July 19, 2026
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 106
Reading 1
There is no god besides you who have the care of all,
that you need show you have not unjustly condemned.
For your might is the source of justice;
your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.
For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved;
and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.
But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,
and with much lenience you govern us;
for power, whenever you will, attends you.
And you taught your people, by these deeds,
that those who are just must be kind;
and you gave your children good ground for hope
that you would permit repentance for their sins.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (5a) Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O LORD,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
You, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.
Turn toward me, and have pity on me;
give your strength to your servant.
R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
And the one who searches hearts
knows what is the intention of the Spirit,
because he intercedes for the holy ones
according to God's will.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him,
'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
He proposed another parable to them.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"
He spoke to them another parable.
"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened."
All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.
Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."
or
Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man
who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071926.cfm
Sunday of
Week 16 of Ordinary Time (Year A)
Commentary on Wisdom
12:13,16-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43
Today sees a continuation of last Sunday’s Gospel reading
from chapter 13 of Matthew on the parables of the Kingdom. Matthew in these
parables speaks consistently of the “kingdom of heaven” and it could be, for
some people, a misleading phrase because it seems to refer to the after-life,
an other-world future existence.
In fact, as has been mentioned in a number of previous
commentaries, Jesus and the Gospel are speaking very emphatically about the
world in which are living now. The Kingdom represents the kind of
world that God, through Jesus, wants to see realised among us here on earth. We
pray for it daily in the Lord’s Prayer:
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as
it is in heaven…
And it will only come about in so far as we co-operate and
work together with Jesus, here and now.
Why, then, does Matthew speak of the “kingdom of heaven”? We
need to remember that this Gospel is written mainly for a Jewish readership.
Out of respect, the Jews did not like to use the name of God directly.
“Heaven”, then, is a euphemism for “God”. And Matthew uses other devices to
avoid mentioning God’s name directly. For example he says:
…whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven [i.e.
by God]…(Matt 16:19)
and
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy [i.e.
from God]. (Matt 5:7)
Mark, on the other hand, writing for a different readership,
has no problems speaking about the “kingdom of God”.
Nature of the ‘Kingdom’
“Kingdom” in the Gospel does not refer to a place, either here or hereafter.
The Greek word, basileia, is better translated as ‘kingship’, or
‘reign’, or ‘rule’, so some translations speak of the ‘Reign of God’. The
Kingdom is primarily an environment, a set of relationships and a situation
where God’s values prevail. And what are God’s values? In practice, they are
the deepest human values and aspirations as mirrored in the life of Jesus, who
is himself the revelation of God to us in accessible human form. These values
include truth, love, compassion, justice, a sense of solidarity with all other
human beings, a sense of trust in others, a deep respect for the dignity of
every other human person and a holistic concept of human growth and
development. And of course, all these are seen in the light of God, who is
their Ultimate Source. It is to be like him and with him that we live according
to these values. They, with and through Jesus, are our link with him.
People who, individually and collectively, try to live these
values belong, with Jesus, to the Kingdom of God. They are united with the rule
of God in trying to build a world we would all like to see. It is very much
something for the here and now. It is basically the vocation of the Church, and
therefore the vocation of every parish community and of every member of that
community. At the same time, we need to recognise that the Kingdom and the
Church are not coterminous (see the parable below). The Kingdom extends beyond
the Church. There certainly are people, who may not explicitly know Christ or
express allegiance to Christ, who yet live the ideals and the values of the
Kingdom in their lives. Individuals such as Mahatma Gandhi or the Dalai Lama
are examples from the recent past. On the other hand, we cannot say we belong
to the Kingdom simply because we are baptised Church members, but only in so
far as the vision of the Kingdom is an effective factor of our daily living.
Weeds and wheat
In today’s Gospel reading we have three images or parables of the Kingdom at
work among us. The first is the parable of the weeds among the wheat. The
Kingdom of God clearly calls for people of the highest ideals and great
generosity. It also calls for a great measure of tolerance, patience and
understanding in seeing the Kingdom become a reality. The conversion of our societies
into Kingdom-like communities is a very gradual process. There is always the
danger that, when people try to take God or the good life seriously, they
become elitist. We Christians, simply as Christians, can feel superior to
people of other religions or none. As Catholics we can talk disparagingly of
Anglicans, Protestants, Evangelicals. And even among Catholics, members of
charismatic groups, Legionaries, Bible study groups and social action groups
can see themselves as ‘superior’ to ‘ordinary’ Catholics who ‘only’ go to Mass
on Sundays. And the Sunday Mass-goers are a cut above those who only appear at
the Christmas midnight Mass or on Easter.
And in general, we ‘decently moral people’ are ahead of the
‘thugs’, ‘louts’ and other ‘undesirables’ in our society. ‘Thugs’ and ‘louts’
may be descriptive, but they are also words of intolerance. We sanctimoniously
set ourselves up as judges of others. It is a trend which is increasingly being
found in our daily media, presumably reflecting the interests and values of
readers and viewers (among whom one can, alas, find ‘good’ Catholics).
Living side by side
Hence, today’s parable far from being remote, touches on deep areas in the
lives of all of us. The parable is saying that people who are filled with the
vision and values of God and Jesus must learn to live side by side with a whole
spectrum of people who, in varying degrees, do not yet share or live this
vision and these values. This applies to differences between Christians and
non-Christians, but also within Christian communities themselves. We are—and
always will be—a sinful Church. To pretend that we are anything else is a lie.
It is not the healthy who need the physician Jesus, but rather the sinners and
tax collectors—you and me.
We can go even further. Each one of us is a combination of
wheat and weeds. In each one of us there are elements of the Kingdom and
elements that are deeply opposed to it. Paul recognised that struggle within
himself (see Romans 7:21-25). So we need to learn how to be tolerant with our
own weaknesses. God told Paul that it was precisely through Paul’s weaknesses
that God could reveal his glory:
My grace is sufficient for you, for [my] power
is made perfect in [your] weakness. (2 Corinthians
12:9)
The coming of the Kingdom then is not going to be a neat and
tidy process. And experience again and again confirms that fact whenever we try
to bring out change and reforms in any community.
Small beginnings
The next two parables point to two other characteristics of the Kingdom. The
parable of the mustard seed shows that the work of the Kingdom has tiny
beginnings, whether we are talking of the fledgling Church which Christ
established or any newly established Kingdom-inspired movement today. And
wherever the vision of the Kingdom becomes truly rooted, it will experience
certain and inevitable growth.
Why? Because the vision of the Kingdom is not a narrow,
religious one, but an expression of the deepest aspirations of all human
beings. At its beginnings the Church, as the instrument for the building of the
Kingdom, must have felt it faced a daunting task. Its tiny communities were
scattered all over Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. Waves of persecution and
hostility followed each other in a determined effort to wipe them out. But they
prevailed—as Truth, Love and Justice must in the end always prevail. Even so,
the “weeds” of opposition will always be present.
An element of growth
In the third parable, the Kingdom is compared to a small amount of yeast in a
large batch of dough. Its presence cannot be easily detected—for it is totally
blended with and part of its environment—as a good Kingdom community should be.
At the same time, it has an energy of its own which produces a remarkable
influence of growth in the whole. Perhaps part of our Christian problem is that
we are too exclusively concerned with the growth (or even the survival) of the
Church in general, or of our little corner of the Church, and not sufficiently
with the growth and well-being of the whole community to which we belong.
God’s Kingship in the here and now
To sum up, each of the three parables is saying something specific about the
development of God’s Kingdom among us:
- It
is going to be, on the whole, a messy business in which the good and bad,
the strong and the weak and the clean and the corrupt will rub shoulder to
shoulder both inside the Church and its communities and outside it. To try
to create islands of absolute integrity is not realistic and is even
self-defeating.
- No
matter how small the beginnings, if we are faithful to the spirit and
values of the Kingdom, we can be sure that apparently difficult obstacles,
threats and even dangers can be overcome.
- A
Kingdom-community, even though very small, can exert a real influence on
the growth of the environment of which it is fully a part and be
instrumental in spreading Kingdom values as the accepted values.
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Sunday, July 19,
2026
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Spirit of truth, sent by Jesus to guide us to
the whole truth, enlighten our minds so that we may understand the Scriptures.
You who overshadowed Mary and made her fruitful ground where the Word of God
could germinate, purify our hearts from all obstacles to the Word. Help us to
learn like her to listen with good and pure hearts to the Word that God speaks
to us in life and in Scripture, so that we may observe the Word and produce
good fruit through our perseverance.
Gospel Reading -- Matthew 13: 24-43
Division of the Text:
The text is made up of three parables, a break, and the
explanation of the first parable. The three parables of the darnel and the
wheat (13: 24-30), the mustard seed (13: 31-32) and the leaven (13: 33), have
the same purpose. They wish to correct the expectations of Jesus’
contemporaries who thought that the Reign of God would come with vehemence and
immediately eliminate whatever was contrary to it. Through these parables,
Jesus wishes to explain to his listeners that he did not come to restore the
Reign by force, but to inaugurate a new era gradually, in the day-to-day
history, in a way often unobserved. And yet his work has an inherent strength,
dynamism and a transforming power that gradually changes history from inside
according to God’s plan…if one has eyes to see! In Mt 13: 10-17, between the
parable of the sower and its explanation, the evangelist inserts a dialogue
between Jesus and his disciples where the Master explains to them why it is
that he speaks to the crowds only in parables. Here too, between the parables
and the explanation, the evangelist inserts a brief comment on the reason why
Jesus speaks in parables (13: 34-35). Then follows the explanation of the
parable of the darnel and the wheat (13: 36-43). What is striking in this
explanation is that, while many of the details of the parable are interpreted,
not a single reference is made to the core of the parable, that is, the
dialogue between the owner and his servants concerning the darnel that grew
together with the wheat. Many scholars deduce that the explanation of the
parable is not from Jesus, but from the evangelist who changes the original sense
of the parable. While Jesus meant to correct the messianic impatience of his
contemporaries, Matthew addresses lukewarm Christians and exhorts them, almost
threatens them, with God’s judgement. However, the parable and the explanation
are part of the canonical text and, therefore, both should be considered
because both contain the Word of God addressed to us today. The Text:
•
24-30: He
put another parable before them, 'The kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a
man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy
came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat
sprouted and ripened, then the darnel appeared as well. The owner's laborers
went to him and said, "Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field?
If so, where does the darnel come from?" He said to them, "Some enemy
has done this." And the laborers said, "Do you want us to go and weed
it out?" But he said, "No, because when you weed out the darnel you
might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at
harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in
bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn." '
•
31-32: He
put another parable before them, 'The kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed
which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds,
but when it has grown it is the biggest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that
the birds of the air can come and shelter in its branches.'
•
33: He
told them another parable, 'The kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman
took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all
through.'
•
34-35: In
all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to
them except in parables. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: I
will speak to you in parables, unfold what has been hidden since the foundation
of the world.
•
36-43: Then,
leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and
said, 'Explain to us the parable about the darnel in the field.' He said in
reply, 'The sower of the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world;
the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the
Evil One; the enemy who sowed it, the devil; the harvest is the end of the
world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up
and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of man will
send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of falling
and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will
be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the upright will shine like the sun in
the kingdom of their Father. Anyone who has ears should listen!
A Moment of Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of God may enter into us and
enlighten our life.
Some Questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
•
What is your reaction towards the evil that you
see in the world and in yourself? Is it the reaction of the servants or that of
the owner?
•
What are the signs of the presence of the Reign
that you can see in the world and in your life?
•
What image of God appears from these three
parables? Is this your image of God?
A Key to the Reading
for
those who wish to go deeper into the text. The
Reign of God:
In the two compendia that Matthew offers us
on the ministry of Jesus, he presents him preaching the Gospel or the good news
of the Reign and healing (4: 23; 9: 35). The expression "Reign of
Heaven" appears 32 times in Matthew. It is the same as the "Reign of
God", found only once in Matthew, whereas it is the more usual expression
found in the rest of the New Testament. As a matter of respect, the Jews avoid
not only the use of the Name of God as revealed to Moses (see Ex 3: 13-15), but
also the word "God" which is substituted by various expressions such
as "Heaven" or "The heavens.” Matthew, the most Jewish of the
Gospels, conforms to this practice.
The expression is not found in the
Old Testament, where, however, we often find the idea of the royalty of God
over Israel and over the universe and the verbal equivalent of the New
Testament’s "God reigns." In fact, the Reign of God, as presented
also in the New Testament, is above all the action of God who rules and the new
situation as a consequence of his ruling. God has always been ruler, but
because of sin, Israel and the whole of humanity avoid his royalty and create a
situation opposed to his original plan. The Reign of God will be established
when everything will be once more subjected to his dominion, that is, when
humanity will accept his sovereignty and thus realize his plan.
Jesus proclaimed the coming of this new era (see for example
Mt 3: 2).
Somehow the reality of God’s Reign is made
present and anticipated in him and in the community he founded. But the Church
is not yet the Reign. The Reign grows mysteriously and gradually until it
reaches its fulfilment at the end of time.
God’s Logic:
The reality of the Reign and its growth, as
described by Jesus, place us before the mystery of God whose thoughts are not
our thoughts. We confuse royalty and force, and impositions, and triumphalism.
We like things done on a grand scale. We see success as an undertaking praised
and involving many people. However, these are temptations which seduce even the
community, and instead of serving the Reign, the community finds itself
opposing it. God, on his part, prefers to advance his plan through small, poor
and insignificant things and while we are always in a hurry to complete our
plans, God waits with great patience and forbearance.
Psalm 145
Hymn to the Lord Ruler
I will extol thee, my God and
King, and bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day I will bless thee, and
praise thy name for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall laud thy works to
another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of thy
majesty, and on thy wondrous works, I will meditate.
Men shall proclaim the might of thy terrible
acts, and I will declare thy greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of thy
abundant goodness, and shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to
anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his
compassion is over all that he has made. All thy works shall give thanks to
thee, O Lord, and all thy saints shall bless thee! They shall speak of the
glory of thy kingdom, and tell of thy power, to make known to the sons of men
thy mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of thy kingdom.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations.
The Lord is faithful in all his words, and
gracious in all his deeds. The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up
all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to thee, and thou givest them
their food in due season. Thou openest thy hand, thou satisfiest the desire of
every living thing.
The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.
The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call
upon him in truth.
He fulfils the desire of all who fear him, he also hears their
cry, and saves them.
The Lord preserves all who love him;
but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
Closing Prayer
For thou lovest all things that exist,
and hast loathing for none of the things which thou hast made, for thou wouldst
not have made anything if thou hadst hated it. How would anything have endured
if thou hadst not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by thee
have been preserved? Thou sparest all things, for they are thine, O Lord who
lovest the living.
Therefore thou dost correct little by little
those who trespass, and dost remind and warn them of the things wherein they
sin, that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in thee, O
Lord.
Thou art righteous and rulest all
things righteously, deeming it alien to thy power to condemn him who does not
deserve to be punished.
For thy strength is the source of
righteousness, and thy sovereignty over all causes thee to spare all.
For thou dost show thy strength when men
doubt the completeness of thy power, and dost rebuke any insolence among those
who know it. Thou who art sovereign in strength dost judge with mildness, and
with great forbearance thou dost govern us; for thou hast power to act whenever
thou dost choose. (Wisdom 11: 24-12, 12:
15-18)
