A word from—Fr. Chris
Our Lord Jesus Christ was a great teacher to His disciples, to all Christendom and entirely to the whole world. Last week we heard His teaching on what we call the eight Beatitudes or attitudes, a life paten what brings permanent joy and happiness in our union with God.
In today’s gospel reading, He used in His teaching two things very common to us in our life experience of what our life ought to be as good Christians. They are salt and light. Salt as we know is an ingredient used in food to promote its taste, otherwise the food becomes insipid or tasteless. Salt is also used as a preservative to prevent decay in meat or fish as what refrigerators and freezers do for us today. During the civil war in Nigeria in the late nineties, bags of cod fish and other kinds of fish flown in by air to our country from the Red Cross and the Caritas International to help the war victims. These were soaked in bags with salt and they remained good for a long time without going bad.
Christ also used light to address the disciples to what their life has to be. We all love light as against darkness because light enables us see what is in the dark, especially at night. Some drivers prefer to drive in the day than at night.
The first reading of this Mass provides us with how to be this salt and light of Christ according to the mind of Christ: if we share our food with the hungry, shelter the homeless, cloth the naked and so on. In this way, we both provide the good taste of salt as it were and also preserve the teaching of Christ and teach it to others. By being the light of the world we illume others to see the glory of God for we could be the only Bible others will read.
In the end the glory goes not to us, but to God Himself who made all things happen. Amen.
Fr. Chris
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