– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade (bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)
An Indian chief knew he was about to die. He was in bed thinking about the future leadership of his tribe.
After some time thinking, he decided to call his three sons to his bedside and ask them:
“My sons..! You know I am about to die. For the continuation and survival of our tribe I need to choose the future chief. It is a very important task full of big responsibilities. I want the three of you to climb that mountain and bring me the most precious thing you find on top of it. Just one thing. Nobody has climbed that mountain before. Nobody knows what’s there. Please go and may the gods of our ancestors bless you on your journey.”
Some weeks passed by and finally the three brothers returned from their journey to the mountain.
The oldest son approached his father and showed him a beautiful little rock.
“My father, here is the most precious thing I found in that mountain. The mountain is full of rocks like this. They look so great and they help the mountain to look solemn and strong.”
The second son approached his father and showed him a little beautiful plant.
“My father,” said the second son. “This is the most precious thing I found in that mountain. There are many of these plants. Some smaller, some bigger but I think they are the most precious thing that exists on the top of that mountain.”
The youngest son was feeling embarrassed. He approached his father with his empty hands and was afraid that his father would feel disappointed with him because he was the only one who had brought nothing.
Then after a few moments of silence he told his father
“My father, I am sorry. I didn’t have the time to look for anything special and precious on the top of the mountain because I was so fascinated by something that I saw a far away from our village. What I saw almost took my breath away. I saw a big, big valley. It is so green. With a large river of crystal clean water and a few lakes. I thought that it would be the answer and the miracle for our starving tribe. Our people could work the land, plant their vegetables, use the abundant water to drink, to water their plants, to cook, to swim, to play, to feed and grow their animals. Oh my father, I am sorry. I was so obsessed with this new finding that I had no time to look for other important things on the top of the mountain.”
“My dear son,” said the chief. “You brought the most precious thing from the top of the mountain. You brought a vision that is going to change and save our families and our tribe. Thank you, my son. You are going to be my successor. You are going to be the future chief of our tribe, because you have a vision, you brought a vision that is going to free our people from poverty and restore in them human dignity. Now I can die in peace. My life was worth living. I raised and left a son with a VISION.”
***
We are the followers of Jesus. We have been grafted in Him. Through Baptism we are mandated to carry out His vision, His project and His work. For some of us the vision of Jesus is to play with beautiful rocks, for other is to carry beautiful little plants and flowers because we have to look good and go to heaven, yet for others it is to restore the dignity of every human being.
«It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me» (Gal. 2, 20).
God loves you and so do I,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade