Word to the Wise
Thursday, May 19, 2016 - Thursday in the 7th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jas 5:1-6 and Mark 9:41-50]THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2016 THURSDAY IN THE SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [James 5:1-6 and Mark 9:41-50] "Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another." I once read a book about the history of salt and was amazed at the role this substance has played. Wars were fought over it! Humans and animals cannot survive without it. Its importance has meant that it has become a part of the language of many nations in the form of proverbs. We speak approvingly of someone as being "salt of the earth." Or disapprovingly as "not worth their salt." "Sitting above the salt" at table means having a greater social status. So, it should not surprise us that something so common and necessary shows up in Jesus' preaching, The Gospel of Mark seems to have put two or three of Jesus' sayings about salt in one place. One of them seems echoed in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew ("You are the salt of the earth, etc. MAtt. 5:13) referring to the loss of flavor. Salt was and is still used as a preservative and purifier. It was pounded into animal dung to make it a better source of fire for cooking. Salt, in Mark's memory of Jesus' saying, seems also to mean wisdom when he says, "Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another." In America, we tend to overuse salt which results in health problems, but the image is one that helps us to understand the influence that the gospel can have in everyday life. IN that sense, we may need to say, "Pass the salt, please!" AMEN
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