Ordinary Time - Week 05a
Salt and Light
(From Conversation with God, Fernandez Carvajal)In the Gospel of this Sunday's Mass, Our Lord tells us about our responsibility to the world. You are the salt of the earth ... You are the light of the world. And he says it to each one of us, to every one of us who wants to follow him.
Salt gives flavour to food, makes it pleasant, preserves it from going bad. It was a symbol of divine wisdom. In the Old Testament it was prescribed that everything offered to God should be seasoned with salt, signifying that the one who was offering willed that his sacrifice be pleasing to God. The creation of light was God's first operation in calling the universe into being. Here is a symbol of the Lord himself, of Heaven and of Life. Darkness, on the other hand, symbolises disorder, death, hell and evil.
Christ's disciples, his followers throughout the centuries, are the salt of the earth: they give a deeper meaning to all human values. They avoid corruption, they bring wisdom to men by their words. They are also the light of the world which shows men the way in the midst of darkness. When they live in accordance with their faith, with their irreproachable and upright conduct, they shine like bright lights in the world. Their light shines out in the midst of their work, their everyday activities, their ordinary lives. On the other hand, how noticeable it is when Christians do not play their part in the family, in society, in the public life of nations! When Christians do not take Christ's doctrine to the places where they live and work, human values themselves become savourless, losing what ever transcendence they had and very often becoming corrupt.
Christ left us his teaching and his living presence so that men could discover a meaning for their existence and find the true happiness and the salvation they were created for. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, so that it gives light to all in the house. Our Lord goes on to say in the Gospel, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven. For this we need first of all to give the example of an upright life, with a clean behaviour, and the very visible practice of the human and Christian virtues in our ordinary everyday living. The world must have light; good example has to lead the way.
We will really transform the world - beginning with that little corner of it in which we live and work and where our dreams are awakened - if we start to teach with the testimony of our own lives; if we are exemplary, competent and honest at our work; if, in family life, we dedicate to our children and to our parents as much time as they need; if people see us cheerful, even in times of difficulty and suffering; if we are outgoing and warm towards others. They will have greater faith in our deeds than in any other form of speech, and they will feel drawn to the life that our actions point out to them. Our example prepares the soil in which our words will later come to fruition. Without doing anything unusual or out of the ordinary, Christians can show what it really means to follow Christ in their daily lives, as the first Christians did. Saint Paul encouraged the faithful at Ephesus: I beg you to lead a life worthy of the vocation to which you have been called.