February 17, 2026
Tuesday of the Sixth Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 336
Reading
1
Blessed is he who
perseveres in temptation,
for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life
that he promised to those who love him.
No one experiencing temptation should say,
"I am being tempted by God";
for God is not subject to temptation to evil,
and he himself tempts no one.
Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.
Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,
and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters:
all good giving and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.
He willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (12a) Blessed
the man you instruct, O Lord.
Blessed the man whom you instruct, O LORD,
whom by your law you teach,
Giving him rest from evil days.
R. Blessed the man you instruct, O Lord.
For the LORD will not cast off his people,
nor abandon his inheritance;
But judgment shall again be with justice,
and all the upright of heart shall follow it.
R. Blessed the man you instruct, O Lord.
When I say, "My foot is slipping,"
your mercy, O LORD, sustains me;
When cares abound within me,
your comfort gladdens my soul.
R. Blessed the man you instruct, O Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord;
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The disciples had
forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod."
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
"Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?"
They answered him, "Twelve."
"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"
They answered him, "Seven."
He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021726.cfm
Commentary on James
1:12-18
It is clear that the Christians James is writing to in this
lovely passage today are under strong pressures in the living of their
faith. As in our own day, there were the pulls of a society which set
great store by material wealth, social status and influence. In addition,
there were the difficulties of living in a society where one’s Christian faith
could bring harassment and persecution. At times, it would seem much
easier to abandon it and follow the crowd. James writes:
Blessed is anyone who endures temptation.
It is the ‘blessedness’ that Jesus spoke about in the
Beatitudes. James praises those who come triumphantly through such times
of trial and testing. They will:
…receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to
those who love him.
The “crown” (stephanos, from which the name ‘Stephen’
comes) was the term for the wreath placed on the head of a victorious athlete
or military leader (one often sees pictures of Julius Caesar wearing such a
wreath). In the Second Letter to Timothy, Paul is quoted as being
confident of getting such a crown:
I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I
have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of
righteousness…
(2 Tim 4:6-8; see also 1 Pet 5:4; Rev 2:10)
However, James reminds us that no one should ever think that
these tests or temptations come directly from God. God can never be the
source of an urge to do or say what is evil and wrong.
God himself, of course, cannot be tempted. In a God
who is infinite Goodness, there is nothing that could entice him as more desirable
than what he already is and has. Nor does he tempt anyone in the sense of
leading a person to do what is morally evil. Again, because God is all
Goodness, such a situation is impossible. Of course, we may find ourselves in
situations where our faith and integrity are challenged. God does not
prevent such situations arising. But if we fail, it is the result of our
own choice.
This is the clear message of the creation story in
Genesis. The Fall was due solely to the choice made by the Man and his
wife. God is all good and the source only of what is good.
All our temptations originate in ourselves, in the various
passions that drive us. The passage mentions three stages: desire, sin and
death. These we see in the sin of the first woman and her husband.
We see the same in David’s infatuation with Bathsheba (see the commentary for
Friday of Week 3 of Ordinary Time). This is something we have all
experienced in some form.
On the contrary, every good thing we experience comes
directly from the “Father of lights”, the Father who presides over the whole
universe with its myriad stars and constellations. And, unlike them, he
never suffers change or eclipse. He is above all a creating God.
In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave birth to us by
the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his
creatures.
The “word of truth” is everything God has revealed to the
human race; it is the supreme Law. For us now, the word of Truth is the
gospel, the Way that Jesus the Son of God proclaimed.
And we are to be the “first fruits” of his creatures.
Just as the first sheaf of the harvest was an indication that the whole harvest
would eventually follow, so the early Christians were an indication that a
great number of people would eventually be born again. This is our great
responsibility towards the world around us.
It is through his Word, the Logos, that God
brings forth everything that has been made and we human beings are in a special
category. For we are made in his likeness, in our ability to love and to
know, in our ability to co-create with him. So today, let us look at the
sources of evil which are in us and see where they have been leading us.
At the same time, let us also count our blessings, and
become aware of the wonderful gifts that God has given and continues to give us
every single day. Let us also remember our responsibility to help in the
building of the Kingdom, making this world a better place for all.
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Commentary on Mark
8:14-21
Yesterday we saw the blindness of the Pharisees in asking
Jesus to give some sign of his authority from God. Today we see the
blindness of Jesus’ own disciples. This, of course, is pointing to our
own blindness in not recognising the clear presence of God in our own lives.
The disciples are travelling across the lake in the
boat. They had forgotten to bring food with them and there was only one
loaf between them all. As they cross the lake, Jesus is talking to them
saying:
Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the
yeast of Herod.
For the Jews, yeast was a corrupting agent because it caused
fermentation. That was why at the Pasch they ate unleavened, incorrupt
bread. And Paul tells the Corinthians:
Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of
dough, as you really are unleavened. (1 Cor 5:7)
Jesus is telling his disciples to avoid two opposing kinds
of corruption: that of the Pharisees, which is based on narrow-minded and
intolerant legalism, and that of Herod, which is based on amoral and hedonistic
pleasure-seeking.
However, the disciples are not really listening to their
Master. They latch on to the word “yeast” and link it with their present
obsession—not enough bread. Their lunch is the only thing on their
minds. Jesus, of course, knows what is going on in their minds.
He scolds them:
Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still
not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and fail
to see? Do you have ears and fail to hear? And do you not remember? When I
broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken
pieces did you collect?
They answer, “Twelve”, and Jesus says:
And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets
full of broken pieces did you collect?
And they responded, “Seven”.
Then Jesus said to them:
Do you not yet understand?
Five loaves for 5,000 with 12 baskets over, seven loaves for
4,000 with seven baskets over, and they, a mere dozen people, are worried about
being short of food when Jesus is with them?
Mark tends to be very hard on the disciples. They
cannot see, they cannot hear, and they fail to understand what is happening
before their very eyes. But they are learning gradually, as we shall
see.
Of course, Mark is firing his shots not just at the
disciples, but at you and me. How much faith do we have in God’s care for
us? Can we hear? Can we see? Are we also without understanding?
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2063g/
Tuesday,
February 17, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
when we do not see clearly in life,
when suffering comes our way, we tend to blame You or people.
Help us to realize clearly
how much of the evil around us comes from within ourselves: from our greed for
riches and power, from our self-complacency and selfishness.
Speak to us Your word of forgiveness and change us from a
silent majority of evil into solidarity of love, by the grace of Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Gospel Reading - Mark 8: 14-21
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had
only one loaf with them in the boat. Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." They
concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he
became aware of this he said to them, "Why do you conclude that it is
because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your
hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you
not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many
wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?" They answered Him,
"Twelve." "When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?" They answered Him,
"Seven." He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
Reflection
Yesterday’s Gospel spoke of the
misunderstanding between Jesus and the Pharisees. Today’s Gospel speaks of the
misunderstanding between Jesus and the disciples and shows that the yeast of
the Pharisees and of Herod (religion and government), had taken possession of
the mentality of the disciples to the point of hindering them from listening to
the Good News.
•
Mark 8: 14-16: Attention to the yeast of the
Pharisees and of Herod. Jesus warns the disciples to look out for the yeast of
the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod. But they do not understand the words of
Jesus. They think that He is speaking like that because they forgot to buy
bread. Jesus says one thing and they understood another. This clash was the
result of the insidious influence of the yeast of the Pharisees on the
mentality and on the life of the disciples.
•
Mark 8: 17-18a: Jesus’ question. In the face of
this almost total lack of perception in the disciples, Jesus rapidly asks them
a series of questions, without waiting for an answer. They are hard questions
which express very serious things and reveal the total lack of understanding on
the part of the disciples. Even if it seems unbelievable, the disciples reach
the point in which there is no difference between them and the enemies of
Jesus. First, Jesus had become sad seeing the hardness of heart of the
Pharisees and of the Herodians (Mk 3: 5). Now, the disciples themselves have
hardened their hearts (Mk 8: 17). First, those outside (Mk 4:11) do not
understand the parables because they have eyes and do not see, listen but do
not understand (Mk 4:12). Now, the disciples themselves understand nothing,
because they have eyes and do not see, listen, but do not understand (Mk 8:18).
Besides, the image of the hardened heart evoked the hardness of heart of the
people of the Old Testament who always drifted away from the path. It also
evoked the hardened heart of Pharaoh who oppressed and persecuted the people
(Ex 4: 21; 7: 13; 8: 11, 15, 28; 9: 7). The expression “they have eyes and do
not see, listen but do not understand” evoked not only the people without faith
criticized by Isaiah (Is 6: 9-10), but also the adorers of false gods, of whom
the psalm says, “They have eyes and see nothing, have ears and hear nothing”
(Ps 115: 5-6).
•
Mark 8: 18b-21: The two questions regarding the
bread. The two final questions refer to the multiplication of the loaves: How
many baskets did they gather the first time? Twelve! And the second time?
Seven! Like the Pharisees, the disciples also, though they had collaborated
actively in the multiplication of the loaves, did not succeed in understanding
the meaning. Jesus ends by saying, “Do you still not understand?” The way in
which Jesus asks these questions, one after the other, almost without waiting
for an answer, seems to cut the conversation. It reveals a very big clash. What
is the cause of this clash?
•
The cause of the clash between Jesus and the
disciples. The cause of the clash between Jesus and the disciples was not due
to ill will on their part. The disciples were not like the Pharisees. The
Pharisees did not understand, but in them there was malice. They used religion
to criticize and to condemn Jesus (Mk 2: 7, 16, 18, 24; 3: 5, 22-30). The
disciples were good people. Theirs was not ill will, because even if they were
victims of the yeast of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, they were not
interested in defending the system of the Pharisees and the Herodians against
Jesus. Then, what was the cause? The cause of the clash between Jesus and the
disciples had something to do with the Messianic hope. Firstly, among the Jews
there was an enormous variety of Messianic expectations. Second, the diverse
interpretations of the prophecies: there were people who expected a Messiah
King (cf. Mk 15: 9, 32); others, a Messiah Saint or Priest (cf. Mk 1: 24);
others, a Messiah subversive Warrior (cf. Lk 23: 5; Mk 15: 6; 13: 6-8); others,
a Messiah Doctor (cf. Jn 4: 25; Mk 1:
22-27); still others, a Messiah Judge (cf. Lk 3: 5-9; Mk
1:8); others, a Messiah Prophet (6: 4, 14, 65). It seems that nobody expected a
Messiah Servant, announced by the Prophet Isaiah (Is 42: 1; 49: 3; 52: 13).
They did not consider the messianic hope as a service of the people of God to
humanity. Each group, according to their own interests and according to their
social class, awaited the Messiah, but wanted to reduce Him to their own hope.
This is why the title Messiah, according to the person or social position,
could mean very different things. There was a great confusion of ideas! And
precisely in this attitude of Servant is found the key which turns on a light
in the disciples’ darkness and helps them toward conversion. It is only in
accepting the Messiah as the Suffering Servant in Isaiah, that they will be
capable of opening their eyes and understanding the Mystery of God in Jesus.
For Personal Confrontation
What is for us today the yeast of the
Pharisees and of Herod? What does it mean today for me to have a hardened
heart?
The yeast of Herod and the Pharisees prevents the
disciples from understanding the Good News. Perhaps, today the propaganda of
television prevents us from understanding the Good News of Jesus?
Concluding Prayer
I need only say, “I am slipping,”for Your faithful love,
Yahweh, to support me; however great the anxiety of my heart, Your consolations
soothe me. (Ps 94: 1819)
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