Sixth Sunday – Ordinary Time (Year A) 15 February 2026

Let's prepare to hear the word of God before dining at the Lord's table.

Please click PLAY button below to hear the abridged version of the homily.

Introduction

The Scriptures this Sunday draw us into the depth of God’s wisdom, a wisdom not of this age, not rooted in appearances or external performance, but a wisdom that reaches into the human heart. Sirach reminds us that God honours our freedom and places life and death before us. Paul speaks of a hidden wisdom prepared for our glory, revealed through the Spirit. And Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, shows that true righteousness is not about keeping rules on the surface but allowing God to reshape our desires, our relationships, and our integrity from within.

Together, these readings invite us to move from outward compliance to inward conversion, from mere knowledge to divine wisdom, from managing behaviour to letting God transform who we are becoming.

Sirach 15:15–20

“If you desire, you will keep the commandments… He has placed before you fire and water.”

There is a quiet boldness in Sirach’s words. He speaks to us not as children who must be controlled, nor as people trapped by fate, but as free human beings standing before God with real agency. “If you desire, you will keep the commandments.” Desire, not coercion. Love, not fear. Choice, not compulsion.

Sirach is reminding us of something we often forget: God has given us the dignity of freedom. Not the freedom to do whatever we want, but the freedom to choose who we are becoming.

Fire and water

The image is striking. “He has placed before you fire and water: stretch out your hand for whichever you wish.”

Fire and water are opposites: one consumes, the other cleanses. One destroys, the other gives life. Sirach is saying: Your life is shaped by the choices you reach for. God does not force your hand. He does not push you toward the fire or drag you toward the water. He simply places both before you and honours your freedom.

This is one of the most beautiful truths of Scripture: God respects us. He does not manipulate us. He does not command anyone to be ungodly, nor give anyone permission to sin. He invites, teaches, warns, and accompanies; but He never overrides our will.

A story

There is an old story of a teacher who held up two seeds. “One seed,” he said, “will grow into a poisonous plant. The other will grow into a tree that feeds the village. Which one should I plant?” The students answered, “The tree that feeds the village.” The teacher smiled. “Then why,” he asked, “do we so often plant the other one in our hearts?”

Every day we plant seeds: small choices, small words, small habits. Some seeds grow into life, others into harm. Sirach is telling us that our daily choices matter far more than we think. Life and death are not only cosmic realities; they are woven into the small decisions of each day.

God sees, not to condemn, but to accompany

Sirach says, “Great is the wisdom of the Lord; he sees everything.” This is not the gaze of a policeman waiting to catch us out. It is the gaze of a Father who knows the path that leads to flourishing. God sees us so that He can guide us, strengthen us, and call us back when we wander.

Think of a parent watching a child learning to walk. The parent sees every wobble, every misstep, not to shame the child, but to be ready to catch them. God’s gaze is like that: attentive, protective, hopeful.

The dignity of choice

Sirach’s message is simple but profound: You are not a prisoner of your past. You are not defined by your failures. You are not trapped by your impulses. You are free.

God has placed before you fire and water. He has placed before you life and death. And He trusts you enough to choose.

A final image

Imagine standing at a crossroads. One path is wide, easy, and downhill. The other is narrow, steep, and winding. Sirach is telling us that God does not push us down either path. He simply stands beside us and whispers, “Choose life. Choose the path that leads to Me. I will walk it with you.”

1 Corinthians 2:6–10

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard… what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Paul speaks today with a kind of quiet confidence. He knows he is addressing a community hungry for wisdom, yet tempted by the wrong kind of wisdom. Corinth was a city that admired clever speech, polished arguments, and the prestige of public philosophers. But Paul draws a line: There is a wisdom of this age, and there is a wisdom of God, and they are not the same.

The wisdom of this age

Paul is not attacking intelligence or learning. He is naming something subtler: the kind of wisdom that is obsessed with power, status, and self‑preservation. The “rulers of this age,” he says, operated with that kind of wisdom, and it blinded them. “If they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

In other words, the very people who thought they understood everything missed the One thing that mattered most. They could not recognise God because they expected Him to look like them: strong, dominant, untouchable. They could not imagine a God who saves through humility, vulnerability, and love.

The hidden wisdom of God

Paul calls this wisdom “secret and hidden,” not because God is playing games, but because it cannot be grasped by pride. It is hidden in plain sight, but only the humble can see it.

This wisdom was “decreed before the ages for our glory.” Before creation, before history, before sin, God had already planned a way to draw humanity into His life. And that plan was not a strategy of domination but a story of self‑giving love.

A story

There is a story of a young boy who was fascinated by puzzles. One day his father gave him a map of the world, cut into dozens of pieces. The boy struggled for hours, unable to make sense of the shapes. Then he flipped one piece over and noticed a drawing on the back, a simple sketch of a face. He turned all the pieces over and assembled the face instead. When he finished, he flipped the puzzle back over, and the world was perfectly arranged.

The father smiled and said, “When you put the human face together, the world makes sense.”

Paul is saying something similar. The world only makes sense when we see the face of Christ. Without Him, everything is fragments. With Him, everything comes together.

“What no eye has seen…”

Paul then quotes a line that has comforted generations: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

This is not just about heaven. It is about the surprising ways God works even now. God’s wisdom is always larger than our imagination. His grace is always deeper than our expectations. His plans for us are always more generous than our fears allow us to believe.

The Spirit who reveals

Paul ends with a breath-taking claim: “The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”

And that same Spirit has been given to us. Not to make us superior, but to make us receptive. Not to give us secret knowledge, but to open our hearts to divine love. Not to make us clever, but to make us holy.

The Spirit reveals God’s wisdom not through arguments, but through transformation, through the slow, steady reshaping of our desires, our choices, our relationships.

A final image

Imagine standing at the edge of the sea at night. The surface is dark, quiet, and still. But beneath that surface are depths you cannot see: currents, creatures, colours, and mysteries.

Paul is telling us that God is like that. There is more beneath the surface than we can ever imagine. And the Spirit is the One who invites us to wade deeper.

Matthew 5:17–37

“I have not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it.”

Jesus speaks today with a seriousness that is both challenging and deeply hopeful. He is not lowering the bar for His disciples; He is raising it. But He raises it in a way that reveals something essential about God: God is not satisfied with external obedience; He desires a transformed heart.

Not abolishing, but fulfilling

When Jesus says He has come to “fulfil” the Law, He is not simply adding new rules. He is revealing the full meaning of God’s commandments. The Law was always meant to lead people into love, love of God and love of neighbour. Jesus is the living embodiment of that love, and He shows us what the Law looks like when it is lived from the inside out.

The scribes and Pharisees were meticulous about the details of the Law, but Jesus says our righteousness must “exceed” theirs. Not in quantity, but in depth. Not in rule‑keeping, but in love.

From behaviour to the heart

Jesus then gives a series of examples that all make the same point: Sin begins long before the action. Holiness begins long before the deed.

• Murder begins with anger.

• Adultery begins with lust.

• Broken relationships begin with unresolved conflict.

• False oaths begin with a divided heart.

Jesus is not condemning emotion or human weakness. He is inviting us to pay attention to the inner movements that shape our lives. He is saying: Do not wait until sin becomes visible. Tend to the heart where it begins.

A story

There is a story of a gardener who noticed a tiny vine growing near the foundation of his house. It looked harmless, even beautiful. He left it alone. Years later, the vine had grown thick and strong. Its roots had pushed into the stones, cracking the foundation. What began as something small had become destructive.

The gardener said, “If only I had tended to it when it was small.”

Jesus is teaching us the same truth. The small resentments, the quiet grudges, the hidden fantasies, the unspoken bitterness; these are the roots that can crack the foundations of our lives if left unattended.

Reconciliation before worship

One of the most striking lines in this Gospel is Jesus’ instruction to leave your gift at the altar if someone has something against you. In other words: God is not interested in worship that avoids reconciliation.

We cannot come before God with open hands if our hearts are closed to one another. Jesus is saying that healing relationships is itself an act of worship.

The radical language of cutting off

When Jesus speaks of tearing out an eye or cutting off a hand, He is not calling for literal harm. He is using strong language to say: Deal decisively with whatever leads you away from God.

Remove the habits, the patterns, the environments, the temptations that distort your heart. Better to lose something small than to lose yourself.

Let your “Yes” be “Yes”

Jesus ends with a call to integrity. No need for elaborate oaths. No need to swear by heaven or earth. Just be truthful. Let your words match your heart. Let your commitments be simple and trustworthy.

In a world full of spin, exaggeration, and half‑truths, Jesus calls His disciples to a different way: transparent honesty rooted in love.

A final image

Imagine a musician who plays every note correctly but without feeling. The music is technically perfect but emotionally empty. Then imagine another musician who plays with heart, every note alive, every phrase full of meaning. The difference is not in the notes, but in the spirit.

Jesus is inviting us to live the Law like the second musician, not as a performance, but as a symphony of love.