Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – Year A
February 8, 2026
Gospel Lectionary Text
Matthew 5:13-20
5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
5:15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
5:18 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.
5:19 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.
5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
Context
Coming soon.
Question
Coming soon.
Reflections
The Box by the Door
By Ojii BaBa Madi |
This world’s devotion to middle class affluence is predicated on the sacraments of global gentrification’s hard sweeping brooms, capitalism’s consumerist temples, and a careless society’s superhighways that bypass the poor, the blind, and those crowded out by “progress.”
Salt and Light
By Joel Van Dyke |
This past Sunday morning I attended a unique worship service with some friends. It was called “Street Church;” all the parishioners are homeless youth from a particular area of Guatemala City. Street Church is coordinated by a ministry called Sigo Vivo, founded by Pastor Rudy Hernandez, his wife Tatiana and their teenage daughters. Rudy pastored…
A Solitary Light
By Kris Rocke |
Jesus reminds us that we are salt and light. These are twin gifts of our deepest vocation - to be human.
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
Excerpt from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
“All right, then, I’ll go to hell”
Huck Finn declares these words when he refuses to turn in his friend, Jim. the runaway slave. In Huck's mind this not only is an illegal act, but an act that damns his very soul.
Prayer
This week, the call to prayer comes from the Street Psalms Prayer of Vocation: Eucharistic Movement
Jesus, like the disciples who were blind to your real presence until they dined with you in the resurrection, we too are blind until you dine with us. You are the stranger among us, revealed as the Loving Host and Forgiving Victim of the meal of reconciliation. Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see and celebrate you at work in the world, especially in the hard places, creating, sustaining, and uniting all of creation in love. In the same way, you took the bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to your disciples, and said, “This is my body, broken for you.” May we too be taken in love, blessed in love, broken in love, and given in love, that we might become the spoken word of your love in a hurting world, and find ourselves part of the ever-expanding Body of Christ. May we become what we receive.
