Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (2026)
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Sirach 15:15-20
Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34 (1b)
1 Corinthians 2:6-10
Matthew 5:17-37
February 15, 2026
“If you choose, you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if your trust in God, you too shall live.”
What way do you choose? Do you choose to keep God’s commandments or do you choose to go your own way or the ways of the world?
You are free to choose but understand the choice you make comes with consequences. You can choose “life and death, good and evil.”
If you choose evil, you choose death, for to choose evil is to separate yourself from God and that is the worst death there is. If we choose good, we choose eternal life.
If we choose to break one or more of the commandments and/or “teach others to do so” we choose evil. If we choose evil, we choose to spend eternity in Hell. On the other hand, if we choose to obey and teach God’s commandments, we will be great in Heaven.
It is not easy to choose to keep the commandments. It is hard. We need grace to choose good over evil. God will give you the grace if you let him.
If we let him?
Who would not welcome the grace? Anyone who wants to do things their own way. Do you give your will over to God?
For many people today freedom has become their “god.” They say people have to be free to make their own choices. We are free. God does not force His Will upon us. However, that does not mean we should choose anything that is not God’s Will. As Pope St. John Paul II said, “Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought” (“Homily of his holiness John Paul II” during his Apostolic Journey to America. Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore. October 8, 1995 7.)
When we see someone else doing evil, we might think that God should stop them. God could take away their free will. He could also take away your free will but where would that leave us? Without free will, there would not be love. To love God is to choose what is good.
We need to make good choices and to help others do the same for “Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!” Our way is blameless if we choose to “walk in the law of the LORD” and “observe his decrees.”
Do we comprehend what it means to be blessed? Sometimes people equate being happy to being blessed. I see a difference and it is a very important difference.
We are happy when life in this world is going well. We have enough money, a place to live…It is good to be happy but it can be dependent on worldly things.
We are blessed when we follow the way of the Lord. God’s way, his commandments and decrees are what is good for us. Following them brings us peace. The peace that God offers is not dependent on worldly things.
To help us choose the good, the Holy Spirit gives us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. It is “not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age.” Rather it is God’s wisdom, which is mysterious and hidden, “which God predetermined before the ages for our glory.”
Do you think you know better than God? He is all knowing. We are not. How could we possibly think we know better than God?
Yet that is exactly what we are saying when we choose to live other than following God’s commandments.
The devil is cunning. He wants us to sin. So, the devil is always trying to tempt us. The devil always tries to lead us to the occasions of sin. It is hard to resist sin because sin can have immediate and tangible pleasure.
Jesus knows it is hard. We might wish that Jesus would have abolished the law and the teachings of the prophets. He did not and He says as much, “I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” He tells us that even “the smallest part of a letter” of the law remains.
Jesus does not abolish the Law. He doesn’t even lessen it. In fact, it can seem like He adds to it. He speaks of the Fifth Commandment, “You shall not kill” and tells us to not even be angry. It might seem impossible but we cannot let our anger control us. If we let anger take over, we will grow in sin.
The anger takes up space in our heart meant for love. That’s why that if we come to God’s altar and realize that someone has something against us, we must seek reconciliation so that we make room for God’s Love that He offers at his altar.
The Sixth Commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery.” God created us as sexual beings but not for the physical pleasure of it. God created human sexuality to be an expression of love between a man and a woman. Human sexuality can bring physical pleasure but that is not its purpose. Jesus tells us that lust is like adultery because it focuses on the physical rather than the person and love.
Jesus goes on to help us understood sin and temptation. If we want to be saved, if we want to enter Heaven, then it is important for us to recognize sin for what it is, a rejection of God’s Will.
The physical pleasure (happiness) that we might find in sinful acts lasts maybe a few minutes. The joy that comes with choosing to follow God’s Commandments is eternal and it is what makes us blessed.
If we choose to follow Jesus as “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6), then we need to pray this in our hearts, “Open my eyes, that I may consider the wonders of your low. Instruct me, O LORD, in the way of your statutes, that I may exactly observe them.”
If we find ourselves unsure about what God’s Law says about a particular situation we face, we can and should ask for the gift of discernment (aka the gift of the Holy Spirit known as counsel or right judgment). We also can ask for the gift of courage from the Holy Spirit when needed to keep the commandments.
Your future is your choice. You can choose to follow worldly ways or you can choose to follow Jesus. The latter brings you salvation. The former does not.
The choice is yours.