Justice and kindness | The Word Exposed with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle | July 19, 2026

[00:00:03]God is [music] true to his word always.

[00:00:07]What do we tell God whenever we pray? In Jesus, we find the true [music] worship of God. Do not be afraid. Rather, be prepared. Each one of us a member of Christ. Each one of us a part of Christ.

[00:00:24]The word has been exposed. Let us now fulfill it.

[00:00:30]Ciao.

[00:00:32]You are watching the word exposed.

[00:00:34][music] Let us behold Jesus, the word incarnate, revealing himself to us in the Sunday readings.

[00:00:40]Today is the 16th Sunday in ordinary time. [music] We continue listening to the parables of Jesus about the kingdom of God. Still from chapter 13 of the Gospel according to St. Matthew Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a man who swed good seed in his field. And in the night, the enemy came and swed weeds all through the wheat. The man then instructed his servants to wait until harvest to separate the weeds [snorts] from the wheat. Then the Lord tells his disciples, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which may be small, but when fully grown becomes home for the birds of the sky. God's kingdom [music] too is likened to yeast, whose small amount can leaven the entire doll of bread."

[00:01:36]Friends, these parables reveal the patience [music] of God and the small beginnings of his kingdom. He will wait for the time of harvest, the time of judgment to distinguish the weed from the wheat, the evil from the good. Why?

[00:01:54]Because the growth of his kingdom ends only at harvest. He does not prematurely judge us the seeds. He lets us grow and hopefully become fruitful.

[00:02:07]Justice and kindness meet [music] in God.

[00:02:15]>> [music] >> First reading.

[00:02:27]A reading from the book of wisdom.

[00:02:31][music] There is no God besides you who have the care of all that you need show you have not unjustly condemned. For your [music] might is the source of justice. Your mastery over [music] all things makes you lenient to all. For you show your might when [music] the perfection of your power is disbelieved.

[00:02:56]And in those who know you, you rebuke tmerity.

[00:03:00]But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency and with much lenience you govern us for power.

[00:03:10]whenever you will attends you.

[00:03:14]And you taught your people by these deeds that those who are just must be kind. And you gave your children good ground for hope that you would [music] permit repentance for their sins.

[00:03:32]The word of the Lord.

[00:04:14]Second reading.

[00:04:17]A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.

[00:04:22]Brothers and sisters, the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.

[00:04:28]For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressable groanings. And the one who searches hearts [music] knows what is the intention of the Spirit because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will.

[00:04:52]The word of the Lord.

[00:04:56]Justice and kindness meet.

[00:05:01]In our world today, there is a wonderful sign, what we call a wonderful sign of the time, the awareness of people regarding justice, social justice, international justice.

[00:05:20]No, this is uh one blessing that we as a humanity are grateful to God for. But at the same time we want to ask ourselves no what is justice according to the Christian dispensation because when everyone talks about justice then I think we Christians are challenged to reflect on yes what is the Christian understanding of justice and our readings for today remind us that in God especially in Jesus Christ justice and kindness are not contrary to one another. They are together.

[00:06:06]In the first reading from the book of wisdom, we have a description of the mighty God, the almighty God, the all powerful God, the omnisient God, the God who knows everything.

[00:06:26]And this uh powerful and mighty God created everything. It is by his power that everything is created.

[00:06:39]But because everything came from him, God cares for everything that he has created.

[00:06:49]So the creative might of God is also the source of the tenderness of God towards his creatures.

[00:07:00]They came from his powerful word and because they are his, he cares for them.

[00:07:09]But the might of God is also his justice.

[00:07:14]He who is the source of everything and everyone knows what everything and everyone should be. And so God in his might is just.

[00:07:29]But the justice of God, rooted in his might, is the same might that produces his kindness. And so God allows creatures to repent.

[00:07:47]God out of kindness and justice allows creatures to be given the time in order to change the course of its life and to achieve what it is meant to achieve.

[00:08:04]So the sense of justice does not destroy. The sense of justice gives the loved beloved cre creature of God the space and the time to achieve its goal.

[00:08:20]That's why the book of wisdom reminds those who are just that if you are just, you must also be kind. For true justice does not destroy but wants the one who who is missing the mark to recover to change and that's an act of kindness.

[00:08:46]In the second reading we are brought to examine ourselves. Sometimes it is easy for us to look at the faults of other people where they needed to be reprimanded for lack of justice for their failures and that is right. But then let us not forget ourselves. St. Paul reminds his readers that we are all weak. We are all limited and we are all sinful.

[00:09:16]In fact, in our weakness, we do not know how to pray. We do not know how to relate with God.

[00:09:27]So this lack of relationship with relationship with God is the source of injustice.

[00:09:34]If we cut off our relationship with God who is the God of justice, then how could we be truly just?

[00:09:43]But God who is just is also kind.

[00:09:48]In our weakness, God sends the Holy Spirit to pray in us to intercede for us. We who do not know how to pray. We who depart from God. No, God does not say, "Okay, I'm fed up with you. my justice uh has reached its uh peak and now the only thing that you deserve is destruction. No, the whole God in his justice and in his caring for those who have he has created gives the Holy Spirit so that we could relate with God.

[00:10:33]So God's justice reaches its full glory in his kindness.

[00:10:40]So that the unjust will find the way to justice.

[00:11:12]The proclamation of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.

[00:11:18]Jesus proposed another parable to the crowd, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man [music] who swed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came and swed weeds all through the wheat and then went [music] off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

[00:11:41]The slaves of the householder came to him and said, "Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?" He answered, "An enemy [music] has done this." His slaves said to him, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?" He replied, "No. If you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest. Then at harvest time, I will say to the harvesters, first collect the weeds and tie them in [music] bundles for burning, but gather the wheat into my barn."

[00:12:22]The gospel of the Lord.

[00:12:28]Justice and kindness meet. As we said at the beginning of this reflection, we are grateful to God for this uh emerging uh sense of justice, the cry for justice all over the world. And uh we Christians should contribute to that search for justice by reflecting on what our tradition, the word of God and our social teachings uh present to us as the justice of God. And we have been reflecting on this element based on the readings where the justice of God is not separate is not contrary to God's kindness.

[00:13:12]In the first reading from the book of wisdom, we are given a description of the mighty God. From his power and from his might, all things were created.

[00:13:27]And because everything came from God, God loves them. God cares for them. And when God's justice is operating, no, God gives his creatures who fail the hope for repentance and that is kindness.

[00:13:49]The sense of justice of God is not to destroy what I have created. I love them and because of my love for them I demand them to be just of them to be just but I give them the hope to repent to recognize their injustice and to become just for their own good so that kindness is at the service of their growth in justice.

[00:14:19]In the second reading St. Paul reminds all of us now we who tend to uh point our fingers at people who are sinful who are unjust St. Paul says all of us, all of us are weak, are limited, are sinful.

[00:14:37]We don't know how to pray to relate with God. And that is the primary act of justice. You give to God, you render to God what is due to God. But if you do not know how to relate with God, then you are unjust.

[00:14:54]And we have to accept that. But how does God treat us? We who are unjust towards him instead of destroying us, God sends the Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray, to intercede for us so that we will be just thanks to the kindness of God. In the gospel, we have many parables, but one parable stands out. Here we have again, we are back to the field. No, last week we had the image of the swer and the seeds and the word of God and the different types of soils.

[00:15:35]Now we have God sewing wheat wheat.

[00:15:41]But then when uh the wheat started growing, they discovered the servants discovered that aside from the wheat, there was also weeds.

[00:15:57]And so they told the master, "Allow us to pull out the weeds."

[00:16:04]No. So that only the wheat will be uh uh will will remain. But look at the sense of justice of the master who is God. The slaves I think are the the the image of the self-righteous people. The weeds has they have nothing to do uh they have no place here. Let us eliminate them.

[00:16:31]But the response of the uh the uh the master is this. Let them both grow. as though reminding them, look, look at yourselves. You are not pure wheat.

[00:16:43]There is also weeds in you.

[00:16:47]And if you pull out the weeds, the wheat might get destroyed. So let them both grow. Let us give them the chance like in the first reading. Let us give them the chance. Maybe the weed will realize I am I am I'm in the wrong in the wrong path. Let me become wheat. No, let me graduate from the evil swer to go into the hands of the good swer.

[00:17:21]And the master said, give them time.

[00:17:24]Look at the kindness of the master. And then in the future, if they don't change, then we could separate.

[00:17:34]My dear brothers and sisters, don't you see this see this phenomenon locally, even in families, in the political scenes, in nations and in in the international scenes.

[00:17:47]No one admits faults. faults are always on the other side and they want to eliminate the other side and they don't admit that they are also unjust because if they admit that they're unjust then they will realize they belong to the same humanity and that they all need repentance but they call the others to repentance but they themselves do not repent. This is the cause of a lot of corruption and uh maladies in the world that is unjust.

[00:18:29]That is not true justice according to God. That's why I would like to end this uh reflection by quoting uh by citing a quotation from St. Augustine.

[00:18:42]He says people are helpless creatures and the less they focus on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others.

[00:18:58]They seek to criticize not to correct.

[00:19:04]Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others.

[00:19:11]When you just criticize and not correct, you are not just. The truly just person like God will correct and lead the other to repentance.

[00:19:26]The word has been exposed. Let us now fulfill it.

[00:19:40]>> [music] >> Last time [music] we echoed and emphasized Pope Leo the 14th's invitation to reflect on the issues of responsibility [music] and governance of AI.

[00:20:13]Today, let us follow the Pope reminding us of the values that must not be lost as we face the existence and development [music] of AI and other technologies.

[00:20:26]Machines offer us efficiency and speed.

[00:20:30]They can mass-roduce items faster than human workers [music] and perhaps even for less cost. But let us refuse to take this as an opportunity [music] to normalize an anti-human vision. The Pope reminds us that when [music] we let technical power to take over human activities, we do not really become more capable. Rather we become more isolated and more vulnerable to being dominated and excluded. Say [music] for example, you let an AI model summarize for you a reading material required in a course.

[00:21:13]Yes, it would save you time.

[00:21:16]But how will you confirm the accuracy of the summary presented to you?

[00:21:23]Can you equate it [music] with actual learning?

[00:21:27]If we replace people with machines in hospitality establishments, will we still have the warmth of a human welcome?

[00:21:38]A cold machine at a checkin counter can look modern and can [music] process information quickly.

[00:21:48]But do we prefer that over human conversation and care? A human being who can understand the nuance of our [music] concern.

[00:21:59]Pope Leo I 14th tells us [music] [music] Friends, [music] let us recall that we human beings are social and relational beings.

[00:22:32]God created the first human beings to be companions to each other. as keepers of one another. They lived among and in God's creation as its stewards and [music] as its caretakers.

[00:22:47]In biblical narratives [music] and in our present uh reality, human beings learn and experience how to care through our relationships and interactions, the way we occupy [music] space and regard the environment. We hope that our ability [music] to care for others remains with us. Let us not [music] trade the care and concern of a fellow human being with automated responses of a bot.

[00:23:17]In addition to this, Pope Leo I 14th also urges us [music] to reconsider certain transhumanist and posthumanist orientations that aspire to transcend the limits of the human condition.

[00:23:35]Must we reach the point when the norm is to enhance [music] human beings through technologies through body engineering to increase one's performance [music] and capabilities rather than training and nutrition, hard work and perseverance?

[00:23:54]Must we force hybridization of human beings?

[00:24:00]Must we eliminate fellow [music] human beings who could not attain technologically [music] enhanced perfection? Manifica umas is a reminder for all of us to be discerning especially towards an outlook that devalues human limits and promises a purely tech technical form of salvation.

[00:24:23][music] Hey, hey, hey.

[00:24:31][music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> flaws, failures, limitations. [music] These are all parts of human experience.

[00:25:16]They teach us many things from having courage to try again to working [music] towards improvement and grow growth. In fact, our Japanese friends could help us understand this through their concepts [music] of wabishabi kinsuki.

[00:25:35]They offer us useful perspectives.

[00:25:37][music] There is beauty in imperfection and brokenness can be mended [music] and turned into something beautiful.

[00:25:47]Let us not look at each other as machines that can be technically perfected but also replaced [music] and disposed of once the hardware and software can no longer be updated.

[00:26:02]We recall now that God created us in his image and breathe his spirit on us.

[00:26:09]To be creatures means we are limited but we embody the grandeur of God's creative power and our woundedness as [music] human beings becomes the passage of his grace that sustains and restores us.

[00:26:26]This we see in Jesus whose wounds and death [music] brought upon salvation and resurrection.

[00:26:37][music] [music] >> [music] >> So [music] friends, what must not be lost?

[00:27:17]the remembrance of who we are human beings. We have limitations but these [music] limitations actually make us magnificent creations of God. We can fail and learn to [music] become better and stronger. We can fall in and out of love only to love deeper and more [music] fully. We are capable because of God's grace.

[00:28:06]>> [music] >> We have prepared reflection points for you. Please share them with your companions. The first point is [music] how can we remain charitable when we are promoting justice.

[00:28:20][music] [music] The second point is how can we teach the youth to practice charity through acts of justice.

[00:28:42]>> [music] >> Heavenly Father, you have blessed this humble program with a decade of mission on air.

[00:29:05]You have gifted it with the talents, hard work and financial support of many generous people so that as your word is exposed, many more may know, love and serve Jesus.

[00:29:21]Lord Jesus, be with us always, your production staff and partners, your viewers and benefactors that we may not run out of courage, zeal, and charity in fulfilling our mission daily. And when our limitations and weaknesses surface, please ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to purify us and set our hearts on fire with renewed faith, hope, and love so we may serve you for many more years to come.

[00:29:57]Amen.

[00:30:00]Friends, thank you for your company.

[00:30:02][music] We pray that the word of God would find fulfillment in your life and his blessings be [music] always upon you. And we hope you could be with us again next Sunday here on the Word Exposed.

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