Anecdotes with the flavor of parables
Francis Harold Drinkwater (1886-1982), a priest of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, was one of the British pioneers in the field of catechetics, on which he wrote extensively and in which he achieved international prestige. Of his numerous works, one formed part of many Catholic parish, priestly and school libraries: "Catechism Stories. A teacher's aid-book", whose first volume was published at the beginning of World War II, translated into Spanish by Herder in 1958 with the title, perhaps not entirely fortunate, of "Historietas catequísticas". It was followed, due to its enormous success, by three other volumes.
After many years of painstaking compilation work in the ministry of the Word in its many and varied forms, Javier Fernández-Pacheco, author of successful works of spirituality published in the "Patmos" collection of Rialp, now offers us "The Word of God".Anecdotes with the flavor of parables". The subtitle -Road to happiness- expresses the uniqueness of most of the anecdotes, through which we can learn - and then teach - the happiness that Jesus has brought us.
Christ, Our Lord and Brother, compared to "water" the "Life" that he had come to bring to fallen humanity: "whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; the water that I will give him will become within him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life" (Jn 4:14). Moreover, he identified the Holy Spirit with the "water" that he carried within him and that he would give to drink to those who believed in him (cf. Jn 7:38-39).
I am certain that the pages of this book will be an opportunity to experience how the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity uses them to flutter over the soul, as He fluttered over the face of the waters at the beginning of the world (cf. Gen 1:2). And so, the work of Javier Fernandez-Pacheco could well have had as its title the surname of the author mentioned at the beginning of these lines - 'Drinkwater: "Drink water"` - as an invitation to quench the thirst for the Infinite that permeates the soul of every man.
