In the parable of the vineyard, Christ tells the story of a man who, before going abroad, planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants.

Upon returning, he sent servants to ask them for the fruit from his land. They refused, beat and killed the servants and murdered the landlord’s son sent to claim what was rightfully his.

The owner angrily ordered the villanous tenants to be killed and then “Let out the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him the fruit in their seasons”.

The tenants were those Jews who refused Christ, the murdered servants were the prophets and the landlord’s son Jesus Himself. The Gentiles inherited the ‘vineyard’ and proceeded to produce ‘fruit’.

What Jesus told His Jewish hearers applies to us living in the developed, post-Christian world: “gratified and desperate” as Cardinal Giacomo Biffi of Bologna once said.

Christians are today often derided, marginalised and subjected to a subtle persecution.

In the developing world, on the other hand, the Catholic Church especially, is experiencing wondrous growth.

Christ never bound the survival of His Church to a particular continent or hemisphere.(The southern flank of the Mediterranean was entirely Christian and is now almost completely Muslim.)

He made it clear that if we do not accept His Gospel, He will give His gifts to those who enthusiastically embrace them. So did many of the Gentiles who heard St Paul’s preachings. Moreover, the Lord told followers how to behave when met with the closed hearts and minds of those who refuse His teachings.

“And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town”.