Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 5, 2023 - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Isa 58:7-10; 1 Cor 2:1-5; Matt 5:13-16]Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them and do not turn your back on your own....[Isaiah] You are the salt of the earth.....You are the light of the world..Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.
The gospel scripture for today is taken from the Gospel According to Matthew and the part known as the Sermon on the Mount. There, a follower of Jesus is challenged to be "salt of the earth" and "the light of the world." This is not just an individual challenge but a challenge to a community of faith, which a Catholic parish is meant to be. The earliest Christian faithful were known not just for their individual faith but as communities. [Cf. Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35]. If one would want explicit examples of being salt of the earth and light of the world, the Gospel According to Matthew offers a dramatic example in the parable of Jesus about the final judgment [Matt. 25:31-45]. There Jesus identifies himself with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned and the stranger. The line from that scripture that always gets my attention is the question, "When did we see.....?"
Back in 2015, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published a document entitled, COMMUNITIES SALT AND LIGHT: REFLECTIONS ON THE SOCIAL MISSION OF THE PARISH. A principal theme of the document is that Catholic parishes do not exist solely for the purpose of liturgical worship. They are meant to be communities that reach out to the hungry, oppressed, homeless and naked in their midst. The latter may not be found in church on Sunday or in the usual parish activities that focus on Catholic identity. Pope Francis, in his initial document, THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL, calls the church a "field hospital for the sick and wounded" and not a society of the faithful elite. A Catholic parish must look outside of itself and see that Jesus is also present outside the tabernacle or adoration chapel or sacramental celebration! The local parish-based "conferences" of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul are an example of "seeing" Jesus in the poor, hungry, thirsty, naked and imprisoned and homeless, but there are other ways a parish can reach out. Jesus' challenge is a serious one and carries ultimate consequences. AMEN