Homily , February 15, 2026
From The Pastor
This year the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time is the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. The readings today happen to be a poignant and focused challenge of the Lenten spirit. Lent is a time of increased prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for the purpose of sharpening our commitment to the person of Christ. All of us need one form or another of refocusing ourselves to the light and truth of Christ we profess. All we do to deepen our relationship with God during these weeks will lead us to the renewal of our Baptismal promises at Easter. Easter is not and cannot be one more day on the calendar that celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus. Easter Sunday proclaims our commitment to a way of life that seeks to imitate the life of Jesus, to work to bring about the Kingdom of God, and all we can do to rid the world of evil, hate, and division against the gift of our redemption.
Faith is a choice. It is a decision of the heart to commit to living in Godly ways modeled on the example of the Lord Jesus. The example of Jesus is clear and unwavering in the reality of love, self-giving, and other-centered lives that honors the truth and goodness of others and all creation.
The readings today begin with the Book of Sirach. ‘If you choose, you can keep the commandments, they will save you, if you trust in God…’ This opening sentence alone gives us rich opportunities to ponder our stance before the Lord in the Lenten season.
If. God forces no one. God has given us the glorious freedom and the treacherous danger of free choice. If. If is another danger word because it is free and holds the option of non-commitment. In today’s language, one would quickly say, ‘I can do what I want.’ To this God says, Go for it. God makes it clear that each choice comes with its own result. ‘Before man are life and death, good and evil, which ever he chooses will be given him.’
The wisdom of the reading points to the gift and the tension of human conscience. A well-formed conscience in the heart of a faith-filled person will lead to a path of righteousness, right relationship with God and others. An ill-formed conscience in a person lukewarm or lacking in faith will lead away from God and the risk of losing the soul. God knows human weakness and understands the ways of every heart. God knows the hearts that seek and desire the way of love as well as the hearts that do not. Falling into sin due to human weakness can find and receive God’s mercy through a spirit of repentance, sorrow, and contrition. A renewed heart can lead to an intentional change of behavior. Freely choosing a life of sin in the designs of hate, power, and selfishness is another story. God can and will forgive all who seek the unity and love God offers in Christ. Those choosing a way of life that leads to spiritual death may not realize or be able to see and accept the life Christ offers us. God’s offer is never withdrawn. The choice is always ours.
Keeping the Ten Commandments is more than obeying ten rules as they were memorized. The true believer lives from the heart worshipping God in Spirit and in truth. The commandments form an essential yet basic structure that leads us to Christ with full life in God. More than rules, the Commandments are intended for the stability and right order of society that God would be honored and reverenced in his people. Morality is more than my personal good behavior. Morality is relational, social, economic, and communal. Too many bad apples in the same basket and in time the whole bunch is lost.
The moral dictates of the last seven commandments flow from the wisdom and reverence of the first three. God alone is the Lord. We shall not have false gods. God’s name is holy, revered, honored, not taken in vain. We are called to keep the Sabbath. Our lives are not our own, but a gift from God. The Sabbath honors God through our worship and acknowledged dependance on God. Gathering with the community in our common worship of God strengthens our faith, inspires hope, and defends against ‘going it on our own.’ Our worship of God strengthens the social bonds of morality, justice, charity, and right order in society. Loving God and trusting the promises of Christ will strengthen us against sin, remind us of God’s mercy, and the joy of fresh forgiveness.
When the society and culture fall to hate, fear, and various forms that push aside human dignity, faith weakens, violence increases, and people are drawn to poor choices against the wisdom and spirit of God that dwell in each of us.
God is unchanging love. Choose life in Christ. Accept his peace and be peace for others. God bless the Church and the world with a holy Lent.
Father John Esper
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