Salt and Light
God's saving and shining purposes
Dear Friends,
Getting back to Ordinary Time this weekend, we hear a second snippet from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. The first snippet from this discourse - which the Gospel from last weekend's feast displaced - was The Beatitudes.
This weekend's Gospel account contains Jesus' exhortation to his disciples to be salt and light:
"You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world."
We're so used to this imagery that we think of Jesus' words as spin-class encouragement: "Be the best you!" Not so.
God called Israel, as his chosen people, to be his salt and light presence in the world.
But Israel, it seems, had lost its distinctive taste: Jesus' contemporaries were as fixated on power politics, factional squabbles, and militaristic "solutions" as everyone else. God's light-bearers had embraced the world's darkness.
Through and with and in Jesus, however, God gathers a renewed Israel to scatter the world's darkness (light) and keep it from going bad (salt).
By trusting Jesus and following him on his way of self-giving love, we find our place in God's plan as we bring to life his saving and shining purposes.
I look forward to seeing you soon.
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
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Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
