Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection July 23, 2026
Thursday – 16th Week in Ordinary Time
23rd June 2026 (Thursday)
Psalter: Week 4
Here are the Catholic Mass readings and a daily reflection for Thursday, July 23, 2026, the Memorial of Saint Bridget of Sweden. Jeremiah mourns a people who traded God for broken wells, and in the Gospel Jesus explains why He teaches in parables.
Catholic Mass Readings
Readings of the Day
First Reading: Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13
The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.” And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Psalm 36:6-7ab, 8-9, 10-11, (R. 10a)
R/. With you, O Lord, is the fountain of life.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have revealed to little children the mysteries of the kingdom.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel: Matthew 13:10-17
At that time: The disciples came and said to Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.” But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Thursday – 16th Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Gospel Reflection
Main Point: The disciples ask why Jesus teaches in parables. His answer is unsettling. The same story reveals truth to the open heart and hides it from the closed one. A parable is a mirror. It shows you what you brought to it.
1. The disciples are puzzled. Why does Jesus teach in parables? Why not just say things plainly? These little stories seem to leave the crowds guessing. It feels like a strange way for God to communicate. Wouldn’t clear speech reach more people?
2. His answer surprises us. The parables both reveal and conceal. To those open to God, they unlock the secrets of the Kingdom. To those closed to Him, they stay locked. The same story does two opposite things, depending on the heart that hears it.
3. Here is the detail we walk past. We think the meaning is only in the story. But a parable also depends on the listener. It rewards the one who leans in and wants more. It slides off the one who has already stopped listening. It is a mirror that shows each person what they brought to it.
4. Jesus quotes Isaiah to explain. This people “seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear.” Their problem was never bad eyesight or poor hearing. It was a heart grown dull. They had decided in advance not to receive, and so the truth could not get in.
5. This is a gentle mercy too, though it does not look like it. A parable does not force. It invites. It leaves the hearer free. The proud can walk away unbothered, thinking it was just a nice story. But the seeker keeps turning it over, and slowly it opens. God respects the freedom of the heart.
6. And it protects the humble. A plain command can be argued with and dismissed. A story slips past our defenses. It plants itself quietly and grows when we are not guarding the gate. That is why Jesus chose this way. He was not hiding the truth from the humble. He was smuggling it past the proud.
7. Then Jesus turns to His disciples with a blessing. “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” Prophets and righteous people longed to see what they were seeing. The difference was not intelligence. It was a heart willing to receive. That willingness is itself a gift, and they had said yes to it.
8. This is the thread to Jeremiah. God grieves that His people “have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” They turned from the spring to dig cracked wells. That is the dull heart in one image. It walks away from the living God to chase things that cannot satisfy, and then cannot understand why it is dry.
My Practice: The word of God will only go as deep as your heart lets it. The same Scripture that transforms one person bounces off another, and the difference is not cleverness. It is hunger. So check your own heart before you next open the Gospel. Are you leaning in to receive, or half-listening with your mind made up? Come thirsty. Come like someone who wants more. The living water is offered freely, but only the open heart can drink.
Read tomorrow’s Catholic Mass readings and reflection for July 24, 2026, the Memorial of Saint Sharbel Makhlūf, or revisit yesterday’s reflection for the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene.
Thank You 🙏🙏🙏
Tags: Daily Mass Reflection, Ordinary Time, Gospel of Matthew, Catholic Mass Readings, July 2026
