The Real Treasure

Homily of H.E., Most Rev. Charles John Brown D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines

Concluding Mass, Philippine Conference on New Evangelization

July 25, 2026 | PCNE 2026: Sangkay Day 2

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ: here at the Philippine Conference on New Evangelization 2026, which I believe is the 12th time we've held this conference on new evangelization here at UST.

For me, as your Apostolic Nuncio, that is, as a representative of Pope Leo XIV here in the Philippines, it gives me a lot of joy and happiness to be with you this evening, to celebrate this Holy Mass at the conclusion or the culmination of your days of enrichment and evangelization here together.

I thank the Director, Father Jason H. Laguerta, for having invited me to be with you. I want to greet Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza, and Bishop Jose Alan V. Dialogo, who are here; as well as the two priests from the Apostolic Nunciature, Monsignor Giuseppe Trentadue and Monsignor Guilherme De Melo Sanches, and all of us who are with you this evening, to reflect on the Holy Word of God. The powerful Word of God given to us this evening, in which Jesus gives us different parables about the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:44-52).

The Hidden Treasure

The first parable is the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field or buried in a field. When a man found it, he hid it, and in his joy, he went and sold all he had and bought the field.

The idea of the kingdom of heaven as treasure that is hidden. This is a very important parable for us in the work of evangelization. What does Jesus want us to understand by this parable? The treasure hidden in the field. What is it? I think, we can say, that the treasure hidden in the field is Jesus Himself. The love of Christ, the teaching of the Church about Jesus is a treasure. It's the most beautiful thing, but it's kind of hidden.

Think about this for a moment: how the reality of Jesus is somewhat hidden. Even the reality of the Church's teaching is somewhat hidden. When Jesus walked this earth in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, and people saw Him in the streets of Jerusalem or Nazareth, or Caesarea Philippi, they may not have seen anything extraordinary. They would have seen a young man with some followers walking, teaching, nothing particularly extraordinary, nothing particularly awesome about it. “Jesus is God-made-man. Jesus is Light from Light. Jesus is true God from true God.” Yet his appearance was very normal, very average.

So, the treasure of who Jesus was, was hidden, in a certain sense, in His humanity, in His naturalness. Not everyone, in fact, only few recognized the treasure, and saw the treasure 2000 years later. Think about the Catholic Church today. How many people look at the Catholic Church, and what do they see? They see an organization that runs hospitals, it runs very good schools, has people working in it, provides employment, does a lot of good works, has buildings. They are only seeing the surface; they're not seeing the treasure that is the Church. Because they don't recognize what the Church has in herself, which is Jesus, His love, His teaching.

All of this is treasure that's hidden; and the work of evangelization is to make that treasure known. So people don't just see the Church as an organization, a human organization, something doing good works, but they see the Church for what she is: The Body of Christ. That in the Church we find the treasure, which is Jesus and everything the Church teaches us about how to live. This is the treasure, and it is a treasure that's somewhat hidden because not everyone sees it.

Our work of evangelization is to make that treasure known, to make that treasure visible, to let that treasure impact on people's lives; because so many people, in their lives, at a certain point, will come to a realization of what the Church really is. That in the Tabernacle is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus.

In baptism, we are truly freed from our sins and given everlasting life. In the Eucharist, the life of God is increasing in us day by day. This is the treasure of the Church, but it's hidden somewhat, and we need to make it known by our teaching, by our catechesis, by the way we live. So, when people look at us and they see the way we treat that treasure, they will begin to recognize the treasure that is in the Church.

Jesus is teaching us that we as human beings are not simply a random combination, a chemical reaction, something that is completely scientifically describable by matter alone. That we are creatures of God. We have been created by God for a supernatural destiny, that we are on our way to the kingdom of God. This is the treasure, but the treasure is hidden. When we recognize that, and each of us, in our own way, at some point have come to realize that yes, Lord, you are here in the Church. I see you. I feel your presence. My life changes as a result. That is the way the saints have lived. The saints are those who recognize the treasure. The treasure, which is hidden to many, but the treasure that is visible to us. So, that is the treasure, Jesus.

The Pearl of Great Price

Then think about the next parable for a moment. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he found a pearl of great price, he went away, sold all he had, and bought it.

I said earlier that for us the treasure is Jesus and everything the Church teaches us about how to live. Now, this idea of the pearl, the pearl of great price, let's reverse in a certain sense our interpretation. Let's think about the gospel and how it speaks about finding.

In the Gospel of Luke, we have a number of parables about finding. We have the woman who had ten drachma, ten coins, loses one (Luke 15:8-10).  A drachma, brothers and sisters, is not a very valuable coin. It's a coin that is basically one day worth of wages. You get a drachma for a day's work. It's worth something, but not a lot. The woman had ten. She loses one. She sweeps the house until she finds it and calls in her relatives and her neighbors to rejoice. “I found my lost coin.” This drachma. So, we have this idea of lost and found.

Then we have the idea of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7). What shepherd has a hundred sheep, loses one, leaves the ninety-nine on this hillside, and goes in search of the one that was lost. We have in Luke also the Parable of the Lost Son, the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). The son who leaves the father's house goes into a life of debauchery and corruption, and then finally comes back home. What does the father say to the older brother? “Your brother is back. He was dead, and now he's alive. He was lost, but now he's found.”

We are all lost and found. So, the Parable of The Pearl of Great Price, we can interpret in the opposite way than The Parable of the Treasure. The pearl of great price is the human soul. The merchant is the One on the Cross, the One who went in search of that pearl and sold everything he had, His Body, His Blood on the Cross, to buy back that pearl that was of great price. Then we have that amazing correlation: Luke's Gospel, the drachma, a relatively low-value coin. In the Gospel of Matthew, we have the pearl of great price

It's true for all of us, brothers and sisters, when we look at our own lives, our own weakness, our own limitations. We feel like “I'm basically a drachma. I'm of little value,” but in the value, in the eyes of Jesus, you are the pearl of great price. He has sold everything. He has come from heaven and sold His Blood, given His Blood on the cross to redeem you, to buy you back. A redemptor, redeemer, “redemptory” means “to buy back”. So, we have this amazing correlation.

Yes, we are small and weak, but the Lord sees you in your weakness, in your littleness, as the pearl of great price.

So, we put these two ideas together. Jesus is the treasure; He has found you. The treasure has discovered you; and when you realize that, when you realize that, “Yes, I am the pearl,” He is the merchant. He sold everything to buy me back, to redeem me. Then you realize that you have been found by the treasure, and the Treasure is in love with you. Then everything changes in our lives. We can't live our lives as we used to live them, because we realize that we have been purchased at a great price: the price of the Blood of the Lamb.

So, all of these ideas are in our hearts and minds this evening: the idea of the treasure who is Jesus, the idea that He has found us and has redeemed us, in spite of our littleness, in spite of our almost worthlessness in our own eyes, but in the eyes of the Lord who loves you, you are the pearl of great price.

We need to imitate the Lord in that, and go forth in evangelization and see the most marginalized people, the most abandoned people, as pearls of great price, bought by the Blood of Jesus, loved by Jesus; not a drachma, not a cheap coin, but a pearl.

Every person living on the streets of Manila, every person addicted to drugs, every person who has been abandoned or forlorn is loved by the Lord with an infinite love; and that is the work of evangelization: to recognize that, and then to put into practice what the Lord wants us to do. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

So, yes, today we discover that Jesus is our Treasure. We realize that the Treasure has found us, and we are convinced that it is now the moment for us to really live our faith to the full, to manifest, to exemplify His love for all, His love for the abandoned.

We ask Our Lady, Holy Mother of God, Our Lady of the Abandoned, Our Lady who brought into the world that Pearl, that Treasure; that Treasure which is Jesus. Our Lady, we ask her to intercede for us, to pray for us in our work of the new evangelization.

In the name of Pope Leo XIV, I greet all of you. I congratulate you, and in His name, I bless you.

God bless you!

Transcribed by Joel V. Ocampo