Word to the Wise
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 - Tuesday in the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Kgs 17:7-16 and Matt 5:13-16]You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is not longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house...
A few years ago the bishops in our country wrote a document about parish life entitled: COMMUNITIES OF SALT AND LIGHT! Jesus' use of "homey" images in parables is one of the distinguishing marks of his preaching and teaching! The Sermon on the Mount will feature many of them. Today's three images: salt, city, lamp are immediately recognizable to most of the world!
When one picks up a container of salt, one picks up a powerful instrument! Wars have been fought over salt! We know that salt is a very important component in our body's chemistry. In the same way, a person who lives Christian life faithfully in a community is like salt in food. That is why we have the expression: He or she is "salt of the earth!" Such a person puts skin on Jesus' words! We also know people whose combination of faith and personality literally "light up a room" when they are present. They inspire us to do a better job of living our faith. When we have a community of those two kinds of people, we really become like a city on a mountaintop. We cannot be ignored!
If the beatitudes seemed a bit lofty to us, salt and light bring us down to earth. The Sermon on the Mount exhorts us to sit up or stand tall. There's a lot more to come! AMEN