumentary.com
Look for them by the beginning of the new year. This could actually be the start of a fascinating project. I would like to invite anyone who uses the DVD for Franciscan formation to send in any study materials they have developed and I will post these on the website as well, so they can be
useful to others.
Also, there are a still a few orders, mostly foreign ones that, due to the terribly clumsy nature of the Paypal interface, have reached me without any shipping charges added. For foreign mail, this is a considerable amount ($13.95). I will need to contact each of these people individually
to solve this problem. So if you haven’t received your DVD yet, this may be the reason.
Thanks again to everyone who made this possible. A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!
Gratefully,
Lori Pieper, SFO
Tau Cross Books and Media
Filed under: St. Elizabeth Documentary, St. Elizabeth of Hungary | |No Comments
