Daily Readings - 19/07/2026
SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
First Reading : Wis 12, 13. 16-19
12:13 For there is no god, other than you, who cares for every thing, to whom you might have to prove that you never judged unjustly;
12:16 Your justice has its source in strength, your sovereignty over all makes you lenient to all.
12:17 You show your strength when your sovereign power is questioned and you expose the insolence of those who know it;
12:18 but, disposing of such strength, you are mild in judgement, you govern us with great lenience, for you have only to will, and your power is there.
What is to be learned from God’s forbearance
12:19 By acting thus you have taught a lesson to your people how the virtuous man must be kindly to his fellow men, and you have given your sons the good hope that after sin you will grant repentance.
Psalm : Ps 86 (85)
R// You, O Lord, are good and forgiving.
Of David
86:1 Listen to me, Yahweh, and answer me, poor and needy as I am;
86:2 keep my soul: I am your devoted one, save your servant who relies on you. You are my God,
86:3 take pity on me, Lord, I invoke you all day long;
86:4 give your servant reason to rejoice, for to you, Lord, I lift my soul.
86:5 Lord, you are good and forgiving, most loving to all who invoke you;
86:6 Yahweh, hear my prayer, listen to me as I plead.
86:7 Lord, in trouble I invoke you, and you answer my prayer;
86:8 there is no god to compare with you, no achievement to compare with yours.
86:9 All the pagans will come and adore you, Lord, all will glorify your name,
86:10 since you alone are great, you perform marvels, you God, you alone.
86:11 Yahweh, teach me your way, how to walk beside you faithfully, make me single-hearted in fearing your name.
86:12 I thank you with all my heart, Lord my God, I glorify your name for ever,
86:13 your love for me has been so great, you have rescued me from the depths of Sheol.
86:14 Now arrogant men, God, are attacking me, a brutal gang hounding me to death: people to whom you mean nothing.
86:15 Lord God, you who are always merciful and tender-hearted, slow to anger, always loving, always loyal,
86:16 turn to me and pity me. Give me your strength, your saving help, me your servant, this son of a pious mother,
86:17 give me one proof of your goodness. Yahweh, make my opponents ashamed, show them that you are my help and consolation.
Second Reading : Rom 8, 26-27
8:26 The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words,
8:27 and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.
Gospel : Mt 13, 24-43
Parable of the darnel
13:24 He put another parable before them, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
13:25 While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off.
13:26 When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well.
13:27 The owner’s servants went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?”
13:28 “Some enemy has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?”
13:29 But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it.
13:30 Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.”‘
Parable of the mustard seed
13:31 He put another parable before them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field.
13:32 It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’
Parable of the yeast
13:33 He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through’.
The people are taught only in parables
13:34 In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables.
13:35 This was to fulfil the prophecy: I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.[*b]
The parable of the darnel explained
13:36 Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us’.
13:37 He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man.
13:38 The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one;
13:39 the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels.
13:40 Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time.
13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil,
13:42 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
13:43 Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.[*c] Listen, anyone who has ears!