When I started working for the Hospitaller Brothers, at the 1979 Extraordinary General Chapter, I didn’t know John of God. Since then, I have never ceased to marvel at the multiple facets of this uncommon personality. For thirty-five years now I have been translating meetings and texts on the life, mission and spirituality of this extraordinary man. This work has marked my life and continues to do so. Thanks to the Brothers’ witness, I have ‘returned to the Church’, as one would say once, and for this grace I will be eternally grateful to them. What moves me most about John of God is his infinite goodness, so simple and yet so effective.

Two sentences keep coming back to me: the first guides me in my professional life when I have to negotiate the fees and working conditions of interpreters and translators, which is not always easy. It is the advice given to Gutierre Lasso, whom John of God asked to sell a piece of property, making sure that this would cause detriment to no-one, neither the seller nor the poor whom the proceeds were destined for. The second is found in Castro’s biography and refers to the time John of God spent in Valladolid, where he went to raise funds for his poor but, deeply moved by the suffering of the destitute there, he distributed generously to them what he received. To those who would tell him to keep the money for his hospital in Granada he would reply, “giving it away here or giving it away at Granada, the same good is done for God who is everywhere." Whenever someone turns to me for help, these words echo in my heart and in my mind.