Word to the Wise
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 - Tuesday in the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 1:18-22 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 no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. 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. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." [Matthew]
Lent and Easter have come and gone. With the celebration of Pentecost Sunday, the liturgical calendar returns to "Ordinary Time in the 10th week! But it is a "back to basics" return because the gospel scriptures for the next few days will be coming from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel According to Matthew. One might call the Sermon on the Mount "Christianity 101!" At the very least, it can serve as a very good examination of conscience!
Jesus' teaching method is on full display with the images of salt and light. (Indeed, the American bishops published some years ago a document on the goal and purpose of a Catholic parish community to be "communities of salt and light!"). But the idea is not simply a collective one, but a challenge to each and every believer. Much of the Sermon repeats what was considered part of Jewish life and ethics at the time, but with some startling challenges about loving one's enemy!
The common sense in the images of salt and light is recognizable in people we know: "He/She is the salt of the earth!" Genuine love of neighbor shines like a light from such people! How are we at being "salt?" For the moment, we can put aside all the stuff about low-salt diets and salt substitutes. Those didn't exist in Jesus' day! Salt gets into everything, including our bodies. Light and darkness govern the very rhythm of our bodies. Does love of God and neighbor "shine" from us?
Christianity 101 will continue. Are we taking good notes and, even more, acting in accord with what we are hearing from Jesus the teacher? AMEN