Why, Father?
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Prepare for Sunday MassPrepare for Sunday Mass: Welcome to "Why, Father?"!
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"Each week, we'll take a question inspired by the Sunday Gospel or the Catholic faith and explore it together. Whether you've wondered about a Bible passage, a Church teaching, or a Catholic practice, this column is for you. My hope is that we will discover together that our faith is not only beautiful—it is also biblical, historical, and spiritually uplifting. ✝️" Fr. Emerson
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September 2026
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September 20, 2026
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 20:1–16a
Question: Father, I have to admit: the landowner in today’s Gospel doesn’t seem very fair! Some workers labor in the vineyard all day under the hot sun, while others work for only one hour—and everyone receives the same pay. Is Jesus saying that someone who follows God faithfully for an entire lifetime receives the same salvation as someone who turns to God at the very end? If so, why bother trying to live a holy life now?
Answer: If you owned a business, today’s Gospel might make you a little nervous.
Imagine hiring someone at 9:00 a.m. Another at noon. Another at 3:00 p.m. Then, at 5:00 p.m., with only an hour left in the workday, you hire one more person.
At closing time, you hand every one of them the same paycheck.
Your payroll department might have some questions! And so do the workers.
Those who worked all day complain: “You have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.”
At first glance, they have a point. But there is an important detail. The landowner never cheats them. He had agreed with the first workers on “the usual daily wage,” and that is exactly what he pays them.
Their problem begins when they look at what someone else received. Suddenly, what had seemed fair that morning feels unfair that evening.
And that is where this parable becomes an extraordinary lesson about grace.
Jesus is not giving employers instructions about payroll. He begins by saying, “The Kingdom of heaven is like…”
The vineyard is about God’s Kingdom, and the landowner’s generosity teaches us something essential: Salvation is not a paycheck God owes us. It is a gift of grace. ✝️
The Catechism teaches that our justification comes from the grace of God and that grace is “free and undeserved help” (CCC 1996). That means we cannot stand before God and say: “I prayed this many Rosaries. I attended this many Masses. I served the parish for this many years. Therefore, God, You owe me Heaven.”
God owes us nothing. Everything begins with grace.
Does that mean our good works do not matter? Absolutely not.
Catholic teaching is not “works don’t matter.” Once God gives us His grace, He invites us to cooperate with it. Our acts of faith, charity, sacrifice, repentance, and perseverance truly matter. Scripture even speaks of God rewarding each person according to his works (Romans 2:6; Matthew 16:27). But even our ability to respond to God is already supported by His grace.
Think of the workers in the vineyard: none of them would be working there unless the landowner first came looking for them.
That is beautiful.
The workers did not discover the vineyard and hire themselves. The landowner went out to find them. He went out early in the morning. Then again at nine. Again at noon. Again at three. And incredibly, with the day almost over, he went out again.
Why? Because there were still people standing there.
That tells us something about God.
As long as there is life, God has not stopped calling.
Perhaps someone has loved Christ since childhood. Another returns to the Church after thirty years. Another enters Confession after decades away. Another, like the Good Thief beside Jesus, turns toward Christ when the day is almost over.
Can God really give eternal life even to the person who comes at the last hour? Yes.
That is not injustice. That is mercy. ❤️
And perhaps the most revealing moment comes when the landowner asks the complaining worker: “Are you envious because I am generous?”
Literally, the Greek speaks of the “evil eye”—an ancient expression for envy or begrudging another person’s good fortune. ️
The first workers received everything they were promised. Their sadness began only when they saw someone else receiving generosity.
And perhaps that is the real warning for those of us who have been in the vineyard for a long time. We should never look at someone returning to God and think: “After everything they have done, how can God forgive them so easily?”
Because Heaven is not filled with people who successfully earned their admission. Heaven is filled with sinners who were saved by grace.
Some entered the vineyard early. Some arrived at noon. Some came when the sun was almost setting.
But every one of us is there for the same reason: The Landowner came looking for us first. ❤️✝️
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September 13, 2026Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary TimeGospel: Matthew 18:21–35Question: Father, Jesus tells Peter that we must forgive not just seven times, but “seventy-seven times.”Does that mean there is no limit to forgiveness? What if someone has seriously hurt us? And why does Jesus tell a parable about one servant owing “a huge amount” and another owing “a much smaller amount”? How much money are we actually talking about?Answer: Imagine receiving a bill tomorrow for several billion dollars.You look at your bank account. You look back at the bill. You check the number again.There is simply no possible way you could ever pay it.That picture helps us understand something fascinating hidden behind the English translation of today’s Gospel.At Mass we hear: “A debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.” But Matthew’s original Greek actually gives us the number. Literally, we could read: “A debtor was brought before him who owed him μυρίων ταλάντων (muriōn talantōn) — ‘10,000 talents.’”That is an astonishing amount.A talent was not a coin someone carried around in his pocket. It was a very large unit of money. One talent was approximately 6,000 denarii. Since one denarius was roughly the ordinary wage for one day of labor, one talent represented thousands of days of work.Now multiply that by 10,000!We are talking about approximately 60 million days of wages—roughly 200,000 years of work. If we tried to express Jesus’ point in modern money, depending on the wage used, we would be talking about billions of dollars.In other words, Jesus is deliberately describing a debt that is humanly impossible to repay.And that makes the servant’s response almost humorous.He falls down and says: “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.”Really?How?The servant could work every day for the rest of his life and would barely make a dent in it. His children could keep paying it. His grandchildren could keep paying it. Generation after generation could continue—and the debt would still remain.But then comes the shocking part. The king does not say, “Fine, I’ll give you another year.” He does not lower the monthly payments. He does not forgive half. He cancels the entire debt. ❤️Now you would expect that servant to walk away overwhelmed with gratitude.But instead, he finds another servant who owes him what our English translation calls “a much smaller amount.”Again, Matthew gives us the actual number: “He found one of his fellow servants who owed him ἑκατὸν δηνάρια (hekaton dēnaria) — ‘100 denarii.’”If one denarius was approximately a day’s wage, then 100 denarii was around 100 days of work—several months’ income.And this detail is very important.The second debt was not nothing.If someone owed you several months of your salary, you would not shrug and say, “Oh, forget about it!”Jesus deliberately gives the second servant a real debt.That tells us something beautiful about forgiveness.Sometimes we hear Jesus say, “Forgive,” and we think He is asking us to pretend:“What happened wasn’t really that bad.”But Jesus never says that.Some wounds really are serious. Someone may have betrayed your trust, damaged your reputation, broken a promise, hurt your family, abandoned you, or left a wound that you still carry years later.The 100 denarii is real.Jesus does not minimize it.But He asks us to place those 100 denarii beside the 10,000 talents.And suddenly the perspective changes.The enormous debt represents the mercy we ourselves have received from God.We stand before God like that first servant. Because of sin, we owe something we cannot simply repair by our own effort.We need mercy.And God gives us what we could never earn for ourselves: forgiveness, grace, reconciliation, and ultimately salvation through Jesus Christ. ✝️Now Peter’s original question makes sense: “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?”Peter wants a number. Perhaps he wants to know when he has finally done enough: Seven times? Then on the eighth offense, am I finished?Jesus answers: “Not seven times but seventy-seven times.”Jesus is not telling Peter to carry a notebook and make seventy-seven checkmarks!There is actually a powerful biblical reversal here. In Genesis 4:24, Lamech boasts that vengeance will be multiplied “seventy-sevenfold.”Human sin says: Multiply revenge.Jesus says: Multiply mercy. ❤️Does forgiveness mean we must immediately trust someone again? No.Does it mean there should never be consequences for wrongdoing? No.Does it mean remaining in a dangerous or abusive situation? No.Forgiveness, reconciliation, trust, and justice are related—but they are not identical. Sometimes forgiveness begins while appropriate boundaries remain necessary.Christian forgiveness means that I refuse to let another person’s sin have the final word in my heart. I surrender vengeance to God. Sometimes I may even have to pray, “Lord, I am not ready yet. Please give me the grace to want to forgive.”And perhaps that is why this parable belongs so naturally beside the Our Father.Every time we pray it, we say something dangerous and almost frightening: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”We are asking God to make the mercy we receive become the mercy we give.So remember Jesus’ two numbers:100 denarii: the wound someone caused you may be real.10,000 talents: God’s mercy toward you is immeasurably greater.Christianity does not ask us to forgive because what happened didn’t matter.We forgive because the Cross shows us just how much sin matters—and just how much greater God’s mercy is. ❤️✝️
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September 6, 2026Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 18:15–20Question: Father, in today’s Gospel Jesus says that when someone sins against us and refuses to listen—even after we bring witnesses—we should “tell the Church.” ⛪ But what “Church” was Jesus talking about? There were no parish churches, dioceses, or Vatican yet! And does this tell us something about what Jesus intended His Church to be?Answer: Those three words—“tell the Church”—are surprisingly important.The Greek word used here is ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia), meaning an assembly or gathered community. Here is something fascinating: among the four Gospels, the word ekklēsia appears only in Matthew—and only three times, all in two passages.We heard the first occurrence just two Sundays ago, when Jesus told Peter:“Upon this rock I will build my Church.” (Matthew 16:18)Now, in Matthew 18, Jesus uses the word twice more.Jesus describes what to do when a “brother” sins. First, speak to him privately. If he will not listen, bring one or two others. If he still refuses to listen, Jesus says:“Tell the Church.”Think about that for a moment.For someone to “tell the Church,” the Church must be something recognizable—something that can be approached, can listen, and can exercise judgment.Jesus does not describe His Church merely as an invisible spiritual bond between believers. He speaks of a visible community with real responsibility and authority. ⛪And then comes an even more interesting connection.Jesus immediately says:“Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”Sound familiar?In Matthew 16, Jesus had said this specifically to Peter, after giving him the keys of the Kingdom. Now, in Matthew 18, Jesus speaks of binding and loosing to the disciples together.This helps us understand the Catholic structure of the Church. Christ gave Peter a unique responsibility—symbolized by the keys—while also giving real authority to the other Apostles together with him. The Catechism preserves precisely this distinction (Catechism of the Catholic Church 553, 1444–1445).This matters because sometimes Christianity is reduced to “Just Jesus and me (no Church in between).”Certainly, every Christian must have a personal relationship with Jesus. ❤️ But Jesus Himself did not leave us only with individual believers reading Scripture and deciding everything independently.He said:“I will build my Church.”He gave Peter the keys.
He gave His disciples authority to bind and loose.
And when serious disagreement remained, He said:“Tell the Church.”The Church, therefore, is not something Christians invented centuries later.Before there were parish buildings, cathedrals, or the Vatican, there was already something far more important: Christ’s intention to gather a visible people, give them shepherds with authority, and remain in their midst.And perhaps the most beautiful line comes last:“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” ❤️That is the heart of it.The Church has authority not because her human members are impressive, perfect, or incapable of making mistakes.She has authority because Christ established her, entrusted her with a mission—and promised to remain in her midst. ⛪✝️
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August 2026
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August 30, 2026Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 16:21–27
Question: Father, last Sunday Jesus called Peter the “rock” and gave him the keys of the Kingdom . Yet only a few verses later Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!” Did Jesus really call Peter Satan? And if Peter could be corrected so strongly, how can Catholics still defend the Papacy? ✝️
Answer: Yes—Jesus really uses the word “Satan.” But understanding what that word means changes everything.
The Greek text says:
Σατανᾶ (Satana)
The word comes from the Hebrew śāṭān (שָׂטָן), meaning “adversary,” “opponent,” or one who stands against another.
Jesus is not saying that Peter has literally become the devil. Rather, Peter has momentarily placed himself in the position of an adversary to God’s plan.
Why?
Jesus has just announced that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and rise again. Peter cannot accept this. He takes Jesus aside and actually rebukes Him: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
Peter means well! ❤️ He loves Jesus and does not want Him to suffer.
But without realizing it, Peter is proposing something dangerously similar to Satan’s temptation in the desert: Messiahship without suffering, glory without sacrifice, a crown without the Cross. ✝️
That is why Jesus’ response is so severe.
But notice His exact command:
“Get BEHIND me, Satan!”
That word “behind” matters.
Peter has tried to stand in front of Jesus and tell the Master which direction He should go. Jesus puts Peter back where every disciple belongs:
behind Him—following Him. ♂️✝️
And immediately afterward Jesus says, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
But what happened to Peter’s keys?
Nothing!
Jesus does not say, “Give them back.” He does not revoke Peter’s office or withdraw His promise that Peter is the rock. This actually helps us understand Catholic teaching about the Papacy.
The Pope is not sinless. Papal infallibility does not mean that every thought, opinion, decision, or action of a Pope is correct. Peter himself could misunderstand Christ and require correction.
Yet his weakness did not erase the authority Christ had entrusted to him.
Later, despite knowing Peter would deny Him three times, Jesus still tells him, “strengthen your brothers” (Lk 22:32). After the Resurrection, Jesus again entrusts His flock specifically to Peter: “Feed my sheep” (Jn 21:17).
So Peter being called “Satan” does not disprove the Papacy.
It teaches us what the Papacy is not.
Peter is not Christ’s replacement. The Pope is not the master of Christianity. Even the man carrying the keys must remain behind Jesus.
Because Peter may hold the keys —
but Christ is still the King. ✝️ -
August 23, 2026Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 16:13–20
Question: Father, where is the Papacy in the Bible? Catholics call the Pope the successor of St. Peter, but didn't Jesus give authority to all the Apostles? Why do Catholics believe Peter received a unique authority over the Church? ✝️
Answer: If you want to find the biblical roots of the Papacy, today's Gospel is one of the best places to begin.
Jesus does something to Peter alone that He does to no other Apostle: He gives him the keys.
After Peter confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus declares: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church… I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”
Why keys?
Here is where today's First Reading becomes extremely important! In Isaiah 22:19–23, the Davidic king appoints Eliakim as master of the palace. God says, “I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.” The key represents an office carrying authority under the king.
Now look at Matthew 16.
Jesus is the new Davidic King. His Kingdom is the Church. And He places the keys of His Kingdom into Peter's hands.
Peter does not replace Jesus any more than Eliakim replaced the king. Christ remains the King; Peter becomes His steward.
But what about the other Apostles?
Yes, Jesus gives them authority to “bind and loose” in Matthew 18:18. Yet an important difference remains: Peter alone receives the keys. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 553) specifically notes this distinction: authority belongs to the apostolic college, but Peter is the only Apostle explicitly entrusted with the keys of the Kingdom.
And Matthew 16 is not an isolated passage.
Jesus tells Peter, “I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers” (Lk. 22:32). After the Resurrection, Jesus singles Peter out again: “Feed my lambs… Tend my sheep… Feed my sheep” (Jn. 21:15–17).
Even Acts shows Peter acting first: he leads the replacement of Judas (Acts 1), preaches at Pentecost (Acts 2), and receives the first Gentile converts (Acts 10). His leadership is visible throughout the earliest Church.
Catholics therefore do not believe in the Papacy because we think Peter was perfect. He certainly wasn't! Nor do we believe the Pope replaces Christ.
We believe in the Papacy because Christ established a visible Church and gave Peter a unique pastoral office within it.
The Pope is not Christ's replacement.
He is Peter's successor—called, like Peter, to guard the faith, strengthen his brothers, and shepherd Christ's flock. ✝️
Christ remains the King.
Christ remains the Head of the Church. ✝️
But the keys He entrusted to Peter still remind us:
The King did not leave His household without a steward. ⛪ -
August 9, 2026Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33
Question: Father, when Jesus walked on the water, He said, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." But I've heard that in the original Greek He actually said, "I AM." Is that true? And at the end of the Gospel, why do the disciples "do Him homage"? Were they really worshipping Jesus? Doesn't the Bible teach that only God should be worshipped?
✝️Answer: This Sunday's Gospel contains some of the strongest biblical evidence that Jesus is truly God.
Most English Bibles translate Jesus' words as, "It is I." But the original Greek reads:ἐγώ εἰμι (egō eimi)—pronounced "eh-GO AY-mee."
Literally, it means "I AM."
This is much more than Jesus identifying Himself in the darkness. It echoes the divine name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. In Exodus 3:14, when Moses asked God for His name, God replied, "I AM WHO AM." The Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint), commonly used in Jesus' time, renders this as ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν (egō eimi ho ōn)—"I AM the One Who Is."
Then notice when Jesus says these words. He is not standing safely on the shore. He is walking upon the sea.
This detail is no accident. The Old Testament teaches that this is something only God can do. Job 9:8 proclaims that God alone "trampled the waves of the sea." Likewise, Psalm 77 describes God making His path through the mighty waters. By combining "I AM" with His authority over the sea, Jesus is revealing His divine identity.
Peter then asks to come to Jesus and begins walking on the water. But when he notices the wind instead of fixing his eyes on Christ, he begins to sink.
The Gospel says, "Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him." ❤️
What a beautiful detail! Peter had not wandered far from the Lord. Before Peter could drown, Jesus was already close enough to save him. That is also how God's grace works in our lives. We often think God is distant whenever we struggle with fear, temptation, or suffering. Yet the Gospel reminds us that the Lord is always nearer than we imagine. The moment we cry, "Lord, save me!", His hand is already reaching toward us.
Finally, after Jesus enters the boat, the wind ceases, and Matthew says the disciples "did Him homage." The original Greek verb is προσκυνέω (proskuneō)—pronounced "pros-koo-NEH-oh." It literally means "to fall down before," "to prostrate oneself," "to adore," or "to worship." This is the very same Greek word used when the Magi came to Bethlehem to worship the Christ Child (Mt. 2:2, 11), when the women worshipped the risen Jesus (Mt. 28:9), and even when Satan tempted Jesus to worship him (Mt. 4:9).
Faithful Jews knew that worship belongs to God alone (Deut. 6:13). Angels refused worship (Rev. 22:8–9), and even St. Peter refused it (Acts 10:25–26). Yet Jesus accepts the disciples' proskuneō without correcting them.
Why?
Because their worship is true.
Matthew is leading us to the same conclusion reached by the disciples:
"Truly, You are the Son of God." ✝️
The One who says ἐγώ εἰμι ("I AM"), who walks upon the sea, who stretches out His saving hand, and who receives προσκυνέω is not merely a prophet or miracle worker.
He is God the Son—worthy of our faith, our trust, and our worship. ✝️
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August 16, 2026Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28Question: Father, did Jesus really call the Canaanite woman a "dog"? That sounds harsh—even insulting! Why would the loving Jesus speak this way? Doesn't this contradict His mercy and love for all people?
Answer: At first reading, this Gospel can make us uncomfortable.
A desperate mother begs Jesus to heal her daughter. Yet Jesus remains silent. Then He says, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Finally comes the shocking statement:
"It is not right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."
Was Jesus insulting her?
No—and the original Greek helps us understand why.
The word Jesus uses is κυνάριον (kunárion)—pronounced "koo-NAH-ree-on."It does not mean a wild, filthy street dog. It means a little dog, a household puppy, or a beloved pet.
Even more importantly, Jesus is not expressing prejudice. He is testing and revealing the greatness of the woman's faith.
Notice her remarkable response. She is not offended. She replies: "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.." ❤️
She accepts that Israel was the first recipient of God's covenant, but she also believes that even one crumb of Christ's power is enough to heal her daughter.
Jesus immediately praises her: "O woman, great is your faith!"
Surprisingly, in all of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus never says this to Peter, John, or any of the Twelve. One of the greatest compliments Jesus ever gives is spoken to a Gentile woman.
This is the real lesson.
Jesus' mission began with Israel because God had prepared His chosen people for the coming Messiah. But it was never meant to end there. God's plan was always to save every nation. In fact, this Gospel foreshadows Jesus' final command after the Resurrection:
"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations." (Mt. 28:19)
This passage also teaches us something about prayer.
Sometimes God seems silent.
Sometimes His answer appears delayed.
Sometimes our faith is tested.
Yet God's silence is not God's absence.
Like the Canaanite woman, we are invited to persevere. She refused to walk away, and her perseverance became one of the greatest examples of faith in the entire New Testament.
The woman came asking for a miracle.
She left with something even greater.
She became an example of the kind of faith that moves the very heart of God. ✝️❤️ -
August 2, 2026Gospel: Matthew 14:13–21Q: Father, did Jesus really feed over 5,000 people with only five loaves and two fish? I've heard some people say the miracle wasn't really supernatural—that everyone simply shared the food they had hidden in their bags. Is that what really happened?A: This explanation is often called the "shared lunch theory." It claims that Jesus did not multiply the loaves and fish. Instead, His kindness inspired the crowd to take out food they had secretly packed and share it with one another.It sounds inspiring—but there is one major problem:The theory is found nowhere in the Bible.In fact, the Gospel repeatedly points in the opposite direction.First, the disciples urged Jesus to dismiss the crowd so they could go into the villages and buy food (Mt. 14:15). Why would they say this if thousands of people already had enough provisions hidden in their bags? The disciples had been with the crowd all day. They knew the situation better than anyone.Second, when Jesus asked, "How many loaves do you have?" the disciples answered, "Five loaves and two fish." They did not say, "Many people have brought their own food." The Evangelists intentionally emphasize the impossibly small amount because it is essential to the miracle.Third, notice what happens next. Jesus does not tell the crowd, "Everyone, please share what you brought." Instead, He commands the people to sit down, blesses the five loaves and two fish, and gives them to the disciples for distribution. The focus remains entirely on Jesus' action, not on the generosity of the crowd.Fourth, after everyone has eaten as much as they wanted, the disciples collect twelve baskets full of leftovers. If this was merely a community potluck, why would the Gospel highlight the leftovers as evidence of Christ's power? The abundance is part of the miracle itself.Finally, the strongest evidence comes from the reaction of the crowd. St. John's Gospel says that after witnessing this sign, they exclaimed, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world!" and tried to make Jesus a king (John 6:14–15). If all Jesus had done was encourage people to share their lunches, why would they respond as though they had witnessed a divine act like the manna in the wilderness?The "shared lunch theory" only appeared many centuries after the Gospels were written. It was proposed by those who wished to explain away the supernatural. But the earliest Christians—those closest to the Apostles—unanimously understood this event as a real miracle performed by Christ.Why does this matter?Because the miracle is not merely about bread. It reveals who Jesus is. Only the Creator can multiply creation. The One who multiplied five loaves into a feast for thousands would later say, "This is My Body." If He truly has power over creation, then the miracle of the Eucharist is not difficult for Him.The Feeding of the Five Thousand is therefore not a lesson in successful food sharing.It is a revelation that Jesus Christ is God, who alone can satisfy both the hunger of the body and the deepest hunger of the soul. ✝️
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July, 2026
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July 26, 2026Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072626.cfm
Question: Father, at the end of today's Gospel, Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that gathers fish of every kind, but only the good fish are kept while the bad are thrown away. Does this mean everyone is already saved because they're "in the net"? Or can a Christian lose salvation?
Answer: This is one of the clearest parables Jesus gives about the Church and our eternal destiny.
Notice something fascinating. The fish are already inside the net before the sorting takes place. The net represents God's Kingdom at work in the world—especially the visible Church, where saints and sinners worship side by side. ⛪
This is an important Catholic teaching.
Being baptized, attending Mass, or belonging to the Church is an incredible gift, but it is not a guarantee of Heaven. Jesus teaches that the final separation happens at the end of the age, when the angels separate the righteous from the wicked (Mt. 13:49).
This passage also answers a common question in our Catholic faith: "Once saved, always saved—is it biblical?"
Catholics believe that salvation is entirely God's gift, received through His grace. But Scripture also teaches that we must remain faithful. Jesus Himself says, "The one who perseveres to the end will be saved" (Matthew 24:13). St. Paul even says that he disciplines himself lest, after preaching to others, he himself should be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:27).
In other words, salvation is not merely a moment in the past—it is a lifelong relationship with Christ. ❤️✝️
This is why the Church encourages frequent Confession , reception of the Eucharist , daily prayer, and a life of charity. These do not "earn" Heaven, but rather, they help us remain united to the One who alone saves us.
The dragnet also teaches us something about judgment.
It is not our job to decide who belongs in Heaven or Hell. We can recognize good and evil acts, but only God sees the human heart completely. Final judgment belongs to Christ alone.
So instead of asking, "Who are the bad fish?"perhaps today's Gospel invites us to ask a more personal question:"Am I allowing Jesus to shape me into the disciple He created me to be?" The beautiful news is that while the net is still being cast, there is still time for repentance, conversion, and holiness.
God has already drawn us into His net.
Now He invites us to remain faithful until we reach the eternal shore. ✝️
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July 19, 2026Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071926.cfmQuestion: Father, if Jesus knew there were weeds growing among the wheat , why didn't He tell the servants to pull them out immediately? Doesn't God want to eliminate evil? Why allow evil people to remain in the world?Answer: That's exactly what the servants asked! They wanted to remove the weeds immediately. But the master replied, "No, because in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat along with them."
This is one of the most beautiful explanations of God's patience.
The weeds Jesus refers to were probably darnel, a poisonous plant that looks almost identical to wheat during its early stages. Even experienced farmers could hardly tell the difference until harvest. Pulling them up too soon could destroy the healthy wheat because their roots become intertwined.
Jesus uses this image to teach us something profound about God's mercy.
We often see people's present actions. God sees their entire future.
Think about St. Paul. Before his conversion, he persecuted Christians and approved of the death of St. Stephen. If God had judged him only by what he was then, the Church would never have received one of her greatest apostles. Or think of St. Augustine, who lived a sinful life for years before becoming one of the greatest saints and Doctors of the Church. ❤️
This is why Catholics never declare that a living person is beyond God's mercy. As long as someone is alive, grace can still transform that heart.
This parable also answers a common objection: "If God is good, why does evil still exist?" God permits evil—not because He approves of it—but because He is powerful enough to bring a greater good from it. He respects our free will and patiently calls sinners to conversion instead of immediate condemnation.
Finally, Jesus reminds us that the harvest belongs to Him. The final judgment is God's work, not ours. We are called to recognize sin, but we are never called to pronounce the eternal destiny of another person.
Instead of asking, "Who are the weeds?" perhaps the Gospel invites us to ask: "Am I growing into the wheat that Christ planted me to become?"
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