Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 15 February 2026
Sirach 15:15-20 ><}}}}*> 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 ><}}}}*> Matthew 5:17-37

It is a day after Valentine’s, also the final Sunday before we take a long break from Ordinary Time to start the 40 days of Lent this Ash Wednesday leading us to Easter that lasts until the month of May. It is so lovely and timely that we hear Jesus teaching us this Sunday to examine our hearts always so that we can live our faith in him daily, of remaining blessed in his beatitudes.

We are still at the sermon on the mount with Jesus giving us a series of general teachings illustrated in some concrete examples. However, keep in mind these are not new teachings as Jesus himself clarified he had come not to abolish but to fulfill the laws. In the light of the Beatitudes he taught us the other Sunday, Jesus is now directing us to look deeper into our hearts, to make it whole again in him and stay blessed unlike the scribes and the Pharisees.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

This is not the first time we have heard the word “righteousness” in Matthew who used it to describe Joseph in his Christmas story as “a righteous man” (Mt.1:19).

Being righteous for the Jews is being holy which is obeying and living by the laws and commandments of God. Unfortunately, they got centered with the letters of the laws as insisted by their scribes and Pharisees. When Jesus came, they have forgotten God himself as well as the value of the human person and life itself for which the laws were meant to be. Matthew rectified this at the start of his gospel with the story of the annunciation of Christ’s birth to Joseph who obeyed God’s command expressed in his love for Mary whom he took as his wife then pregnant with the Savior he named as “Jesus”.

Righteousness or holiness is not being sinless but being filled with God, living our faith in Christ by witnessing his gospel. From the Greek word holos that means “whole” not broken, holiness in a sense is what we call as integrity.

Holiness, righteousness, and integrity all begin in the heart that we find expressed in the sixth Beatitude taught by Jesus two Sundays ago, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God” (Mt.5:8).

A clean heart is a loving heart. We can only see God and the other persons with a loving heart. The human intellect cannot know most especially God as St. Paul tells us in the second reading.

In the same manner, we know the other person not with the intellect but always with the heart as the Little Prince said, “What is essential is invisible to the eye; it is only with the heart that one can truly see” while Marvin Gaye expressed it so beautifully in his 1971 hit “What’s Going On” with the lines “we have to put some lovin’ here today” so we can understand each other.

Indeed, the heart is the very center or core of every person because everything flows from the heart. And this is what Jesus himself underscores in his three admonitions against anger, lust, and falsehoods this Sunday. In all three teachings, we find how love is severely damaged when we quarrel against each other, when we take everyone as things and objects to be used, and when we lack the sincerity in our words.

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna”(Mt.5:21-22).

First thing we notice in these three teachings is its construction where Jesus first mentioned what was said by the ancestors in the phrase “You have heard” immediately followed by his own take, “But, I say to you.”

Again, Jesus is not contradicting the laws given by Moses and elaborated by their elders; Jesus was actually expressing its fullness in him found in love that begins in the heart which St. Paul reiterated in his letters that love is the perfection of the laws and commandments of God.

Whenever we quarrel in words or in deeds, we not only break our ties with each other as brothers and sisters but even with God we call “our Father”. Remember, love of God is love of one another. And the sad part of this reality is our being cut off from God even if we don’t admit it. And even if we know we have nothing against anyone, we surely feel the break-up in our selves due to the lack of love and charity, most of all, of peace. That is why Jesus added that when in our worship we realize a brother or sister has anything against us, we must first reconcile with him or her. That is why before the Holy Communion, we give the greeting of peace with one another who represents the person we are at odds with. The responsibility becomes more pronounced if the person is in the same assembly we are in if we really want to have a meaningful and holy communion.

“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt.5:27-28).

Here we go again with the issues of marital infidelity as well as of divorce: at the very core of this is the equality of every person, of every man and woman as being created in the image and likeness of God with same equal dignity. Jesus reminds us today that there is no difference between man and woman when it comes to marriage because the same duties of fidelity bind each partner. Most of all, Jesus has consistently taught how we must go beyond the Laws when it comes to marriage because every spouse is an image of himself, of his saving grace. Hence, we must reject every temptation and inappropriate words and actions that may destroy unity and love of couples and even in our other relationships as family and friends.

“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.” Anything more is from the evil one” (Mt.5:33-34).

This last admonition is perhaps most needed these days when we are bombarded with too much fake news as well as our own words are empty. Shakespeare said it so well in Hamlet, “words, words, words” wherein we think and believe that the more we increase our words, the more it becomes true and meaningful.

Of course, it it totally untrue as Jesus reminded us today to be truthful always. In Genesis, we are told in the story of creation how God shared only this power of words, of language with humans alone. Our ability to speak is a sharing in God’s power that demands responsibilities (Spiderman). Hence in the first reading, Ben Sirach reminds us to be responsible in choosing good than evil like in choosing between “fire and water”, “life and death”. Ben Sirach’s short reminders are very timely in this age of social media where “influencers” choose for us not only the candidates to elect but even the food to eat and clothes to wear. Being free is to decide, to choose knowingly what is good.

This Sunday, Jesus invites us to look into our hearts, to cleanse it of evil and sins so that he may dwell and reign completely in our hearts so we can have integrity and remain blessed and holy in him. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead, everyone!