OT V [A]: Is 58:7-10; I Cor 2:1-5; Mt 5: 13-16

Mother Angelica, who died last year, started broadcasting Catholic TV for just a few hours a day in 1981 from the garage of her Poor Clare Monastery.  The project grew and grew, and now, after thirty-six years, the EWTN is available twenty-four hours a day all over the world by cable and satellite.  Mother Angelica is an example of a true Christian, living out her Faith as salt to preserve Christian values and to provide the modern world with a purifying mass medium. She kept putting her lamp on the lamp-stand so that Christ’s Light would shine for everyone in the modern global village. 

The common theme of the readings today is our mission to the world as salt and light.  In our first reading, the prophet Isaiah gives examples of how we are to allow the light of God to shine through us.  “Share your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.   Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday” (58:7, 10). 

Using two simple metaphors in today’s Gospel, Jesus outlines the role of Christians in this world. The Christian’s task is to be the salt of society, preserving, reconciling, adding flavor, giving meaning where there is no meaning and giving hope where there is no hope.  Every Christian needs to reflect the light borrowed from Christ and radiate that light in the form of love, kindness, mercy, forgiveness and humble service. 

When Jesus commanded his followers to be the light of the world, he demanded nothing less than that they should be like him, the One who claimed to be the Light of the world.  "As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world" (Jn 9:5).  Christ is the "true" or "original" Light (Jn 8:12).  Citizens of the kingdom are simply "luminaries" reflecting the One True Light, just as the moon reflects the light of the sun (2 Cor 4:6).  The radiance which shines from the Christian comes from the presence of Christ within the Christian's heart.  Christians are to be torch-bearers in a dark world.  We should not try to hide the light which God has lit in our lives.  Rather, we should let it shine so that others may see our good deeds and praise God. 

When the early Christians lived in unity the others  wondered. Look, how they live in unity! Our life must attract others. There is an old proverb “A drop of honey catches more flies than a cup of vinegar.”  Our little acts of kindness are like drops of honey. They are able to attract others, and motivate others to show acts of kindness. “A good example has twice the value of good advice”. 

One day a man visited Mother Teresa’s home for the poor and the dying in Calcutta. He arrived just as the sisters were bringing in some of the dying off the streets. They had picked up a man off the gutter, and he was covered with dirt and sores. Without knowing that she was being watched, one of the sisters began to care for the dying man. The visitor kept watching the sister as she worked. He saw how tenderly she cared for her patient. He noticed how as she washed the man she smiled at him. She did not miss a detail in her attentive care of that dying man. After carefully watching the Sister the visitor turned to Mother Teresa and said, “When I came here today I didn’t believe in God, and my heart was full of hatred. But now I am leaving here believing in God. I have seen the love of God in action. Through the hands of that Sister, through her tenderness, through her gestures which were so full of love for that wretched man, I have seen God’s love descend upon him. Now I believe.” The kind gesture of the sister was able to make a great impact on the atheist.

A Peanuts cartoon showed Peppermint Patty talking to Charlie Brown. She said, “Guess what, Chuck. The first day of school and I got sent to the principal’s office. It was your fault, Chuck.” He said, “My fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?” She said, “You’re my friend, aren’t you, Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me.” How much influence do we exercise on our friends and neighbors?

God wants us to be the salt and light for everyone around us. As a Christian do I reflect Christ as surely as the moon reflects the sun. Do I illuminate a dark world with the reflected light of Christ, always giving him glory?.  Let’s ask the Lord for the grace to be salt and light in our family, parish and community around us.