TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A, 2026 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

 Sirach 27:30-28:7; Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35

 

Christianity is the most radical of all religions because of its teaching on forgiveness. No other religion has so much emphasis on forgiveness as in Christianity. Retaliation and revenge are clearly enshrined in the spirituality of some religions and many cultures, and deep in the way of life of many men and women. The first reading says, “Anger and wrath are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” The reading explains how forgiveness is important to our prayer life and our relationship with God: “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself; can he seek pardon for his own sins?” Jesus emphasizes this teaching on forgiveness in Mark 11:25-26, “And when you stand to pray, if you have anything against anyone, forgive, so that your heavenly Father may also forgive your sins.” We pray in the Lord’s Prayer “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us” (Matthew 6:12). The first reading admonishes us, “Remember the last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin!”

 

One of the lessons we can draw from today’s gospel parable is that we sin against God every day but he does not treat us according to our sins. Today’s Psalm says, “Who pardons all your iniquities, and heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with kindness and compassion. He will not always chide nor does he keep his wrath forever, not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes. For as the heavens tower over the earth, so surpassing is his kindness towards those who fear him.  As far as the east is from the west, so far has he has put our transgressions from us.”

 

Yet, many times we are very unforgiving to one another, even over minor offenses. At the end of the Lord’s Prayer Jesus cautions us, “If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you either” (Matthew 6:14-15). St. James further warns us, “For the judgment is merciless to one who has not shown mercy” (James 2:12). This is repeating the message of the first reading.

 

However, we must not confuse justice with forgiveness. Justice aims to correct a wrong through lawful or restorative means. Justice aims to protect others and seek lawful accountability without being driven by hatred or a desire for revenge. Evil breeds and flourishes where there is no justice. To expect forgiveness in the middle of an on-going assault or aggression does not make sense. For forgiveness to be truly meaningful and for healing to occur, the aggression must first stop, regardless of whether there is an apology or justice. That is why we have the Defense Department and Law Maintenance and Law Enforcement Departments. That is why the Catholic Church Just War Doctrine defines the conditions under which force can be used to halt aggression and protect a victim or victims.  We continue to pray for the repentance of those who inflict pain on others.

 

When an assault or an aggression is over (regardless of whether there is an apology or justice), forgiveness follows, and healing is possible. Forgiveness is a personal choice to let go of bitterness, hatred, and the desire for personal revenge so that the victim can find inner peace. Deacon Ignatius Joseph says, “If you do not confess your sins, you keep your sins.” In the same sense, if you do not forgive the sins against you, you keep them with you. That is to say, you keep the hurt, the pain, and the grief. Depending on the depth of the hurt, healing after forgiveness can be a gradual process. It requires prayer and patience.

 

Sometimes, we ask, “I have forgiven my someone, yet I still remember the offense. Does it mean that I have not forgiven the person?” We must not underestimate the immense power of memory. Some experiences can remain in our memory for a very long, and sometimes forever. However, prayer, time, and goodwill can heal and erase the hurt, even if we still do remember the experience. When this happens, the offense may be remembered, but faintly.

 

We know that forgiveness and healing have taken place:

 

(1) When the offense is no longer vivid in our mind. We have forgotten the details.

 

(2) When we no longer make reference to the offense to support any kind of claim or reason for our actions.

 

(3) When we are no longer upset when we remember the offense or the offender.

 

(4) When we, in no way, wish to retaliate or wish misfortune to the offender.

 

(5) When we treat the offender with acceptance, understanding, and kindness.

 

(6) When we remember the offense, we are grateful for the lesson or lessons we learned from the experience.

 

(7) When we remember the offense, we acknowledge that we have, also, offended other people many times and in many ways. We, also, are in need of forgiveness.

 

Let us conclude with the words of St. Paul (Ephesians 4:32), “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” May God grant us the grace to reconcile, the grace to forgive, and the grace to be healed. Amen.

 

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A 2026, BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9; Romans 13:13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20

 

The people of Israel’s disloyalty to God resulted in their conquest and captivity by Babylon. While in exile in Babylon, God did not abandon them. God called one of them, Ezekiel, to prophesy to them. In the first reading, God spoke to Ezekiel, “I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel…”

 

In the same way, God has appointed each one of us to watch over one another and to be one another’s keeper. Priests are appointed to watch over the faithful and the faithful are to watch over their priests. Family members are appointed to watch over one another. Neighbors are appointed to watch over one another. Church members, coworkers, business partners, colleagues, and so on are appointed to watch over one another. We are not appointed to fight and destroy one another. Rulers and leaders are appointed to watch over the citizens; not neglect them, or mistreat them, or abandon them, or steal what belongs to them, or kill them. No one should be like Cain who murdered his brother and questioned God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9).

 

God called Ezekiel to speak truth to his people to save them. In the same way, God calls us to speak truth to one another to save one another. God says in the first reading, “If you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I shall require from your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.” St. James writes, “Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). Therefore, God has not called us to rumor, or to gossip, or to slander, or to be silent in the face of evil.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “Silence in the face of evil is evil: God will not hold us guiltless.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian who was executed for his role in the political resistance against Adolf Hitler. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated that remaining silent in the face of wrongdoing makes a person cooperative with evil and that the inaction of good people is a greater tragedy than the acts of bad people. He was equally executed.

 

While we are challenged to speak truth to one another, we are also challenged to accept the truth we hear and not harden our hearts or shoot the messenger. Some people are like the guilty Hebrew man who attacked Moses for correcting him, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” (Exodus 2:14).

 

Watching over one another and speaking truth to one another are acts of love. That is why St. Paul writes in the second reading, “Owe no one anything, except to love one another… hence, love is the fulfilment of the law” (Romans 13:8-10). St. Jerome recorded that St. John the Evangelist lived to about 100 years old. He became so frail and weak that he could no longer walk and had to be carried by his disciples into the gatherings of believers in Ephesus. Because he lacked the strength for long or complex preaching, he would simply address the church with the same words every week: “Little children, love one another.” Growing weary of hearing the exact same phrase week after week, the disciples finally asked him, “Master, why do you always say this?” St. John replied, “Because it is the Lord's command, and if this only is done, it is enough.”

 

In today’s gospel, Jesus presents to us a difficult and a radical act of love, which is to make humbling personal extra efforts to seek reconciliation. St. Paul refers to this spiritual maturity as “becoming a fool for Christ” (1 Corinthian 4:10). It takes prayer and God’s graces of humility, courage, and perseverance to follow the four steps of seeking reconciliation which Jesus commands: Step one: Don’t presume, don’t rumor, don’t gossip, don’t grudge, don’t malign, don’t slander, don’t conclude. Initiate a private meeting for reconciliation. If the private meeting fails, don’t give up, proceed to step two: Make a second attempt with one or two mediators. If the second attempt fails, still don’t give up, proceed to step three: Bring the matter to the leadership or the community. After these three steps and the person still refuses reconciliation, then step four: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). This means that we do not fight or retaliate against someone who remains unreconciled. We are to pray for the person and treat the person with empathy.

 

Jesus continues in today’s gospel, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:18-20).

 

Prophet Amos asks, “Do two journey together unless they have agreed?” (Amos 3:3). The answer is, “No.” Therefore, let us be in agreement and journey together and watch over one another. Then, there will be the positive energy of doing things together, praying together, and binding and loosing in Jesus’ name, and we will experience his presence in our midst. The psalmist exclaims, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! … For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore” (Psalm 133:1-3).

 

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A 2026 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 63:2-9; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27

 

We are all carrying various kinds and sizes of crosses. That is why Jesus invites us in today’s gospel, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). “Deny oneself” means to surrender one’s personal plans to God and put God first. Our crosses are our afflictions, difficulties, trials, temptations, responsibilities, love of God and love of neighbor, and our faith journey.

 

In the first reading, Prophet Jeremiah’s cross was his responsibility to prophesy to his people, their rejection of him, and the persecution he suffered in their hands.

 

When God called Jeremiah, he said to him, “To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you … See, I place my words in your mouth! Today, I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:7-10).

 

The first reading was a time Jeremiah felt that God had not fulfilled his promises to him, “to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish.” Rather, he continued to see “terror on every side” and hear “denounce him, denounce him” (Jeremiah 20:10). In his frustration, Jeremiah accused God of duping him (deceiving him). He wanted to stop prophesying. “I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.” Despite how he felt, Jeremiah did not give up. He continued to prophesy. The prophesy of Jeremiah does end with chapter 20 of the first reading, it ends with chapter 52. Jeremiah teaches us to continue the work of God even when the work is not recognized, and when there is no apparent good result, and when one is not appreciated, and when one is persecuted for no just reason. That is the way to carry our crosses and follow Jesus.

 

St. Paul encourages us in the second reading not to embrace the standard of “If you can’t beat them, join them.” St. Paul encourages us, “Do not conform yourselves to this present age…” We are to remain steadfast to the will of God, to what is good and to what is pleasing to God. Not what is pleasing “to this present age.” That is the way to carry our crosses and follow Jesus.

 

In the gospel, Jesus speaks about his own cross, that he “must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed …” Peter wanted Jesus to refuse his cross. “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” Peter was an obstacle to the will of God, to what is good and to what is pleasing to God. Therefore, Jesus rebuked him, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.”

 

The encounter between Jesus and Peter reveals to us the pressure we go through in times of our crosses. Jesus teaches us not to refuse or abandon our crosses. He says, “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38). We need to be watchful of the pressures that come from our close ones. Peter was very close to Jesus. The most difficult trials and temptations are not from enemies. They are from close ones. Many times, we compromise/conform ourselves due to pressures from close ones against what is good, what is God’s will, and what is pleasing to him. We pray for the grace to resist such pressures.

 

Let us conclude with this story:

 

God, according to his divine plan, gave a man a tall cross to carry and told him, “While on your journey, pray for anything, and I will give you.”  The man set off on his journey. After a few miles, he cried to God, “Lord, my cross is too heavy, please, cut it down a little.” God threw a handsaw to him to cut the cross to the size he wanted. He was delighted and continued his journey. After a few more miles, he cried to God again, “Lord, please cut it down a little more, I will be able to carry it better.” God threw a handsaw to him to cut the cross a little more according to his wish. He was glad. After a few more miles, he got to a gully. The easiest way he would have crossed over the gully would have been to place the cross across the gully to become a bridge. Sadly, the cross was, now, too short to go across the gully.

 

May our crosses become our bridges across the gullies in our life journeys. Amen.

 

The story of Jesus’s cross ends with his resurrection. May the stories of our crosses end with testimonies of victory. Amen. However, we know that there are incomprehensible lifelong crosses. In such conditions, we pray for enduring grace while trusting in God in whose will is our strength and peace. To God be the glory, even in incomprehensible lifelong crosses. Amen.