Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A: 15.02.26
Mass @ 10.30am – Cathedral
Introduction:
We are on the cusp of Lent and find ourselves confronted with a further tract from the Sermon on the Mount. It doesn’t rest easily on the ears. If we take the long version, which I imagine most churches won’t opt for this morning, we find ourselves confronted with pretty brutal messages around allowing eyes, hands, thoughts cause us to sin; we find ourselves at the altar when we realise we first must be at peace with our brother; we find ourselves unravelling what it means to swear an oath.
We will, like most congregations go with the shorter version of Matthews text, conscious that it still challenges our perceptions and disturbs our comforts. But then again isn’t that what Lent is supposed to do, to disturb us a little, so that as Pope Leo reminds us in his message for Lent 2026, we might “heed the voice of the Lord”. In a fast moving society where the demand of deadlines looms large, Lent invites us to allow ourselves to step back from being consumed by the anxieties and distractions of daily life and give God time, and in doing so, be gentle with ourselves in the process and so we pray …
As we go about our lives, the press of our duties and activities often leads us to forget your presence and your love – we sin and fail to live out the responsibilities that you have entrusted to those who were baptised into the life of your Son.
Grant to us, O Lord, a heart renewed … re-create in us your own spirit, Lord.
As we approach the season of Lent, Lord help us to turn our minds and hearts back to you. Lead us into sincere repentance and renew our lives with your grace. Help us to remember that we are sinners; even more help us to remember your loving mercy.
Grant to us, O Lord, a heart renewed … re-create in us your own spirit, Lord.
Renew us in your life O Lord. May our worship and prayer and penitence on this Temperance Sunday be sustained throughout the whole Season. Bring us refreshed and renewed to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection at Easter.
Grant to us, O Lord, a heart renewed … re-create in us your own spirit, Lord
Homily:
A word on Matthew’s gospel, the concentration is on the law, the fulfilment of the law, the Torah. Our culture looks on the law as something that restricts or contains us; in biblical terms, the law was quite the opposite. For the people of God, the word Torah meant instruction, wise guidance for living. There would be reverence for God and for His creation.
We are the ones who have complicated the law. The law in biblical days was good news for the people; for us its heavy, burdensome and at times wearisome!
What could be wrong with loving our enemies? What could be wrong with respecting life? What could be wrong with keeping sacred our marriage vows?
Of course we fail, at times fail miserably, but that’s why we have the Season of Lent. Forty days and forty nights in a desert not of sand, but of space to unpack what has gone awry in our lives. Back to Pope Leo’s message the opportunity to “heed the voice of the Lord” offering us three prisms to do just that – listening; fasting and being together.
Are we good listeners? Do we hear only what we want to hear? Pope Leo says “in the midst of the many voices present in our personal lives and in society, Sacred Scripture helps us to recognise and respond to the cry of those who are anguished and suffering”.
On fasting, we are not ever going to be the bread and water type, we are not ascetics, even the idea of fish on Friday as something penitential, I find these days fish can be more sumptuous than red meat! Perhaps we need to fast from the words that offend and hurt our neighbour. Pope Leo invites us to disarm our language, “avoiding harsh words and judgement, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves”. Let’s measure our words this Lent!
On the communal aspect of listening and fasting, maybe looking again at the place of Sunday in our lives, re-reading the recent Bishop’s Pastoral ‘Why Sunday Matters?’ maybe reflecting as parish groups on its contents? I’m amazed at those I know, some very close to me, who no longer see Sunday Mass as a linchpin in their week. Make the six Sundays of Lent a particular focus for the Season!
The Sermon on the Mount challenges us to go beyond ourselves. As a priest said to me the other evening, the sermon on the Mount is a depiction of Christ himself. See these precepts, these commandments as positive, ask how they might refocus your life. On that sermon Jesus brings his disciples and two thousand years later brings us all, to the heart of the Torah, to the heart of God’s will for us. If anything the gospel shows us how free we are, to say yes or no, but what will we do with this freedom. Have the no’s, the negativity in our lives, made us any happier? Have the no’s, the negativity, fulfilled us? Have the no’s, the negativity, made us better people?
This year the diocese is offering ‘Baptised and Sent’ a five session gospel reflection series during Lent. The content is linked to the conclusions of the Baptised and Sent preparatory document for last October’s pre-synodal assembly. Keep an eye on parish newsletters for more details. The Cathedral Parish here are offering an excellent scripture study group after the Friday 10am Mass during Lent in the Parish Centre. Consider joining it.
Traditionally today is a day of prayer and reflection on Temperance. A visit out the road to Sr. Consilio and her team at Cuan Mhuire shows the freedom and joy recovery from addiction brings. Taking a short-term Pioneer pledge is a gesture of solidarity with those living “one day at a time” according to the 12 step AA programme. Another consideration as Lent looms. May you all have a blessed lent!