The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 26, 2026

Matthew 13:44–52

Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” 

Jesus preaches here to his disciples, who are familiar with his way of preaching and with his parables, and so are in a better position to understand him than the crowds.  He particularly preaches here regarding the kingdom of heaven, a term that does not occur in the prophets or in the apocryphal literature of the time.  It is worth noting that Jesus does not say, “the kingdom of Israel”, the re-establishing of which many Pharisees and scribes expected to be done by the Messiah.  Thus, in his healing and exorcising, the Lord acts, for the Jews, like the long-awaited Messiah, but his words do not lend to this interpretation.  

His parables on the kingdom of heaven do not contain references to uprisings, soldiers, fighting, or victories, either.  Clearly, his kingdom is “not of this world”.  Instead, the objects and occupations of ordinary daily life fill these parables, at once speaking to the common man, and at the same time showing them as signs of heavenly realities.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field.”  Now, this treasure was not buried in the man’s own field, but in another’s.  It sounds like the finder happened to be in this field, perhaps on business, and found the treasure.  It sounds like the finder had a fairly easy time locating it.  He would hardly have taken to digging and excavating another man’s field without permission.  This implies that the owner of the field did not know his field very well.  He did not know what was on it.  This signifies the Gentiles, who found Christ among the Jews and “sold off” their former way of life in order to live as a Christian.  We can also understand this as a Christian man whose devotion is unremarkable suddenly realizing, in an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, how much Jesus loves him, and he completely gives himself over to the Lord.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.”  Now, we can understand this parable much as we understand the one above, but we can look at them in another way: It is The Son of God who is the merchant in this parable, and he is “looking for” those whom he has come down to earth  to save.  Out of joy in finding us, he sells all that he has — that is, he leaves heaven, becomes man, and endures his Passion and Death — in order to save us.  In his eyes, we are the “pearl of great price”.  As St. Paul reminds us, “You are bought with a great price” (1 Corinthians 6, 20).

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.”  That is, everyone is invited into the kingdom of heaven: “Many are called” (Matthew 22, 14).  “Fish of every kind” are caught, that is, those who love Christ for himself, and those who give the appearance of following him for some benefit, such as power or money.  The net is haul ashore, the last judgment, and what is good is kept and what is bad is thrown away.  The Lord adds this explanatory phrase: “The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous.”  Traditionally, it is understood that the mission of the angels on the day of judgment will be to wake the dead, reconstituting their bodies so that their souls can reunite with them.  The angels will then convey the resurrected humans to the place of judgment.  In the image our Lord furnishes here, it is the angels which will separate the “lambs” from the “goats” in the presence of the Lord.  After the judgment, the angels will take the wicked and “throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”  Perhaps the former guardian angels of the wicked will do this.  The “wailing and grinding of teeth” signifies both the agony of the wicked in their torments and of their regret at how easily they could have been saved if they had given themselves to Christ during the short time of their mortal lives.

Finally, Jesus compares the scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven as the head of the household who brings out both the old and the new.  In the case of the head of the household, that might mean fresh food and aged wine.  In the case of the scribe, it can mean the ability to understand and preach both the Old and New Testaments, revealing how the Old is the sign of the New.  That can be any of us who love the Scriptures inspired by God and treat them as treasures and as pearls of great price.

Personal Note: For those who are interested, Part 3 of the Bible Study on the Book of Revelation is available through the link on the right sidebar. We have a few more parts ahead of us!

 Revelation Part 3

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bXju3cu8pbCi1sI16pPRQ__WAxPq6qVO/view?usp=drivesdk

The Feast of St. James the Apostle, July 25, 2026

Matthew 20, 20-28

The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.” Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.” He replied, “My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. James, the son of Zebedee and the brother of St. John.  He is called “the greater”, perhaps because of his age, distinguishing from the St. James who became the bishop of Jerusalem and who lived until nearly the time of the Jewish Revolt.  St. James the Greater is mentioned several times in the Gospels, usually in conjunction with his brother John.  He and John and Peter shared a special intimacy with the Lord, who invited them to places apart from the other nine.  James would seem to have been a young man at the time our Lord called him to follow him, since his father and mother were very much alive at the time.  He also would seem to have preceded John in age since he is always mentioned as first of the pair.  We have an indication of his temperament in that Jesus referred to the two brothers as “the sons of thunder” (cf. Mark 3, 17), and when he and John wished to call down fire from heaven on a town that would not receive them (cf. Luke 9, 54).  He was the first of the Apostles to die, beheaded by Herod, in about the year 44.  This indicates their zeal — even rashness — for the Lord.  Peter manifests a similar zeal, so perhaps this is why these three were chosen by our Lord for events such as the Transfiguration and to keep him company during his Agony in the Garden before his arrest.  He was the first of the Apostles to receive martyrdom, as he was beheaded by Herod Agrippa in the year 44.  There is a tradition, though not an ancient one, that St. James preached the Gospel in Spain before returning to Jerusalem, where his martyrdom took place.  His relics are said to rest in Compostela, Spain, an important destination of pilgrimages from the Middle Ages onwards.

In the Gospel reading for his feast, his and John’s mother, whom many scholars identify as Mary of Cleophas, approaches Jesus and desires him to bestow high rank on her sons, “one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.”  That is, she wants them to be his chief lieutenants, with one of them possibly becoming his successor “in his kingdom”.  However, she mistakes the nature of the Lord’s kingdom for a re-establishment of an independent kingdom of Israel.  The Lord indicates this, telling her, “You do not know what you are asking,” which is frequently the case when we pray for some outcome or other.  The Lord then addressed the two brothers, asking them, “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”  The brothers almost certainly have little idea what Jesus is asking them, although they may understand the “chalice” means “battle” of some kind.  Nevertheless, they say, without hesitation, they can.  Then the Lord assures them that they will indeed drink the chalice that he drinks.  We can understand this “chalice” as the persecution and Death that the Lord endured, or more broadly as a commitment to do the will of the Father, no matter what the cost.  We “drink” this chalice when we are baptized, confirmed, and whenever we receive Holy Communion.  It can also mean living the life and dying the death the Father has chosen for us.

At the same time, what they are asking for is not the Son’s to grant, but is reserved for the Father.  That is, it is reserved for those who live in accord with the Father’s will.  To claim a seat in the court of heaven before living a holy life is mere presumption.  It is only after a saint’s death that he hears the words, “Come up higher” at the heavenly banquet (Luke 14, 10).

Naturally, the ten other Apostles took umbrage at this brazen attempt to gain power.  Their might have occurred a permanent rift between the Apostles right here, but the Lord Jesus explains the difference between what he will give them — authority — versus what civil or other religious rulers possess — power.  The point of authority, particularly Within the Church, is that of service: “Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.”  But this is not an abject slavery, rather, an imitation of the Lord’s own service: “Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  

St. James did indeed drink the chalice of the Lord, preaching the Gospel and offering Sacrifice of the Mass until his martyrdom.  And now he sits with God.

We also celebrate the feast of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, who was martyred in Asia Minor during the Roman persecution. 

Friday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 24, 2026

Matthew 13: 18-23

Jesus said to his disciples: “Hear the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom without understanding it, and the Evil One comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

Jesus does not describe the sower in the parable apart from his work.  He scatters the seed and, as far as the parable goes, he has no further part in the fate of the seed.  But Jesus explains later that the sower is the Son of man.  Because of this, we know that as the Sower, he causes the seed to germinate and to grow into a plant.  He causes growth according to the soil the seed lands on.  The seed fails not because of the fault of the Sower or the Seed, but due to the soil.  Also, we note that the Sower tosses seed in all directions so as to cover the entire field, even so that some of it falls on the path: no one is excluded from the possibility of salvation.  At the same time, in real life, each person’s moral choices make it the type of “soil” that he or she is.  

We can also glean from the parable that it is not easy or perhaps even possible to determine what person will convert and become a zealous follower of the Lord and who will not, that is, what patch of soil is rich and what is not.  In tossing seed, a sower uses up all the seed that he has.  It cannot be stored for the next season, and so he has extra incentive to cover his field entirely.  He also wants to spread it as evenly as possible over the field so that no patch of it receives too much or too little.  From this we learn how the Lord does not begrudge his grace to anyone, but everyone is offered it, as much as he needs.

The Seed which is sown has power and life.  In all the cases Jesus describes, except for the seed that falls on the path, it germinates, although it may last a short time, perhaps a moment or a few days. Although path does not receive the seed, the Seed lingers.  The Seed does everything it can do, but it cannot force itself to take root if the ground does not allow it.  It lasts only until trouble and persecution come. The Seed that falls among the thorns struggles to take root and grow, entwined as it is by anxieties and ambitions.  It is finally choked and dies.  The desire to advance in the world or to possess some temporary good outweighs the love of Jesus Christ and even of one’s own soul.  We recall the Lord’s words, “What does it profit a man of he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16, 26).  And then the rich soil gives the seed a proper home, and abounding in the love of God and taking to heart his word, the soil produces many times as much fruit as the seed that went into the soil.  It is the miracle of seed that from it can grow a pumpkin that contains hundreds of seeds, or an apple tree that produces bushels of apples, each containing more seed.  As for the Seed that falls on the path, we see the terrible responsibility of the human will, which can even set itself against God and ultimately lose its power in hell.

Personal Note: I’m hoping to have Part 3 of the series on the Book of Revelation posted sometime today.

Thursday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 23, 2026

Matthew 13, 10-17

The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: ‘You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them.’  But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

Jesus reveals the Kingdom of heaven to the crowds, but he teaches the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven only to his closest followers, who have spent some time with him and are devoted to him.  They are thus the best prepared for learning of the mysteries of the Kingdom.  On this occasion, the Apostles ask him why he speaks to them about the Kingdom in the form of parables that they are not easily going to understand.  The Lord tells the parables for everyone, casual listener and devoted follower alike.  Each will take something away from hearing them.  The Apostles will ask questions about them, but the people in the crowds do not.  They certainly could ask questions, but they choose not to do so.  Is this because their pride tells them that they do understand what the Lord has said, or because their pride will not allow them to appear ignorant?  Is it because they have gathered together for a show, not to learn about eternal things, and hang around until they realize there will be nothing of the kind?  Or do they like to listen to him and ponder his words but do not feel capable of asking questions.  It is easy to imagine folks walking home after hearing the Prodigal Son parable, considering it in very literal terms, and arguing over the characters and their actions.  But the people do not ask the Lord what he means.

The Lord goes on to speak of these people who “look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.”  Here is One who has shown himself to be the Son of God by curing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead.  They themselves say that nothing like what he has done has ever happened before.  And yet when he tells them of heaven and the life of grace and how they might be saved, they do not listen to what he says.  They listen instead for what they want to hear.  They hear the words that they must repent of their sins, but they do not take them to heart.  It is as though each person thought he was talking about someone else.  We recall how the Lord reproached Capharnaum, a town in which he had spent much time: “If the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day” (Matthew 11, 23).  

It is necessary for us to study and contemplate our Lord’s words, and just as necessary for us to take them personally.

The Feast of St, Mary Magdalene, Wednesday, July 22, 2026

John 20, 1-2, 11-18

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”  Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her.

Very little is said of St. Mary Magdalene in the Gospels.  They drop hints, as though expecting us to know what they meant, but they are rather circumspect regarding her.  Both St. Mark and St. Luke tell us that Jesus cast seven demons out of her, and we also know that she stood beneath the Cross with the Blessed Virgin and St. John.  The Gospels further tell us that she was one of the women who followed the Lord and provided for him out of their own means (cf. Luke 8, 3).  These facts speak of her passion for the Lord Jesus as her Savior.  Of all the people the Lord had healed, of all the people the Lord had called to follow him, she came to be with him as he hung on the Cross.  Who else was there?  His Mother, who loved him beyond all telling, and the disciple whom Jesus loved.  Shame and humiliation meant nothing to them as they looked up into the face of the one who was everything to them.  They hardly heard the scorn, the sneers, the mockery of the high priests and the others who gathered like vultures around the one dying on the Cross.

Mary Magdalene stayed at the Cross the entire time the Lord suffered there, and she saw him die.  She experienced the earthquake that marked his Death, and she saw the centurion shove his spear into the Lord’s side.  The horror of that afternoon did not drive her away in sickness and fear.  She only saw the Lord who had saved her.  She remained at Golgotha even as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took his Body down from the Cross, and she followed them to the tomb where they laid it.  She took note of the place so that she could find it again.  And then, a practical woman, she went to one of the shops in Jerusalem that was still open as the sun was going down and the Sabbath was beginning, and she bought “sweet spices” with which to anoint the Body of the Lord after the Sabbath had passed.  She did this in company with at least a couple of other women with whom she had followed the Lord.

St. John focuses on Mary Magdalene in his recounting of the first appearance of the Lord after his Resurrection, and he shows the fullness of her love in how early she came to the tomb, how her anxiety to care for his precious Body overrode waiting until later in the day to rally some of the men to move the heavy stone that covered the mouth of the tomb, and in how she remained at the tomb even after she had discovered that it was empty, as if to say, Where else can I go?  

“She turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.”  This has been interpreted as teaching that the glorified bodies of the saints will differ in appearance from how their bodies looked during their life on earth.  While that is no doubt true, there seems to be more to her not recognizing the Lord than this.  Was it that her tears marred her vision, or that the grim reality of his Death had so impressed itself on her mind that she simply could not recognize him as alive and conversing with her?  But it also seems that her question to him is phrased awkwardly, and is a little strange.  It is almost as if she is attempting to get him to speak some more so that she can listen to the sound of his voice.  “Mary!”  The Lord calling her name is one of the most moving moments in all of the Scriptures, and in all of human history.  She recognized the way he spoke her name.  It was the way only Jesus had spoken it, with his heavy Galilean accent and the sheer love of her in his voice.  She answered him at once, and John gives us the exact Aramaic name she called him, translating it into the Greek for his readers: “Teacher!” although there is more to what she called him than how we think of “teacher”, which we see today as merely a profession.  For her, the Lord taught how she should live, and who God was, and how much God loved her.  He taught her about the beauty of the world God had created, and that he had created it for her.  Before the Lord had cast out the evil spirits that had possessed her and used her, she had endured a miserable existence.  We can think of other examples of the possessed in the Gospel: of the man possessed by Legion, who took him over so that he “had his dwelling in the tombs, and no man now could bind him, not even with chains. For having been often bound with fetters and chains, he had burst the chains, and broken the fetters in pieces, and no one could tame him.  And he was always day and night in the tombs and in the mountains, crying and cutting himself with stones” (Mark 5, 3-5). Or of the little boy from whom the Lord cast out demons after his Transfiguration: “I have brought my son to you, who has a dumb spirit, who, whenever he seizes him, dashes him down, and he foams at the mouth and gnashes his teeth and grieves” (Mark 9, 16-17).  Jesus had saved her, and she never forgot it.  He had given her her life.  And now, after losing him to death, she had him again.

“Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”  The Greek has, “Stop touching me.”  In her wonder and love, she had embraced him, and he had held her.  But only in heaven could she embrace him forever.  In the meantime, the Lord sends her on a mission to tell his Apostles of his rising from the dead.  To be given a commission by her Lord was her fervent dream, and so she carries it out energetically.  We do not know if she saw him again on earth after that, but her love for him only grew in intensity during the remainder of her life, and now she beholds him forever in heaven, an example of how we ought to yearn for the Lord, setting all else beside, and an intercessor  for us as well.

Tuesday in the Sixteenth week of Ordinary Time, July 21, 2020

Matthew 12, 46-50

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

“While Jesus was speaking to the crowds.” As we consider the incident reported by St. Matthew in his Gospel we should keep in mind that it occurred while Jesus was teaching. It can be inferred that he was seated in a house or in the house’s courtyard and that the crowd was very large. Matthew does not say so explicitly but it seems as though this is Peter’s house in Capernaum, which Jesus used as a base when he ministered in Galilee. Since the crowd here is large, the time might have been around that of the midday meal when men and women ceased their work and ate and rested before going out to finish up for the day.

“His Mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him.” St. Albert the Great, in his commentary on this Gospel, sees their arrival and their attempts to speak with him as interruptions of a holy work.  Now, let us imagine someone giving a public lecture at a university or other public place and the lecturer’s relatives pounding on the door of the hall and calling out for the lecturer to stop what he is doing and attend to their needs. What the relatives do here goes beyond that importunity because the Lord is teaching the crowds about God and the Kingdom of Heaven.  

“Your Mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” The name of the person who says this to the Lord is not given. Clearly, he is interrupting Jesus, who might have been in the middle of a parable or some other words revealing divine mysteries. Jesus did not waste a word and every word he spoke is precious, except perhaps to the man who burst out with information the Lord could not have been ignorant of. The persistent rudeness of his relatives would have agitated those who had come to listen to the Son of God, causing them to talk. St. Albert sees this as a dilemma or even as a temptation posed by the man: what is more important, family, worldly affairs, or the work of religion?

“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” The Lord, as he so often does, refuses to give a direct answer according to the framing of the situation presented to him. Instead, He ignores this and points out the deeper truth. He begins with a simple but unusual question, for surely he knew who his mother and relatives were. His answer would have come both as a surprise but also as the truth: “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Jesus reveals that his call to preach and to teach came before all else and that those who belonged to him were to be identified not through the accident of biology but through imitating him in the perfect dedication to God’s holy will. The most sacred duty, then, is to God, and all other duties must be ordered to that.

We might wonder what role did the Blessed Virgin have in the deeds of her relatives, for she was named among them. Since her will was fully aligned with God,  she would have had no part in interrupting her Son. She had come up from Nazareth, perhaps a three days walk in rough country, to see her Son and very likely to protect him from these relatives who not only did not believe in him but thought that he was mad: “They went out to lay hold on him. For they said: He is become mad” (Mark 3, 21).

Their attempt did not draw Jesus away from his work. Instead, the interruption became the occasion for a revelation: natural kinship with Christ is a great good, but the deepest kinship with him is formed by obedience to the Father. In this sense the Blessed Virgin was not displaced by the Lord’s words. She fulfilled them more perfectly than anyone else.