15 February 2026

15 February 2026 - Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Transcript

Reading:  

1 Corinthians 2:6

Write:  

We speak a wisdom to those who are mature, not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away.

Reflect:   

Wisdom! Attend!

That is a declaration that comes from the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity. From what I recall they make that declaration after reading Scripture. There are a lot of places in Scripture that call us to “attend to Wisdom.”

For example, this is from the fifth and sixth chapters of the Wisdom of Solomon:

Then shall the righteous one with great assurance confront 

his oppressors who set at nought his labors. 

Seeing this, the wicked shall be shaken with dreadful fear, 

and be amazed at the unexpected salvation. 

They shall say among themselves, rueful 

and groaning through anguish of spirit: 

“This is the one whom once we held as a laughingstock 

and as a type for mockery, 

fools that we were! 

His life we accounted madness, 

and death dishonored. 

See how he is accounted among the heavenly beings; 

how his lot is with the holy ones!

…Yes, the hope of the wicked is like chaff borne by the wind, 

and like fine, storm-driven snow; 

Like smoke scattered by the wind, 

and like the passing memory of the nomad camping for a single day. 

But the righteous live forever, 

and in the Lord is their recompense, 

and the thought of them is with the Most High. 

Therefore shall they receive the splendid crown, 

the beautiful diadem, from the hand of the Lord, 

…but for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends.

There are a number of directions I want to go with this. First, is to put to rest an objection that comes from Protestants, based on a quote from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans: “There is no one just, not one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have gone astray; all alike are worthless; there is not one who does good, [there is not] even one.” St. Paul is quoting Isaiah, Proverbs, and a number of Psalms in this section from Romans. Psalm fourteen is probably the most direct quote. Many Protestant groups use this quote to challenge Catholics for our understanding of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. As you can see from the quote from the Wisdom of Solomon, there are those who live in righteousness. “This is the one whom once we held as a laughingstock and as a type for mockery, fools that we were!” There are many other places in Scripture that could be called on to combat this particular foolishness regarding Our Lady. Psalm 14 even combats it when it says, “God is with the company of the just.” Even though Psalm 14 says earlier, “All have gone astray; all alike are perverse. Not one does what is good, not even one.” That is point one.

The second point is that God’s wisdom is called “mysterious, hidden,which God predetermined before the ages for our glory… But God has revealed it to us through the Spirit.” We are the recipients of this wisdom. Let me go back to verse five that we had last week: “so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” And right away to verses six and seven from today: “Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory…” The footnote in the New American Bible that we use at Mass on verses six and seven says, “God’s wisdom [is] his plan for our salvation. This was his own eternal secret that no one else could fathom, but in this new age of salvation he has graciously revealed it to us. For the pattern of God’s secret, hidden to others [is] now revealed to the Church.”

Point three. The church gives us at the close of this reading another quote that St. Paul makes from Isaiah: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.”

This is point three, and is the most important one. It is all about the mystery of Jesus’ mission here on earth. How could any of us expect God to do the kind of work that he did in bringing us the salvation of Jesus on the cross? It is far beyond the expectations, the imagination, of any human being. We should be in awe that God would choose to act in this … insane amount of love! We who have been touched by this love of God have some – I would even say have great – understanding of the relationship that God desires with us. But we have to have experienced his love in order for it to even begin to make sense.

The world around us cannot understand. They are incapable of fathoming the works of God. That is what the Song of Solomon told us that I quoted above. Again, St Paul said: “But as it is written: What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.”

This was misquoted by a politician in our country … three decades ago. What he said was: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what we can accomplish.”

This guy was tone deaf to the truth of Scripture. And it showed in other things in his life. But this is the way with the world. They do not understand the implications of failing to live for God. I know that sounds judgmental – and it is. But it really does not take much looking at the world around us to discover the foolishness of some people in regard to faith.

Let me repeat myself. We who have been touched by this love of God have some understanding of the relationship that God desires with us. But we have to have experienced His Love in order for it to even begin to make sense.

We start Lent this week. It is a time for all of us to dig deeply into our souls for where the core of His love lives in us. It is there; otherwise you would not be here, now! Our God is an awesome God. In fact that is another song, written by a Catholic songwriter, God rest his soul. The refrain goes like this:

Our God Is An Awesome God
 He Reigns From Heaven Above
 With Wisdom Power And Love
 Our God Is An Awesome God.

Then the first verse’s words are:

When He Rolls Up His Sleeves
 He Ain’t Just Putting On The Ritz
 Our God Is An Awesome God
 There Is Thunder In His Footsteps
 And Lightning In His Fists
 Our God Is An Awesome God
 And The Lord Wasn’t Joking
 When He Kicked Them Out Of Eden
 It Wasn’t For No Reason
 That He Shed His Blood
 His Return Is Very Close
 And So You Would Better Be Believing
 That Our God Is An Awesome God

{Sing}

Our God Is An Awesome God
 He Reigns From Heaven Above
 With Wisdom Power And Love
 Our God Is An Awesome God.

Yeah! He is! And we need to develop this love – nurture this love – for Him that is already in our souls – now! Lent is a good time to push His love to the top of our love. The world needs our witness to God's love now more than ever. Here on Valentine’s Weekend, let His Love be the core of who we are. May this Lent be a time for us to shine for God.

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