5^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A); February 5, 2023

Is 58:7-10.  Ps 112.  1 Cor 2:1-5.  Mt 5:13-16

Deacon Jim McFadden

         The Sundays leading up to Lent, the liturgy offers us teachings from the Sermon of the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew.  The Beatitudes launch the Sermon, providing the structure for subsequent teachings, which emphasize Jesus’ words describing his disciples mission in the world.  Today, our Lord uses the metaphors of salt and light, which are directed not only to his followers in first century Palestine, but to us as well in the 21^st century because we are meant to be disciples of Jesus by virtue of our baptism.

            Jesus invites us to reflect on his light, which is witnessed by good works.  We hear:  “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good  works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:16).  These words drive home the point that we are recognizable as true disciples of the One who is the Light of the World, not in words, but in the way we live our lives.  Indeed, our behavior will accurately mirror what we truly believe.  By virtue of our Baptism and Confirmation, and the Sunday celebration of Holy Mass, we have received the great Light of Faith, which permeates our soul if we cooperate with His grace.  We have received this divine life through Christ Jesus and the loving action of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life, and through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, who is “full of grace.”  People of God, this Light is meant to be shared: we can’t hold onto it as if it were our private preserve.  Instead, we are called to make it shine through the world—in our homes, parish, workplace, and in our political, economic, and social milieus.  And, how do we bring the Light of Christ to the world?—through our good works, which is love put into action.

            We need to pause and reflect just how much the world needs the Light of the Gospel.  We live in a secular culture that is often indifferent, if not hostile, to religion.  The upshot is that the dominant consciousness of our society has eroded the integrity of the natural family, compromised traditional moral values with a culture of relativism and subjectivism.  Our communities have been fragmented into tribes of ‘us v. them’ brought about by an aggressive individualism and an exaggerated sense of freedom that strives to be free from external constraints.  Brothers and sisters, we are called to bring his Light into this darkness, which is very foreboding and is drenched in what St. John Paul II referred to as the Culture of Death.  The task is daunting but we know from experience that the Gospel is transformative, that it heals, and that it guarantees salvation to those who receive it.  We must convey this Light through our evangelical efforts.  This call is not really an option, but is a mandate  since it has been given to us by Jesus right before he Ascended to His heavenly Father.

            Sharing the Light of Christ is not a zero-sum game.  Usually, when you give something away, you have less of it.  But, when we give our lives away through ministerial service, the Light does not fade but strengthens!  Conversely, it can weaken and dim if we do not nurture it with love and charitable works.  In this way the image of light compliments that of salt.

            The Gospel passage, in fact, tells us that, as disciples of Christ Jesus, we are also to be “the salt of the earth” (v. 13).  Salt is the ingredient that gives flavor and keeps food from turning and spoiling.  Our Christian mission in our contemporary society is giving “flavor” to life, which is based on sharing the love which  Jesus has given us, and at the same time, keeping away the contaminated, toxic seeds of self-absorption, envy, resentment, injustice, slander, name-calling and so on.  To fulfill our mission it is essential that we intentionally live our life according to our Father’s purposes in a way that is pleasing to Him because He is the center of our life, not our culture.  That is why we should reject any jingoistic rhetoric that boasts “my country first!”  God is our ultimate Sovereign, He is first, He is the Center of gravity of everything.  As St. Paul put it in his letter to the Colossians: because Jesus is the head of the body, the Church, “primacy may be his in everything” (Col 1:18).  EVERYTHING, which makes everything else secondary. To place one’s country ahead of God is simply idolatrous.

            Once God is the center of our lives, what would living our Christian mission look like?  The prophet Isaiah in our first reading shows us the way:

            “Sharing 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” (Is 58:70).

            In other words, we do what God does: we give ourselves away by participating in this Loop of Grace: we share our gifts, talents, time, and treasure with our brothers and sisters.  We share the Eucharistic bread with those who are hungry for real Life by bringing Christ to them.  To those who have lost their connection to the One true God and who have drifted away from the Church, we enthusiastically give witness that there is an alternative, life-giving way of living that will liberate and bring them home.  When we “move, life, and have our being” in Jesus, we are truly free and grounded in what is True, Good, and Beautiful.  When we are being conformed to Christ, we become transformed and it shows.  In you, people will experience and know the Risen Christ.  For some in our secular society, the only Gospel that they’ll  read is seeing the way you live your life.

            People of God, each of us is called to be light and salt, in the environment of our daily life.  We’ve got to persevere in the task of regenerating the human reality because as the Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila  once said,  “Christ has no body but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours.  Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion into this world.”    He is depending upon us to convey the spirit of the Gospel and to help bring about the Kingdom of God.  And, be assured that we have lots of help: together with the Holy Spirit, we have our Blessed Mother Mary, who was the first disciple of Christ and is the model for all believers.  May she help us to be purified from our worldly attachments and enlightened by her Son Jesus, so that we may become in our turn, “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.”  Amen.