Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
“You are the light of the world and salt of the earth.” This is an unusual sentence to comprehend. What does scripture mean about being the salt of the earth? Salt is used to flavour and preserve food. So, Jesus is explaining to us, that by living out the beatitudes that we heard last week, His followers, which were the early Christians, and us to, will help to preserve ‘goodness’ in the world. Salt also adds taste to food. I bet all of us at some point, have had ‘salt and vinegar’ added onto their fish and chips as we walked through town or along the sea coast. Salt brings out the taste that we all enjoy and love, as we remember happy times from our childhood, having fish and chips with our parents or friends.
We can start to understand that being a Christian adds flavour to our daily lives. It gives us joy, inspiration, love and hope that we need to carry on with our duties, this flavour of saltiness of being a Christian, rubs onto others, which helps them to, keep society wholesome and upright.
In the book of Genesis, we hear in the creation account, that God’s first act was to dispel darkness and bring order out of chaos by producing his divine light. Today’s gospel reminds us of our noble calling to bring Jesus’ light into our world. The brightness we receive in our lives is the result of following Christ closely in his divine footsteps.
To reflect God, our hearts must be a mirror, clear as glass, bright as light, without spot or stain, in order to reflect God’s love and mercy.
When I was a Seminarian, I asked a priest whom I was on placement with: Why do priests seem to go to confession very regularly? To me, it seemed that they went every couple of weeks, while I was only going every couple of months or sometimes even longer. The priest said to me in reply: When looking in a mirror from a distance, you can only see the really large imperfections on the mirror, which are blocking your view of yourself. The closer you get to the mirror, the smaller details of imperfections start to appear. If you relate these imperfections to sin on your heart, the closer to get to God, the more imperfections you notice in the mirror of your soul. The light reflecting from it, becomes dull and it needs a good clean, through the Sacrament of Confession.
Living a Holy life will produce the deepest impression on people around you. Take the example of a lighthouse, it shines out, showing people away from disaster and rocks. We can use our light in the same way, to show people away from sin and evil, bringing goodness, joy and happiness into people’s lives.
There is a warmth and attractiveness about reflecting the image of Jesus, this genuine presence of God in our hearts enriches the whole community and enables the best in others. We can celebrate the presence of God either at home or at work, without going out of our comfort zone, or doing anything exceptional.
Living a Holy live doesn’t need to be over complicated, we can incorporate it easily in ordinary things, like selfless love, loyalty to each other, dedication to your children. This provides an environment where Christ can be seen, loved, and cherished. This is what being ‘salt of the earth’ looks like, it gives flavour and sparkle to our daily lives and lets the light of Christ shine forth for the world to see.
Let us take Jesus’ teachings to our hearts today, allowing the world to see our good works, our good examples as Christian people. This will enable the world to come closer to the Lord Jesus and to give Glory and Praise to our Heavenly Father in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Rev. Fr Philip Wrigley's Blog 