Embodying the Ten Commandments: The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026

                                       Embodying the Ten Commandments:

The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 

February 15, 2026

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Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37

 

Jesus takes the Ten Commandments and he evolves them to suit the needs of the times. He recognizes that he is the fulfillment of the Torah, which has the Ten Commandments at its roots. St. Paul writes, “We speak a wisdom to those who are mature,” that many people cannot or will not understand. We must make certain that we discern God’s mysterious, hidden wisdom in today’s complex world, and we have to see the Ten Commandments as a contemporary guide for complex issues.

 

We are about to enter Lent this week with the Ash Wednesday celebrations and we see how Jesus immediately is sent into the desert to maintain right relations with God within the context of the human condition. He is to wrestle with his relationship with God first, then with others, and them within himself, and throughout this process, he is called to greater freedom. We see that he stands against the forces of the world that appeal to power, glory, honor, and idol making. He discerns well in the face of a culture that lies and he endorse a life that is free from violence, exploitation, and dissatisfaction. Jesus knows that God’s Commandments are designed to give us full life and freedom, which is the reason he urges us to hold fast to these precepts. 

 

Jesus shows us the laws are not fulfilled because they are laws; they are fulfilled in the person of Jesus. He does not merely teach morality. He embodies the laws. What does he say? He protects life. He restores dignity. He tells the truth. He loves faithfully. He gives himself completely so others may have life. We are not called to follow the laws, but to follow Jesus and to become what he becomes. We have to see how Jesus regarded the Ten Commandments. He did not throw them away; He built upon them, and the teaching evolved. 

 

We are called to do what Jesus did. He deepened them, radicalized them, and made them his own. He moved from the long-standing tradition of external compliance, a law written upon stone tablets, to an inner transformation, a law written upon human hearts that break and suffer. If we are people who are law-obedient and like to adhere to law and order, perhaps we need to ask where my heart needs to soften or to have a metanoia. Love is the beginning and the purpose of law. Another name for love is mercy.

 

The Ten Commandments address this question today, “How must I live so that others around me can flourish?” They provide us with moral responsibility for the welfare and flourishing of our neighbor instead of legal compliance. They call our hearts to be accountable so that we can compassion and empathy for others, and it provides us a God-given basis and grounding for dignity for each person. The end result is a human dignity rooted in freedom and responsibility because we know ourselves to be part of God’s family. 

 

So, as St. Paul advocates a wisdom for the mature, how does my understanding of the Ten Commandments need to evolve today in this mysterious, hidden wisdom of God? Where does my heart need to soften and grow?

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (James 1) Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

 

Tuesday: (James 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.

 

Wednesday: (Joel 2) Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God.

 

Thursday: (Deuteronomy 30) Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous.

 

Friday (Isaiah 58) Thus says the Lord GOD: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.

 

Saturday (Isaiah 58) If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 8) The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
"Why does this generation seek a sign?

 

Tuesday: (Mark 8) 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." 

 

Wednesday (Matthew 6) When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

 

Thursday (Luke 9) The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.

 

Friday (Matthew 9) “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

 

Saturday (Luke 5) Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.

 

Saints of the Week

 

February 15: Claude La Colombiere, S.J., religious (1641-1682), was a Jesuit missionary, ascetical writer, and confessor to Margaret Mary Alocoque at the Visitation Convent at Paray La Monial. As a Jesuit, he vowed to live strictly according to the Jesuit Constitutions to achieve utmost perfection. Together, they began a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

 

February 17: The Seven Founders of the Servites (Thirteenth Century) were from Florence and they joined the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin, who were also known as Praisers. They devoted their apostolate to prayer and service and withdrew to a deserted mountain to build a church and hermitage. After adopting a rule and gaining recruits, they changed their name to the Servants of Mary. 

 

February 21: Peter Damian, bishop and Doctor (1007-1072), was orphaned and raised by his brother, Damian, a priest in Ravenna. He began as a hermit monk and was then made abbot and cardinal. He became a reformer in the church often speaking out against clerical laxness. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• February 15, 1732. Fr. Chamillard SJ, who had been reported by the Jansenists as having died a Jansenist and working miracles, suddenly appeared alive and well! 
• February 16, 1776. At Rome, the Jesuit prisoners in Castel S Angelo were restored to liberty. Fr. Romberg, the German assistant, aged 80, expressed a wish to remain in prison. 
• February 17, 1775. The French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Neapolitan Ambassadors in Rome intimate to the newly elected Pope Pius VI the will of their respective sovereigns that the Jesuits imprisoned in Castel S Angelo should not be released. 
• February 18, 1595. St Robert Southwell, after two and a half years imprisonment in the tower, was removed to Newgate and there thrust into a dungeon known as "Limbo." 
• February 19, 1581. The election of Fr. Claude Acquaviva as fifth general in the Fourth General Congregation. He was only 37 years of age and a Jesuit for only 14 years. He was general under eight popes. He had been a fellow novice with St Stanislaus. 
• February 20, 1860. Pope Pius IX visits the rooms of St Ignatius. 
• February 21, 1595. At Tyburn, the martyrdom of Robert Southwell after he had suffered brutal tortures in Topcliffe's house and in prison. He embraced the jailer who brought him word that he was to be executed. As he breathed his last, Lord Mountjoy, who presided over the execution, exclaimed: "May my soul be one day with that of this man."