July 19 th, 2026 (16 Sunday Ordinary A)

Dear brothers and sisters, Christ continues to speak to us of the kingdom of heaven by speaking in parables. The parable is very important because it reveals the intention of the one listening. Some people reject Jesus Christ and what he says remains for them obscure while others welcome it, it is light and brings them life. The kingdom of God appears among men in fact in a hidden and mysterious way. Christ in these parables is again speaking of himself. In one of the parables Christ compares the kingdom and himself to a mustard seed, the smallest and most insignificant of seeds that becomes the greatest of trees. In Jesus Christ and in the cross like the mustard seed we see something very insignificant for the world and something that is considered a total failure. Like the world we are always tempted to reject the cross and the suffering we experience. The experience of faith different from the world’s way of thinking shows us that from the cross we experience the resurrection. The power and the greatness of the resurrection are in fact mysteriously at work. In our cross, this mustard seed, is revealed Jesus Christ and the immensity of the love of God for us. If our sins made us experience the death of our being which is to live a life without meaning the resurrection of Jesus Christ testifies to our spirit through the Holy Spirit that we are forgiven and that God loves us. God calls each one of us not to reject him or the cross but to believe that in it through the gift of faith that he wants to give us we can like him experience the kingdom of God, the total love God has for us.

Peace, Fr. Nicholas Apollonio, Pastor