Vineyard

Our Lord told a story to the chief priests and elders of the people in Jerusalem, the Scribes and Pharisees:

"A man leased his vineyard to tenants. At harvest time he sent his servants to collect his share of the grapes. But the tenants thrashed one, stoned another, and killed the third. He sent more servants, and the tenants did the same thing — thrashed, stoned, killed. So the owner sent his son to them, thinking: ‘They will respect my son.’ But the tenants said to each other: ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, and we will have his inheritance.’ So they dragged him outside the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner do to those tenants?"

The Scribes and Pharisees said: "He will take the vineyard away from them, and lease it to those who will give him his grapes in due season."

Our Lord said: "You have judged rightly. The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a people who will yield a harvest."

The Pharisees were furious. And they did exactly what Our Lord said they would do. They dragged the Son of God outside the city, and killed him! They knew that he was talking about them. They knew it was prophecy. And they deliberately fulfilled his prophecy! They killed him.

And this is how the kingdom of God came to us. It was taken from the Chosen People, and given to us, the Gentiles. The faith was brought to us by Magellan, in the great galleons of Europe. That is how the Philippines became a Christian nation.

The story of Christianity in the Philippines is fascinating. In a way, we became the successors of the Chosen People. For centuries they were like a jewel box, treasuring the truth about God, in a pagan world. When Christ Our Lord came, the jewel box was opened, and the truth about God spread like wildfire over the whole Mediterranean area, over all the known world.

Here, in Asia, we are like that jewel box. The only Christian nation on the continent. Asia is two thirds of the world’s population. And we are the tiny jewel box off Christianity, set in the silver sea. There are only 120 million Catholics in Asia, and 70 million of them are in the Philippines1

We are accustomed to talk very humbly about our practice of religion. We are always beating our breasts, apologizing for our weaknesses, our failures, our faults, our sins. But we have actually fulfilled the prophecy of Christ Our Lord! We, really, have yielded a harvest!

Do you realize that when I came to this country, 64 years ago, there were 15 million people in the Philippines! 15 million! Now there are 75 million. We have given 60 million children to God, in my adult life!

I have been a priest for 56 years. In that time, do you know how many souls I have brought into the Faith?……Five!……Five adult baptisms! And most of these were Chinese college students who – at graduation – decided to become Catholics. I had the honor of baptizing them, but the real laborers in the harvest were the priests and nuns who taught them in school! But Filipino fathers, and Filipina mothers, have given life, and love, and the Faith, to 60 million children!

What is that "harvest" that Our Lord was talking about? It is not grapes!…..Grapes were the symbol, in the parable. It is not the soil of the vineyard. It is not the vines. It is men and women, boys and girls, children! It is the flocks of people pouring into the churches on Sunday. It is the long lines of men and women waiting patiently outside the confessionals in Baclaran! It is the little army of children in white, making their First Holy Communion. It is the children of God! That is the harvest!

We apologize for our poverty, and we blush about the members of our family who go abroad to earn a little money, and send it home – but this is the providence of God! Our Filipinos abroad are the backbone of countless parishes in the United States! Our Filipinos are the only ones who fill the churches in Europe! They are domestic servants. They are yayas. They are hard-working laborers. They are sometimes the rank and file of the employees in a great industry. But they are missionaries!

Where do all our Filipinos come from?…..From our families! In spite of all the efforts of foreigners to promote population control in the Philippines, and in spite of all the money they offer, they can not kill our love of life. We are poor in money, but we are rich in children. It was Rizal who said: "My people has always been poor.

For centuries our only possessions have been the land, the sea, the sun, the rain. But, having nothing, we discovered that our real treasure is…..each other!"

In our homes we quarrel with each other, and fight with each other, and stop speaking to each other – but we also make up, and help each other, and love each other, and rally around when any member of the family is in need. If our Lola is sick, we come from the ends of the earth to be with her when she goes home to God.

That is why John Paul II chose the Philippines as the host for the Fourth World Meeting of Families, in January of the Year 2003. In Asia, we are really the Gospel of Life, fighting the Culture of Death. With all our faults, with all our failures, with all our weaknesses, with all our sins – the Filipino family is still the finest in the world!

We are the laborers in the vineyard – poor, and not always the most efficient – but we laugh and sing during the harvest, because our vines have beautiful grapes, and we are glad to bring them to God.