For 15 February 2026, The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, based on Matthew 5:17–20
(Image by Kelly Latimore Icons)
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
In today’s long gospel reading from chapter 5 of Matthew, in a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turns to six scriptural examples in the law to suggest we are going to have to dig deep to meet the relational challenge of being salt and light to our world in the spirit of the Beatitudes. In today’s passage, Jesus teaches about doing away with anger, lust, mistreatment of women, and lying, and chapter 5 will go on to talk about nonviolent resistance to evil and love of enemies. Jesus has come not to abolish God’s law but to fulfill it. The Master teaches us to stand against the harsh fracturing of relationships that so often characterizes the world as it is, and to be salt and light on behalf of the world as God created it and imagines it to be.
Recently, I came across a print by St. Louis-based artist and iconographer Kelly Latimore, entitled Christ in the Rubble—an image of the Holy Family huddling amidst the urban rubble of Gaza. The image is an icon, a window, which invites us to see Christ alive and present in our broken world. Where do you see Christ, and how do you hear him inviting us Christians to be salt and light, responding to God’s presence as people of mercy and peace?
A traditional English translation of the Greek in Matthew 5:8 reads, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (NRSV). Eugene Peterson’s more colloquial translation in the Message Bible reads, “You are blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” The Sermon on the Mount invites us to put our hearts right with God so that we can see Christ more clearly in our messy world, and to become as God intends us to be—salt and light, people of mercy in a sin-sick world.
The upcoming season of Lent will give us, both individually and communally, a liturgical window to take stock and act. If we can see Christ more clearly amidst the rubble and suffering of our world’s broken relationships, we can take personal and communal action to heal and repair the world. Never forget for a single moment that God is here among the least of these.
For the past three Sundays, the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew has been asking us to dig deep and to take courageous steps to be salt and light in our great big, beautiful, and broken world.
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
About Gregory Heille, O.P.
Gregory Heille, O.P., is an Emeritus Professor of Preaching and Evangelization at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a friar of the Province of St. Albert the Great USA and has a particular interest in racial equity education.
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15 Feb 2026
0 CommentsChrist in the Rubble
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(Image by Kelly Latimore Icons)
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
In today’s long gospel reading from chapter 5 of Matthew, in a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turns to six scriptural examples in the law to suggest we are going to have to dig deep to meet the relational challenge of being salt and light to our world in the spirit of the Beatitudes. In today’s passage, Jesus teaches about doing away with anger, lust, mistreatment of women, and lying, and chapter 5 will go on to talk about nonviolent resistance to evil and love of enemies. Jesus has come not to abolish God’s law but to fulfill it. The Master teaches us to stand against the harsh fracturing of relationships that so often characterizes the world as it is, and to be salt and light on behalf of the world as God created it and imagines it to be.
Recently, I came across a print by St. Louis-based artist and iconographer Kelly Latimore, entitled Christ in the Rubble—an image of the Holy Family huddling amidst the urban rubble of Gaza. The image is an icon, a window, which invites us to see Christ alive and present in our broken world. Where do you see Christ, and how do you hear him inviting us Christians to be salt and light, responding to God’s presence as people of mercy and peace?
A traditional English translation of the Greek in Matthew 5:8 reads, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (NRSV). Eugene Peterson’s more colloquial translation in the Message Bible reads, “You are blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” The Sermon on the Mount invites us to put our hearts right with God so that we can see Christ more clearly in our messy world, and to become as God intends us to be—salt and light, people of mercy in a sin-sick world.
The upcoming season of Lent will give us, both individually and communally, a liturgical window to take stock and act. If we can see Christ more clearly amidst the rubble and suffering of our world’s broken relationships, we can take personal and communal action to heal and repair the world. Never forget for a single moment that God is here among the least of these.
For the past three Sundays, the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew has been asking us to dig deep and to take courageous steps to be salt and light in our great big, beautiful, and broken world.
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
About Gregory Heille, O.P.
Gregory Heille, O.P., is an Emeritus Professor of Preaching and Evangelization at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a friar of the Province of St. Albert the Great USA and has a particular interest in racial equity education.