There is a wonderful little story about a tribal chief who lay dying. He summoned three of his most trusted advisors and said, “ Because I am childless, I must select a successor. Climb our holy mountain and return with the most precious thing you can find. The one of you with the most precious will rule our people”. The first brought back a huge gold nugget. The second brought back a priceless gem. The third returned empty handed, saying, “When I reached the mountaintop, I saw on the other side a beautiful land, where our people could go for a better life .” The chief said, “You shall succeed me. You’ve brought back the most precious gift of all: a vision for a better tomorrow.” The point of the story for we who are disciples of Jesus is that we too are called to bring a better tomorrow to our world. If each one of us truly worked for justice and peace, if we truly tried to overcome all prejudice and discrimination, if we treated every other human person as a beloved son or daughter of God, would the world not be filled with better tomorrows? Our vocation is not simply to avoid sin and hope to get to heaven. It is to prepare for God a new earth, the world He always envisioned when He created it. As Jesus has said to us, “What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in the broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops.” (Mt 10:27)
