6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - February 15, 2026

6^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – A 

February 15, 2026  8:30am 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Anger

 

For just a minute, imagine this.

 

At work, on your job, a coworker starts talking to others and maybe even the boss about what they did on a particular project. They pass themselves off as having come up with the idea or done a major part of the work, when it was really you who made it happen. 

 

You feel upset and angry. And this is natural, isn’t it?

 

Your anger signals that an injustice has occurred. So, what do you do with your anger?

 

In what I call a healthy and gospel-based response, you pause, you reflect, and then you address the issue as respectfully as you can. Perhaps you speak privately with the coworker and express your upset.

 

Or perhaps you speak with your supervisor and clarify your contribution to the project. Your anger motivates you to pursue fairness while still respecting the coworker’s dignity.

 

Healthy or Unhealthy 

 

The point here is that anger, by itself, is not sinful.

 

It is a human feeling, a part of who we are as human beings. Healthy or normal anger is an emotional response to something that is unjust, harmful, or wrong.

On the flip side, what is called unhealthy or sinful anger goes beyond recognizing what is unjust, harmful, or wrong. It becomes hurtful, even destructive.

 

Healthy anger is controlled and directed at the problem. But sinful anger attacks the person.

 

You may gossip about your coworker and label them as dishonest. You may hope that they fail and even want to take revenge.  

 

Jesus and Anger

 

This distinction helps explain Jesus’ words in today’s gospel. 

 

Jesus says; “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not kill.’ But I say to you, whoever is angry with another will be liable to judgment.”

 

Jesus moves the focus from the outward act of murder to the inward attitude of the heart. The insight is that murder does not begin with a weapon.

 

It begins with contempt and hatred. When anger turns into contempt and hatred, it has  the spirit that leads to violence. 

 

So, Jesus is not condemning the emotion of anger in itself. Instead, he wants us to get in touch with our feelings of anger and express them in a constructive way.

 

Healthy anger seeks justice while preserving respect. Sinful anger seeks to wound, diminish, or destroy. 

 

There is a big difference. And basically, the difference lies in whether our heart remains aligned with God’s mercy or drifts toward contempt and hatred. 

 

Sexuality and Oaths

 

Jesus gives two other examples in this passage, and he wants us to deal with them in the same way – moving from just the outer act to our inner attitude. 

 

So, he speaks of marriage and sexual expression. He wants us to integrate our sexual drives – a part of who we are as human beings – he wants us to integrate them into a life lived by gospel values.

 

Jesus is calling us to lives of faithful love. And he is calling us to respect others as persons and not view them as objects for our own pleasure. 

 

And then Jesus speaks of oaths. He is not putting down the use of oaths in a courtroom.

 

But he is saying that there is no need for swearing oaths in ordinary life. Simply speak what is within you and say Yes if you mean Yes and No if you mean No. 

 

From Outer to Inner

 

So, to wrap it up, let’s go back to where Jesus begins today: “I have not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.”

 

He wants us to go beyond the law, as something outside of us that we just must obey. He wants us to go within and live out the spirit of the law, the values and principles that are its foundation.

 

Living this fulfillment of the law will give us a sense of fullness. It will make us more at peace with Jesus and with one another.  

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - February 8, 2026

 5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – A 

February 8, 2026    5:00pm 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Salt

 

Here is something very familiar to all of us – a box of Morton’s salt. 

 

We all know that salt, in its various forms, has a lot of qualities or uses. For example, if we run out of toothpaste, we can brush with a mixture of soda and salt because of salt’s cleansingqualities. 

 

If we get a sore throat, we can gargle with salt because of its healing qualities. If we’re hungry, we can cure a ham with salt because of its preserving qualities.  

 

We can flavor just about every food with salt. We can use it to melt ice on the sidewalk or street in the winter.  

 

We’ve seen a lot of that in the past few weeks! And we can also use it to put out fires.  

 

So, salt has lots of uses and these uses tell us a lot about why Jesus calls us “the salt of the earth.” His idea is that with his presence and following his way, we can be “the salt of the earth.”

 

“Salt of the Earth” 

 

For example, we can flavor our families with selflessness, by thinking in terms of our well-being and not just my well-being. We can cleanse our marriages by asking for forgiveness when we have offended our spouse. 

 

Like salt, we can heal a friendship by granting forgiveness. We can preserve the relationship with our older parents by making time to visit and assist them. 

 

Like salt, we can melt the coldness that can creep into work relationships by a few positive words. We can put out the fires that can flare up with our children by listening to feelings and dealing with the root of the issue.

 

And we cannot forget this one: we can give lightness to our relationships by not taking everything too seriously and by taking some things with a grain of salt. So, there it is, a box of salt, being “the salt of the earth” – they are some of the qualities that Jesus must have in mind here.

 

Light

 

Now, in today’s passage, Jesus goes on to call us also “the light of the world.”

 

This leads me to recall an article that I read some years ago about a prayer breakfast. The speaker was emphasizing our duty to be “the light of the world.”  

 

He said that he had an experience at home that really helped him understand this. He went down into his basement one day and made an interesting discovery.  

 

Some potatoes were over in the darkest corner of the basement, and they had begun to sprout. At first, he couldn’t figure out how they had gotten enough light.

 

He looked around and then realized what had happened. His wife had hung a shiny kettle from the ceiling near the basement window.   

 

That kettle was so shiny that it was reflecting the rays of the sun onto the potatoes in the dark corner. The speaker said that he learned a lot from this experience.  

 

He could be like a shiny kettle and reflect the light from Jesus onto someone in a dark corner of life. Well, that speaker gives us a good insight into what it takes to be “the light of the world.”      

“Light of the World” 

 

The kettle had to be facing the source of light.

 

Because it was facing the sun, it could also reflect light to the potatoes. The idea is that we also need to be facing our spiritual light who is Jesus.

 

We do this primarily through prayer. Our participating in Mass on the weekend, our reading the Scripture, our doing some spiritual reading, maybe like the book Holy Moments which you will receive today as you leave church – these are important ways for facing our source of light.

 

If we are doing that, we can then reflect God or Jesus to others. And this will include showing the qualities of salt in our relationships – flavoring, cleansing, healing, preserving, melting the cold, putting out the fires, and yes, even taking some things with a grain of salt.

 

So, being “the light of the world” will make us “the salt of the earth.” That’s why Jesus has connected both images and applied them to us.   

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - February 1, 2026

 4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – A 

February 1, 2026     11:00am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

The Barista 

 

On a weekday morning several weeks ago, I was standing in line at a coffee shop. 

 

The barista looked exhausted—dark circles under her eyes, moving quickly but without much joy. The man in front of me told the barista that he was in a big hurry.

 

He was fidgety and tapping his foot. The barista brought his order, he sipped it and immediately snapped that she forgot to add the vanilla to the coffee.

 

She apologized, fixed it, and he walked off without a word – no thank you. As I stepped forward, she looked up and said, almost embarrassed, “Sorry about that.”

 

I said, “You’re doing fine. Don’t worry about it.”

 

Her shoulders relaxed. She smiled—just a little—and said, “That means more than you know.” 

 

The Beatitudes

 

That was a small moment, a brief interaction, nothing heroic. 

 

But it occurs to me that this is the world Jesus is speaking to in today’s Gospel. These sayings that we call the Beatitudes are often not the way the world works. 

 

Jesus doesn’t say, “Blessed are the powerful, the admired, the successful.” He’s saying things that are quite different.

 

And he’s not giving us commands as God did when he gave the Ten Commandments. Instead, he’s giving us simple declarations. 

 

He is declaring, “God is already near to you at these times.” These Beatitudes reveal how and when God is near. 

 

The Eight Declarations

 

So, when we live with a sense of our need for God in a culture that tells us to be self-made and independent, when we admit our limits, when we stop pretending that we are fully in control and have it all together, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

When we suffer the loss of a job, when we grieve the death of a spouse or close friend, when we know how fragile life is, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn.”

When we choose not to dominate conversations, when we choose not to crush others to get ahead in an aggressive world, when we know that real strength is strength under control, Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek” because meekness is not weakness. 

 

When we feel angry at injustice, when we ache for truth and honesty, when we respect human life at all stages and in all people, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” because our hearts are then aligned with God.  

 

When we are willing to let go of a hurt and move on, when we have the strength to refrain from a verbal put down to get back at someone, when we choose compassion over judgment, Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful.”

 

When we act with integrity with our actions matching our thoughts, when we try to discern what God wants us to do, when we value all of this more than what other people think about us, Jesus says, “Blessed are the clean of heart.”

 

When we take a step to heal a relationship, when we are even willing to talk with a counselor to work out a problem, when we advocate for ways of diplomacy and not warfare in our world, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

 

And finally, when others call us weak for trying to be merciful and peacemaking, when they can’t see what we know is real strength, when we are ignored or put down because we are different from the ways of the world, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.”

 

Conclusion

So, these declarations of Jesus, these Beatitudes are not just a checklist.

Instead, first, they are a portrait of Jesus Himself. And then, they are a portrait of the kind of person we are to become. 

Sometimes, it will be as small as a kind word in a coffee shop. Something small, probably not seen or noticed by many. 

But real. And Jesus says: “Blessed are you."

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - January 18, 2026

2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – A 

January 18, 2026    5:00pm

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

“Behold, the Lamb of God…”

 

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

These are the words of John the Baptist in today’s gospel. This is how he identifies Jesus.

These words are familiar to us. The priest recites them at every Mass, as a proclamation of what or whom we are about to receive in Holy Communion. 

 

As with anything that we do regularly, it is easy to pass over these words without being aware of their rich meaning. And they are rich! 

“Behold...”

First, notice how John the Baptist begins with the very direct word: “Behold.” 

 

This is not just a casual comment. It is a command. 

 

John is saying, “Stop. Look. Pay attention.” The idea is that the Christian life begins not with what we do, but with whom we behold.

 

Salvation begins when our eyes are looking at Jesus. John does not point to himself, his preaching, or his ascetical life.

 

Instead, he points away from himself and toward Jesus. And he tells us to do the same thing: “Behold.” 

“The Lamb of God” 

John then calls Jesus “the Lamb of God.”

 

Why call him “the Lamb?” And on top of that, “the Lamb of God?”

 

For a Jewish listener, the image of the lamb would call to mind the story of the Passover. The Old Testament Book of Exodus tells the story.

 

On the night of Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt, each family was commanded to sacrifice a lamb and mark their doorposts with its blood. When the angel of death passed through Egypt, those houses marked by the blood of the lamb were passed over or spared. 

 

The lamb died so that the people might live. By calling Jesus the “Lamb of God,” John asserts that Jesus is the true Passover Lamb. 

 

His blood will not be placed on doorposts but will be shed on the cross. His sacrifice will not free just one people from political slavery.

 

Instead, it will free all humanity from a deeper kind of slavery. And that takes us to the next words that John speaks about Jesus

“Who takes away the sin of the world” 

He identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” 

 

This expression is packed with meaning. For a Jewish listener, this expression recalls thesacrifices in the Temple.

 

Frequently, a lamb was offered to God for the sins of the people. These sacrifices kept being repeated because they could never fully take sin away. 

 

John calls Jesus “the Lamb of God.” He is not one lamb among many. 

 

Instead, his sacrifice, the sacrifice of himself is offered once and for all time. No other sacrifice is needed because His gift of Himself is perfect.

 

Notice also that John the Baptist says that Jesus the Lamb “takes away the sin of the world.” Notice that the word is “sin” in the singular and not sins in the plural.

 

The idea is that Jesus first takes away or removes our alienation from God. He does this because of who he is – the One who comes directly from God.  

 

And so, his presence and the sacrifice of himself takes away or removes all distance between the divine and the human. That’s what John’s words “the sin of the world” mean. 

 

These Words at Mass

 

So, here’s what I want to recommend. 

 

When we come forward to receive Communion, let’s repeat these words of John the Baptist silently to ourselves. Let’s repeat these words and allow them to remind us of who we are receiving and what he does for us. 

 

“Behold” – Stop! Look! Pay attention!

“The Lamb of God” – The one, once-and-for-all-time sacrifice.

“Who takes away the sin of the world” – The One who comes from God and is God and takes away the alienation or distance between God and all of humanity. 

 

That’s who we receive, whose Body and Blood we receive in Holy Communion.

The Baptism of the Lord, Cycle A - January 11, 2026

 The Baptism of the Lord – A 

January 11, 2026 – 8:30am 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton       

 

“In the name…”

 

At a baptism, the priest or deacon says: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

 

This past week, I got thinking about the words: “In the name.” What do they mean?

 

What does it mean to baptize someone “in the name” – “of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit”? Here is what I am thinking.

 

“In the name” means:

I place you under the authority of…

I place you in the image of...

I place you on the mission of…

 

Those statements express the meaning of the words “in the name.” They tell us a lot about baptism.  

 

“In the name of the Father…”

 

So, “I baptize you in the name of the Father…”

 

In other words, I place you under the authority of the Father. We are to live with the understanding that we have come from a heavenly parent.

 

We have our origin from beyond this earth. And we are to live with the understanding that our goal is to return to God, our heavenly parent, at the end of our journey on earth.

 

Being placed under the authority of God also means that God has something to say about how we live our life on this earth. It’s not just up to us to decide this.

 

The Father chose to provide us with some direction for living for what is good and beautiful and true. Because of that, he sent his Son and so we also say…

 

“In the name of the Son…”

 

“I baptize you in the name of the Son…”

 

In other words, I place you in the image of God. Saint Paul tells us in one of his letters that “Jesus is the image of the invisible God.”

 

Jesus shows us who God is and what God is like. In baptism, we are charged to grow in that image.

 

And the way to start that is to understand that the words spoken about Jesus at his baptism are also spoken to us. “You are my beloved son” – “You are my beloved daughter.”

 

We are to live assured that we are loved by God and then make the two great commandments of love that the Son has given us the guiding norms for our life. To help us with that, God or Jesus remains with us and so we also say…

 

“In the name of the Holy Spirit…” 

 

“I baptize you in the name of the Holy Spirit.”

 

In other words, I place you on the mission of God. The Son’s mission, Jesus’ mission is now ours.

 

That’s why he gives us his Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will move us to bring the kingdom or the way of God at least to our little corner of the world.

 

The Spirit will move us to do in our relationships what Paul so beautifully says in one of his letters. “Put on, God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.”

 

And the Spirit will guide us in our mission to care for the last and the least and the lost in our society. We will feel peace and fulfillment when we live out this mission and restlessness or guilt when we don’t do that. 

 

“In the name…” 

 

So, with all of this in mind, I recommend one takeaway or one piece of homework for us.

 

Let’s try to recall what it means to be baptized “in the name of” whenever we make the Sign of the Cross.

 

I place you under the authority of…the Father

I place you in the image of...the Son

I place you on the mission of…the Holy Spirit. 

Amen. 

 

May this understanding help us to appreciate and live our baptism more fully.

The Epiphany of the Lord, Cycle A - January 4, 2026

 The Epiphany of the Lord – A 

January 4, 2026 – 8:30am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton       

 

Magi or Wise Men 

 

So, if I say that Bob or Mike or whoever is a “wise guy,” what do I mean? 

 

I’m probably saying that you always have witty or clever comments or ways of looking at things. That’s pretty much what we mean by a “wise guy.”  

 

Well, the men in today’s gospel are not “wise guys.” Instead, they are called “wise men” or magi, to use the Scriptural word. 

 

They seem to have insight into what’s important and they have something to teach us. I see five pieces to this story, and I will try to lead us quickly through them.  

 

A Star 

 

The first thing is that each of us has a star.

 

Each of us has had or has something leading us towards some goal. Today’s gospel passage tells about the magi following a star that is leading them to the newborn Christ.

 

Recently, two grandparents told me about their grandson who hopes to become a professional ice hockey player and that is his star. Maybe our star has to do with a job or career or creating a family. 

 

The question is: will our star in some way be like the one that the magi are following? Will it in some way lead us to God or to become more fully the person God had made us to be?   

  

A Journey 

 

Now, to follow the star, the magi had to leave their home and set out on a journey.

 

This journey image is a good way for all of us to understand our lives. And this usually makes some demands on us. 

 

It may mean that we leave our family home and go off to school. It may mean that we participate in a good Bible study as a way to get a fuller appreciation of our faith. 

 

Seeing our lives as a journey can be enriching. So, what is the journey that we are on right now?

 

Hurdles

 

Then, notice that the magi have to deal with a hurdle on their journey.

 

Their hurdle is King Herod. Herod pretends to be interested in this newborn child, but the magi sense that he has violence in mind.

 

There will also be hurdles for us as we follow our star and make our journey. Maybe we will be tempted to quit when things get difficult. 

 

Or maybe someone discourages us from following our star because we won’t make a lot of money doing that. So, what hurdles do we have to face on our journey?

 

Giving

 

Next, the gospel tells us that the magi give gifts to the newborn Christ.

 

Maybe this is a good test of the star we are following and the journey we are on. Does it lead us to be giving?

 

Maybe our giving is simply taking good care of our family. Or maybe we can give something of ourselves to God’s work beyond our family.

 

Like baking casseroles for Our Daily Bread or helping with our child’s basketball team. So, what are we giving to God on our journey?

 

Change

 

Finally, the gospel tells us that the magi had to change their plans.

 

After seeing the child, they are warned in a dream not to go back to Herod but to return home by another route. The point here is that getting close to Jesus may call us to change in some way.

 

In fact, change and growth seem to be what the star and the journey are all about. For example, maybe we are being led to see things more from the perspective of those who are different from us.

 

The differences between the magi and the shepherds in the story of Christ’s birth lead me to think of this. So, how are our star and our journey calling us to change? 

 

In Summary 

 

I guess what I am saying is that this simple, little story of the magi is really packed.

 

It is our story. It is the story of human life, especially of living life in relation to Jesus.

 

The star, the journey, the hurdles, the giving, and the change – all the pieces of this story probably reflect our own life experience. They may lead us to some fuller awareness today.