I have collected some anecdotes in Brother Gabriel’s life thinking of the youngest members of the Sa-Fa Family. They are intended to bring them closer to Brother Gabriel in a simple and attractive way, in the hope that the teachers and animators will know how to set these episodes in the context of his story. To this end I have placed at the end a brief chronology to help in this task. It will also be necessary to explain some terms.

Several of these scenes, in addition to personal or group reading, also lend themselves to dialogical staging or other forms of representation that experience and pedagogical creativity may suggest.

The layout and artistic decoration of the publication are signed by Brother Edgardo Campos. The beauty of forms and colours is a great added value to the texts. The effort to capture in a drawing the content of each anecdote offers a motive for contemplation and reflection that certainly the youngest with their ease of intuition and imagination will be able to easily grasp.

It will be a way of contributing to the realization of Brother Gabriel’s great dream, which he expressed in this way speaking of the Congregation he had founded: “It is a satisfaction for us, dear Brothers, to see the branches of this beloved tree spread over a large number of dioceses and that under its benefactor’s shade thousands of children come to take shelter. May it grow even more so that it may serve as a shelter for a greater number of young souls who are threatened by the wind of passion to dry up and burn, even within the garden of the Church, where the grace of Baptism has placed them. Yes, may God grant that this tree, the object of our wakefulness, may grow more and more widespread; that it may be deeply rooted in piety, humility, purity and obedience, and that it may be continually watered by the life-giving waters of grace” (Introduction to the New Guide).

Brother Teodoro Berzal

La Horra, May 2020