Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection February 10, 2026
Tuesday – Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
10th February 2026 (Tuesday)
Psalter: Week 1
Readings of the Day
First Reading: 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30
In those days: Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands towards heaven, and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day towards this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers towards this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray towards this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
Psalm 84:3, 4, 5, and 10, 11 (R. 2)
R/. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Bend my heart, O God, to your decrees, grant me mercy by your law
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Mark 7:1-13
At that time: When the Pharisees gathered to Jesus, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the market–place, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Tuesday – Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Main Point: Religion does not involve washing cups or checking off some checklist of rules. It is about a heart that loves. We can say things with our lips that our hearts are miles away from and Jesus tells us that is not good enough.
1. In the first reading, King Solomon does something very low. He has just spent the time and effort of putting up the most beautiful and expensive temple in history. And it would be easy for him to think, “I have captured God.” He lives in my building now.”
2. But Solomon is smarter than that. He is standing in front of the altar and says: “Behold, heaven and the highest heaven shall not be able to contain it: how much less this house that I have built!”
3. Solomon comes to a gigantic discovery: God is too big for our boxes. We cannot take God in a glass church building. The temple is not like a cage for God but a place for men to ask God to ‘hear and forgive’. Solomon knows that building is nothing if the relationship is not real.
4. Now, look at the Gospel of Mark. So the attitude of the Pharisees and scribes are diametrically opposite. They are obsessed with boxes. They are obsessed with “tradition.”
5. They see the disciples of Jesus eating without having properly washed their hands. They get upset. So they come up against Jesus and say, Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders? They were not concerned with hygiene, they were concerned with a religious ritual.
6. Jesus gives a sharp answer. He calls them hypocrites. He quotes the prophet Isaiah: “This people honor me with their lips, with the heart, however, they are far from me.”
6. Think of it like this. Imagine a husband who buys flowers for his wife daily but does not really listen to her or love her because a rule book says that he is on earth and always must. The flowers are meaningless. That is what the Pharisees were doing to God.
7. Jesus uses a particular example called “Corban.” It was a trick. A man could say that his money was “Corban” (dedicated to God) and hence he didn’t need to use it to help his aging parents.
8. For it sounded holy, crucially it was cruel. They were applying a religious rule not for loving one’s own family. They were using God as an excuse to be selfish. Jesus hates that. He says that they are “making void the word of God” with their traditions. This is a scary warning for us. We can come to Mass, say the prayers, do all of the rules (the “lips”), and still be angry, not forgive – not care – about the poor (the “heart”).
9. Solomon was building a temple to God, but knew he was bigger than it; The Pharisees designed a set of rules and they thought that God is smaller than it. Jesus wants us to drop the act. He does not care if we say the right words but our hearts are cold. He likes our love, not just our check box.
My Practice: Are there times that I am using “religion” as an excuse not to be nice? For example, do I say “I am too busy with church work” in order to assist my family? Today, allow me to examine my heart and not just my hands.
