2026 Cycle A - 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 12: 13, 16-19; Psalm 86:  5-6, 9-10, 15- 16;  Romans 8: 26-27; Matthew 13:24-43 or Matthew 13:24-30

Homily Theme

Mercy

As usual, there are as many different approaches to the scriptures as there are homilists to preach them. Even though every Catholic in the entire world will hear the same readings, each in our own language, there will not be two identical homilies among them, because different words or phrases will strike each of us in a different way as to their importance. The most obvious approach would be to speak about the wheat and the weeds from the Gospel, but what struck me was how many times we will hear such words as leniency, mercy and forgiveness. So my word this Sunday is about God’s Mercy. We are weeds among the wheat but He is lenient and kind toward us.

The theme started for me in the opening prayer where the priest asks God to be merciful to us. In the second reading we will hear that God judges with clemency and with much lenience he governs us. In the Psalm response we remind God several times that He is good and forgiving. His leniency toward us is inexhaustible. How many times have we sinned and how many times have we been forgiven in confession ? God really does love us with an unconditional love. Open your hearts today to receive His merciful Love.

In the Gospel Jesus teaches us by means of the parable about the weeds among the wheat. He will patiently wait for us till the end of time so that we can rely on his mercy right up until that moment. Yes, if we remain in our sins without seeking his mercy we will be the weeds among the wheat. Now is the time to turn to Him and allow Jesus, who is the merciful Gardner, to wash away our sins and to change us from weeds to wheat. 

In the second parable He encourages the Church to remember that the tiny mustard seed becomes a great bush in which the birds nest. Our Church started in a very tiny way and became the largest Church on earth in which we are feed with the Holy Eucharist and strengthened with the sacraments if we nest within her branches. It is a Church which contains many sinners who can become saints if they repent and reach out to God for His merciful love. Every saint was once a sinner. It is not too late for you or I to become one even if it is only to be a tiny one. All we need do is to reach out today for His merciful forgiveness. Don’t wait until it is too late.

In the third parable we are told of the yeast that changes the dough.  We are that dough and the yeast is the Holy Spirit that changes the hearts of the hardest sinners. Surrender to that power now and feel the infinite love of God who sent Jesus among us to save us from our sins for the everlasting joy in heaven where there will no longer be a need for mercy. We are all sinners and not one of us can deny that, so treat your fellow sinners with the same mercy that you wish to receive from our merciful God.