It sure is nice to be able to start this first newsletter of 1998 with the announcement that the JOHN OF THE CROSS video is complete! We head down to California in a few days for the Grand Premiere, which will take place in the Napa Valley, where the film was shot. Then on the 28th of February we will have another showing at the Hollywood Theater here in Portland. Someone recently told me that it is always worth the time to do something right. I believe that we have done this with this new video. The blood sweat and tears that went into it have produced a treasure, and I am so grateful.

I would have to say that last year was one of the most demanding, challenging, and exhausting moments in the history of Saint Luke Productions. It was absolutely crazy to produce not only the JOHN OF THE CROSS film, but our new live drama on SAINT THERESE at exactly the same time. But by the grace of God these two little miracles co-exist.

Now is the time to sit back for a moment and reflect on the lessons I have learned, and to look ahead to our vision for the future. Making a film involving a real screenplay, so many more people, locations, costumes, and other details was extremely complicated, and an amazing learning experience. With future projects, we will have a much better idea what we are getting into, and will be able to plan more accurately concerning the time it will take. However, I think God in His Providence used our naiveté to create something much more beautiful than we ever would have attempted had we known what was involved. I am grateful for the tremendous adventure that He took us on.

When I look to the future, I realize that audiences are ready and eager for more, especially as the year 2000 approaches. So we proceed ahead, but with a little more wisdom, perhaps, and hopefully a little common sense in reserve. Rather than jumping into new projects, I see that we need to create a solid foundation for Saint Luke Productions. This means we need more help - in the office , in promoting and fundraising, and in physical and technical organization, so that we can continue to produce new live and recorded dramas that evangelize the culture. My wife Patti and I have been wearing too many hats.

In 1998 we will begin the process of finding a new home for Saint Luke Productions, one that can accommodate other artists, especially the young, in a solid spiritual setting. We also will search out more ways to expose a wider secular audience to our dramas through better promotion.

We see clearly that we need your enthusiastic, loyal support to take our mission forward. Without your financial contributions, your donated talents and efforts, and most importantly our common spiritual vision, these latest two projects would not even exist. Thank you especially for your prayers, which have sustained us through many setbacks. Our dramas are a grassroots success, for all of you share in the responsibility for their creation. Please keep praying for Saint Luke, and give generously to support this work. The harvest is rich, but the laborers are few. Come join us, during this year dedicated to the Holy Spirit, as we prepare for the year 2000 Jubilee of Our Lord's birth.

God bless you,

I received a word from a friend recently that greatly encouraged me. I had become discouraged by my imperfections and lack of piety and devotion, in part because I was comparing myself to people whose style of spirituality was different from mine. I had begun to lose confidence in my own love for God.

This friend reminded me that I do have faith, and that that faith is reflected in my life. This thought really turned me around and restored my confidence. Yes, I do love God, and I don’t have to demonstrate it with overtly pious acts. With this thought came a rush of peace. I began to feel again, as I trusted in my own love for God, the Love that He has for me. This filled me with a joy that I haven’t felt in a long time.

How encouraging it was to hear that my life as a wife and mother, trying constantly to overcome my bad temper and selfishness, is the manifestation of my love for God. That made me feel so special, and that I am all right just the way I am. Why do I always compare myself to others? When I began to believe again that I love God, it opened up my heart to feel his love for me.

Lord thank you for letting me feel Your Love, and for letting me know that my own simple efforts are enough for You.

We thought he could get it done in two months, and then we would head into the studio to record the whole thing on simulated orchestra instruments on the computer. Randy began this daunting task in the midst of total chaos at work and at home, struggling to eke out an evening here or there, or perhaps a weekend when Monica would graciously take all the younger kids away overnight so he could get some peace and quiet. I doubt that Beethoven or Mozart were in the same situation. As Randy continued to work I could see that he had a penetrating insight into the characters and depth of the drama, and I knew that the final result would be glorious. He wrote everything in a kind of musical shorthand to save time, since he knew that he would be the one playing each instrument on a computer musical keyboard. No need for anyone else to understand as long as he did. Months passed and passed. Finally the score was ready for recording.

Then on December 18th., I got an urgent call from Randy at the studio where he was trying out the musical computer samples to create an orchestral sound for the film. "Leonardo, it's just not working. I have listened to every sample and they all sound too electronic. The string sections sound terrible. Is there any way we can do this with a live orchestra?" I realized this was a crucial moment, because Randy had worked so hard to do this not only right, but beautifully, and his voice communicated his frustration. I said, "How many musicians do we need?" He replied, "23 in the string section, 8 in the woodwinds section, 9 in the brass section, then we will also need piccolo, english horn, contra bassoon, timpani, pipe organ, harpsichord and classical guitar." I took a deep breath and said calmly, "Let me give it a try." I hung up the phone. Wow! This was a far cry from the days when we recorded the music for our early shows in the basement in three hours. How could we ever afford, let alone pull off, something like this? And how could we do it without delaying the video's release even more? God would certainly have to open some doors to make this one happen!

I quickly called Sister Marie Therese, the composer of the music for the Thérèse drama, which we had recorded in Seattle with her father, Vilem Sokol conducting the orchestra. "You have to help me," I begged. "Where do I begin?" I knew that her father was the key to making this whole impossible project happen. Without him, we could never pull this off. Sister suggested I give him a call and see if he were available. Also she told me to call Al Swanson, an excellent sound engineer, and see if he and the recording space were available as well. If all these elements fell into place, I would take it as a sign to proceed ahead.

Miraculously, everyone was free on January 3rd, but that was only three weeks away! Now how on earth was I to get what added up to 41 musicians at such short notice?. I didn't have a clue. Al Swanson connected me with David Sabee and the Seattle Music Company, whom I hired to oversee the whole event. He assembled the best musicians in the area, many of whom had been in the Seattle Youth Symphony when Mr. Sokol was its conductor, and loved and admired him. Everything seemed to be falling into place, except for one very major hitch. Randy had written the score in shorthand, and there were no parts for any of the instruments, nor a complete score for the conductor. Details, details!

Could this problem be solved in only two weeks? The only glimmer of hope was if we could find someone to input 900 bars of music into the Finale computer program, and separate the parts. After another flurry of ear-wearying phone calls I discovered Dave Mills, a wonderful jazz musician, composer, and a Finale musical score expert. "What are you doing during your Christmas vacation, Dave? How would you like a little challenge?" To my amazement, he dove right in.

The next two weeks were intense. I was driving from Randy to Dave, Dave to Randy bringing music to and fro. Then I discovered a company called Kinko's. I never would have gone there if I hadn't realized they were open 24 hours a day. I began showing up in the wee hours of the morning, making copies of all the music that was completed. All of us were pulling close to all-nighters to meet our deadline. The conductor, Mr. Sokol wanted to see the score a week before the recording, but now the clock was ticking and it was New Year's eve morning. Only three days to go! Miraculously Dave Mills was able to finish the conductor's score. What a worker! Thank you Jesus! I quickly jumped in the blue van and was off to Seattle to hand deliver it to Mr. Sokol. After about 40 miles I saw smoke pouring out of the engine. Great!. I turned around and, still smoking, drove into my driveway and jumped into our old white beater Dodge van (the Luke mobile), which is always on its last legs, and headed off once again. Mr. Sokol was ready to give up on us when I arrived at his door with a painting of the Madonna and child, a relic of St. John of the Cross and the conductor's copy. I quickly returned to Portland, and spent the night making more copies for all the parts. I wasn't getting any sleep, but I was sure getting an education.

We headed for Seattle and the recording on afternoon of the 2nd, music in hand. Late that night at the Carmelite Monastery, Randy and Sister Marie Therese and her sister Jenny corrected all the music for the parts. There were a number of wrong notes. Then I stayed up till 6 in the morning making the final copies at Kinko's, slept an hour and arrived for our 9:00AM call. I must have looked like one of the Marx brothers. Randy was nervous, hoping everything was prepared, and I ran around trying to make last minute preparations. K.C. Lynch, the director, and my wife Patti had come up for the recording to just enjoy this beautiful moment. It wasn't everyday that one heard this size of an orchestra perform for such a show and such a saint.

When we first heard the full string section in action with the woodwinds, brass, and timpani, we all got a little teary-eyed, except for Randy who had to watch and listen for every little note. Our sentimentality was short lived. The recording was going too slowly and they were going to lose players, so they started chopping up the music. In other words, they recorded every piece of music out of sequence. By that time, Randy the composer wasn't even sure where they were in his score. The pressure was tremendous, because we were not sure if we could complete the recording that day. K.C. and Randy were getting splitting headaches sitting behind the 4 french horns all day, and I was begging God to let us finish, after all that we had gone through to get to this point. In the midst of all of this, Mr. Sokol, the conductor, kept his cool and his humor and made all the musicians feel relaxed. When the clock struck 7:00PM it was all over and the deed had been done. Believe it or not, every note on the score had been recorded. We were all in a daze.

Then it was back to Portland for the final edits, and the addition of the music to the actual film. Finally we added the poetry of John of the Cross to the musical interludes in the film. When all these pieces were together, we gathered in the little editing room to watch the final video. K.C. Lynch, Randy, Patti and I and the sound and video editors were there, and we all had tears in our eyes as we watched the final scene. To see something that you have worked so hard on for so long come together so beautifully was a bit overwhelming. It is, we know, a testimony to the incredible generosity of God, who asks us to trust him and to do impossible things for his Glory. I can't wait for you to see it.

"The first challenge was the story itself. MAXIMILIAN: SAINT OF AUSCHWITZ, which I also directed, was a natural story for a film if ever there was one. MAXIMILIAN was set in our own century. It had a hero who died a true martyr’s death. And of course it had the best of all possible villains, Hitler and the Nazis (film makers love these guys). It was a classic confrontation between that which is clearly good and that which is clearly evil, ending in the hero’s death and redemption.

But when Leonardo first talked to me about doing a film on John’s life, I was more than a little skeptical. Who was this John of the Cross? When did he live? What did he do? What happened in his life. The historical record suggested that the dramatic events that defined his life were very much tied to what seemed (to me) to be an obscure and factional war fought within the Carmelite Order over four hundred years ago. I found myself asking why people today would want to see a movie based on those events.

Then the answer came, and the ‘why’ became apparent. Early in the film, the narrator, Don Alonso, speaks of John: ‘He didn’t have happy life, yet inside, that’s where the real drama was.’ That was the revelation for me, that this story would be about a man’s interior life and his passion for his God. Above all it would be about that passion made manifest in some of the most sublime and mystical poetry ever written. John of the Cross’ poetry transcends his life and times. It speaks to anyone who has ever been in love. Once we realized that we began to understand just what movie it was we would try to make.

But how could we make it? And where? How could we recreate the look of the Spanish Renaissance? First we looked at Spain itself, then at locations in colonial Mexico, but the budget wouldn’t stretch nearly that far. So we looked closer to home. Perhaps we could shoot our exteriors in Eastern Oregon, and build our interior sets in a studio. But Oregon just didn’t look right. Nothing did. Then Leonardo told me about monasteries in the Napa Valley where he had grown up. We scouted the Christian Brothers monastery at Mount LaSalle, and the Carmelite monasteries of Oakville and Santa Clara, and realized that maybe, just maybe, they could offer us the look and feel the story demanded. Leonardo, Patti and the kids could stay with his mom and dad, and the magnificent fathers of Oakville offered to put up the film crew. We had a home base, we had locations that could evoke 16th Century Spain. At last we had a place to start.

When Patti and I made the film’s final edit late one Saturday night, we couldn’t help but reflect on the fact that we were finishing something that had never really seemed possible. And certainly it would not have been possible without the incredible faith, zeal, and hard work of the countless families who volunteered their time and talents to the making of the film.

People ask me about the technical challenges of directing a single actor playing multiple roles in a single scene. And I say it’s simple, it all depends on having the right actor. For instance, in a scene where John, then a young student, tells his patron Don Alonso that God is calling him to enter the Carmelites, John, played by Leonardo, is clean-shaven, while Don Alonso, also played by Leonardo, sports a natural beard; yet both appear to be in the same room at the same time. What matters to me is not when someone asks how we did that, but says, ‘You know, when I was watching that scene I believed those were two different people.’ That’s acting.

In the making of John of the Cross, so many things ‘couldn’t be done,’ and yet somehow were. Even now I’m not sure how we got this far, but I’m struck by Madre Teresa’s line to John spoken when first they meet in the film, ‘Don’t worry, it shall be done by God.’"

HELP SAINT LUKE CONTINUE THIS EXCITING WORK

High-quality videos and live shows are EXPENSIVE! But the reward is worth it, for television touches more hearts than any other evangelization tool and live drama has an impact that is personal and intense. We need your help to keep producing these dramas.

Our next step is to hire someone with an expertise in marketing, fundraising, and strategic planning to help us raise the funds we need to produce future projects, and build a strong base for our organization. We need your financial contributions, so that we can offer this person a starting salary. This position would eventually become self-supporting.

Do you share our vision of renewing and evangelizing the culture through excellent live dramas and videos? We invite you to become a partner in this work. We depend very much on your generous financial contributions, so please send what you can.

PLEASE KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS!

Please see the following links for current scheduling or booking information.