TEXT: The Holy Gospel According to Matthew 5:13-16

Salt for many years has been used as a preservative agent.  It slows the growth of many harmful bacteria, and, served to prolong the life and usefulness of food.  Jesus makes a statement that is important for us to hear in a day and hour when many would throw off the traditions that have preserved us in the faith for "newer" and more "up to date" ideas.

Let us look at this Gospel today with eyes that see, and ears that will hear, the words of Jesus.

13  "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.

We are called to stay the course on the path we started upon in the beginning.  It is the Church, the Body of Christ on earth, that has kept society from rotting and spoiling.  WE, as the living and breathing people of God, are called, have been called, and are still called, to be (and present) a different and desirable image to the unbelieving world.

The Holy Father visited St. Louis, Missouri recently.  He presented for the world to see, the American Catholics and secular people who were there, the unchanging truths of the Word of God.  There are values that have not changed.  The Church is like SALT that keeps the whole world from rotting and spoiling.

However, if the salt is diluted with water too much, like Satan tries to do with the water from the dragon’s mouth as he followed after our Lady and the remnant of her seed into the wilderness of Revelation 12, then, the salt cannot be strong enough to save the earth from rotting and spoiling under the hand of the enemy.

The little salt left is thrown out by men and is trampled under foot.

We must be SOLIDLY behind the Holy Father and the teachings of the Catholic Church!

We must be the SALT!

It is the SALT of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church that will save society and bring people into the Church thus, reconciled unto God through Christ!

And, then --

14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.

We are the City of God, as St. Augustine said!

Speaking of this light,

St. Alphonsus Liguori said -- "Our whole perfection consists in loving our most amiable God; and all the perfection of the love of God consists in uniting our will with His most holy will.  The greatest glory we can give to God is to fulfill His Blessed Will in all things."

This speaks for us of our call to be a LIGHT in the world.  We are likened to become lighthouses on the coasts of the seas of the world where the waves push from every direction.  We are to point the way for ships to avoid the rocks along the shores.  We are guides to the blind.  The world is blind in the natural man to the things of God that have been revealed to the Church.  We are tasked to be light to those in darkness.

But, there are those who would hide this light?

15 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.
16 Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

It is right for men to see your works of charity, corporal works of mercy, spiritual works of charity . . .

It is right that we do all for the glory of God!

It is right that men see what God has done in us and through us, not that we gain the glory, but, that God gets all of the Glory is men seeing that there is a Great Treasure in earthen vessels to show us and all that the transcendent power is from God and not of ourselves!

Our Father is to be glorified in heaven!

The Our Father tells us this as we pray it.

The Hail Mary tells us this as we pray it.

The Glory be is telling us this as we pray it!

IT is God who lights us up to shine in the world!
God graces us with grace upon grace!

Bede the Venerable said, "We must remember that it is God’s will, and not our own will, that we must do, for he that doeth His will will abide forever, even as He abideth forever."

Grace lets us see this.

Grace allows us to be doers of the word of God.

Grace lets us be the light of the world, the salt of the earth.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary said, "As in heaven Thy will is punctually performed, so may it be done on earth by all creatures, particularly in me an by me."

May our Lady show us by her example the Way of Jesus Christ for the "chaste virgin" we are to become in Christ.



Deus et Sanctissima.