Sunday Homily, 15 February 2026 - Fr Paul Rowse, OP

If discouragement set in as you heard the Lord identify a new range of bad acts, we need to find a way back for you.  Discouragement is close to hopelessness.  And hopelessness is the enemy of faith.

The way back from discouragement for us ourselves will be found in the Fourth Beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what is right; they shall be satisfied.”  Whenever we're feeling discouraged, that's the time to check on how much we want what is right.

The way back from any discouragement over how others live will be found in the Fifth Beatitude: “Blessed are the merciful; they shall have mercy shown them.”  Our neighbour is a work in progress, just as much as we are.

But what of this new range of bad acts?  How can we possibly avoid them all?  We're going to need help.

Were it not for discouragement, we would rightly turn to Jesus for help.  Discouragement will make us less likely to turn to him.  After all, he is the Son of God; he never sinned.  He is God's only Son; temptation never got the better of him.  So the discouraged think.

We can and should turn to Jesus for help, because he kept the Commandments better than anyone who has ever lived.  He kept the Third Commandment about Sabbath rest perfectly on Holy Saturday: on that dreadful Sabbath, he didn’t even do the “work” of breathing.  He kept the Fourth Commandment about honouring one's parents perfectly, by his obedience to his Father unto death on the cross and by raising his Virgin Mother to heaven in her bodily Assumption.

We can and should turn to Jesus for help: he kept the commandments perfectly and taught them well. He is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Here in Matthew 5, Jesus takes three of the Ten Commandments and teaches us to put some space between us and its corresponding deathly act.

So, he takes the Fifth Commandment, You shall not kill, and teaches us that murder can be prevented by controlling our anger.  We can see the wisdom here: someone who commits murder gave in to the anger long before they did the unthinkable.  If we control our anger, we shall not kill.

Jesus takes the Sixth Commandment, You shall not commit adultery, and teaches us that marital fidelity can be safeguarded by controlling the wandering eye and unchecked hand.

The Seventh Commandment is covered by the Tenth: we can avoid stealing by not coveting someone’s possessions.  So, Jesus next takes the Eighth Commandment, You shall not bear false witness.  Dishonesty, we know, comes from duplicity.  So, those who keep their word in small matters will find that they have kept their word in big ones as well.

This teaching from Jesus is not simply more rules.  So are we going to stave off discouragement here by recognising the wisdom and mercy which the Lord is displaying.  By dealing with the smaller bad act, we need not go near the bigger one; by becoming people of integrity, we shall never gravely sin.

The next steps now are to deal with our grave sins.  After we have confessed our sins and fed our souls with Holy Communion, we should then identify with compassion what smaller acts led us into them.  What small log in the fire of big sin can we safely remove?  Deal with that, and we’ll find over time that the fire is not so out of control.

The Lord has come to free us from sin.  He is helping us to become wise to ourselves.  And so we shall ask him to increase the Holy Spirit’s gift of wisdom in us, so that we may do all that he has wisely and mercifully commanded us.  To him be the glory for ever.  Amen.

Fr Paul Rowse, OP

Parish Priest