2026 Cycle A - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sir 15:15-20; Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34; 1 Cor 2:6-10; Matt 5:17-37 or Matt 5:20-22a, 27-28, 33-34a

Homily Theme

The Choices we Make

The first reading this week, starts by telling us if we choose to keep the commandments they will save us.  The passage ends by telling us that God gives no one the license to sin. So we had better be careful what we choose. The psalm response which we repeat several times, reminds us that those who choose to follow the law of the Lord are blessed by Him and the Psalm lists several right choices. Listen well as they are read to you this week.  The choice is yours.

In the second reading we are given encouragement to choose Heaven as our final end. For the eye has not seen, nor the ear has heard, neither has it entered our hearts what God has prepared for us who choose to follow His plans for us. Think of the most beautiful sight you have ever seen: nothing compared to what you will see. The greatest sounds you have ever heard: nothing compared to what you will hear. The greatest love you have ever experienced in this life is nothing when compared to the love that awaits you in Heaven forever. It all depends on the choices we make here on earth.

The Gospel warns us not to water down God’s laws. There will be those who will do so, and those who will choose not to follow them, but Jesus warns us, they will be the least in the kingdom. Jesus tells us also to seek teachers who explain the laws of God properly and teach others to make the right choices in following them. As Roman Catholics, we are blessed to have the Magisterium of the Church to teach with infallibility the right and wrong choices.  There is no excuse for any Catholic not to know what they are.   Avoid mortal sins  and Hell at all cost.

How many of you have chosen to obtain the Catechism of the Catholic Church?  It outlines all the teachings we are to believe and follow. We can not make excuses therefore because we have chosen to listen to teachers who teach contrary to the teachings of the Church. The church teaches that life begins at conception and ends with natural death. There are Catholics who have chosen a different standard and vote for those who promote and permit abortions. There are Catholic couples whose marriages are not open to life when they choose contraception. They are making the wrong choices. There are those who choose not to attend Mass or confession when it is needed. They are wrong choices. These are harsh words for some but I have chosen to teach the infallible teachings of the Church in obedience to the Readings. I have listened carefully to the Gospel: it outlines many other things to be obeyed this week also. What we choose to disobey or ignore will definitely decide our eternal destiny.

Let us Make the right choices now: our eternal destiny depends on it.