12 How the Church Has Changed the World Magnificat anima mea. One of the lambs gives a shy bleat. The ox and the ass look on, padding now and then in their places, snuffling at the hay, or looking upon the people with their large expressive eyes. Then the master arises to his feet, and begins to sing. Puer nobis nascitur: A boy is born for us! Song after song, some in Latin, some in the Italian dialect of Umbria, rises up from the men and women and children, from the brothers in their coarse brown tunics, and from the angels surrounding the grotto, made all the lovelier by the occasional confusion of the animals, for they too partake of this glory. A few of the grandees of Assisi are present, but in this world, the real world, what is small is great and what is great is small, and not all their gay robes draw the eyes of the people as do the children in white, the ox and the ass and the sheep, the girl Mary and the boy Joseph, and the figure of the Holy Child. Then, after the poetry of praise, and after a time of silence that even the dogs in their sagaciousness observe, the poor man of God, Francis Bernardone, steps before the people and preaches to them of the meaning of this night. “This is anewthing in theworld,” he says. “This is perhaps the only new thing the world has ever seen.” And he speaks to them of the Child in the manger. It is not only that God has deigned to come among us in so humble a guise. It is that he is instructing us
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzMzNzY=