5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. Vinner)
SALT OF THE EARTH AND LIGHT OF THE WORLD
My Sisters & Brothers in the Lord,
The message of Jesus to us is so simple and clear: when we encounter someone in trouble, we must help that person! This is still the same message as always: love God and love your neighbor. There is no other way to eternal life.
The first reading is from the prophet Isaiah. The message can speak directly to our hearts: if we listen to the cries for help of other people, then god himself will hear our cries when we call out to Him. This message of the prophets is echoed throughout all of scripture and is repeated over and over again. It needs to be repeated because we humans seem always to going another direction and look first for our own pleasure, our own needs and our own good. This is a result of sin, for sure, but even after baptism and confession, we still tend in this direction. Because of this, if we want to follow God, then we must begin a spiritual struggle to do His will and not our own.
In the second reading St. Paul is very clear that we don’t need sublimity of words or of wisdom. What we need is Jesus Christ and to accept the sufferings that accompany being faithful to the lord. We all know how easy it is to speak good things and how difficult it is to do good things. This is the challenge for us who say that we follow Jesus: putting our words and our faith into action!
In the Gospel, Jesus uses two very Biblical metaphors or symbols to tell us what we are as Christians. He tells us that we are the salt of the earth; we are the light of the world. We are quite well acquainted with the symbol of light – right from the lighting of the candle as a part of Baptismal ritual, right through to the pascal candle that is lit in the darkness of the Easter vigil liturgy. From our baptism on, we are always light – that is, it is in and through us and our whole way of life that others are enlightened and come to see and understand that God is a good God who wants only good things for all of us here in this world, that God is the real source of genuine human happiness. But we don not as easily or frequently think of ourselves as salt. We are salt- this is quite striking when one really thinks about it : that we , as Christians, not because as individuals we might have lively and vivacious personalities, but as Christians, all of us , as the very reason of our catholic religion, that we do for people what salt does for food: that is , we show each other that life here in this world is savory, tasty, and full of zest; that life is not a vale of tears just to be suffered through on our way to heaven, but that life is to be lived with vim and vigor and relish and liveliness; that life , in all its reality, is engaging and exciting. We, the Christian must be an example of purity in speech, in conduct, and even in thought. As salt preserves foods, we have to preserve the religious Faith, Christian cultural values and moral principles, which Jesus has given us, and we need to work at reconciling the quarreling factions in families and communities. As the salt of the earth, we also have to add flavor to the lives of desperate people through outreach programs, to give meaning to the lives of people and boost their morale, to offer them occasions to help others, and finally to give hope where there is no hope.
The second role of Christians is to receive the light of Christ and radiate it to people all around us in the form of love, kindness, mercy, forgiveness and humble service. With a little bit of Christ’s Light, we become a veritable lighthouse, illuminating the way for many and removing the darkness caused by hatred, spite and jealousy. We radiate Christ, the Light of the world, by our kindness and respect for others with different ethnic backgrounds, different lifestyles, other faiths or no faith at all.
St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) was speaking to persons who had come to meet her from all over the world. Among those to whom she spoke was a group of religious sisters from many North American orders. After her talk she asked if there were any questions. “Yes, I have one,” a Sister sitting near the front said. “As you know, most of the orders represented here have been losing members. It seems that more and more women are leaving all the time. And yet your order is attracting thousands upon thousands. What do you do?” Without hesitating Mother Teresa answered, “I give them Jesus.” “Yes I know,” said the woman, “but take habits, for example. Do your women object to wearing habits? And the rules of the order, how do you do it?” “I give them Jesus,” Mother Teresa replied. “Yes, I know Mother,” said the woman, “but can you be more specific?” “I give them Jesus,” Mother Teresa repeated again. “Mother,” said the woman, “we are all of us aware of your fine work. I want to know about something else.” Mother Teresa said quietly, “I give them Jesus. There is nothing else.” (Margaret Davidson, Scholastic, 1971. Cited in BTBC, pp. 250-251.) We Christians have something the world cannot find anywhere else. It is Jesus, the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
God bless you
Fr. S.Vinner HGN