Happy Saturday, Everybody. This was supposed to come out yesterday, but we had a pet death in the family that demanded attention, so please pardon the Saturday release of the Friday coffin break. Tomorrow’s Gospel is short and simple but lays out our adventure in this life very beautifully -- let’s continue this Little Triduum by pre-reading it in the Light of the Grave:
This Sunday's Gospel is Matthew 5:13-16 (from the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible)
“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
We had over a foot of snow the weekend before last and the temperatures have remained frigid ever since; a lot of salt has been thrown out and trodden under foot in the ensuing fortnight, and I don’t want that same fate for any of us!
So, salt and light, that’s what we’re created to be. We are not the main character of the story we are so blessed to be a part of. During our earthly lives we play a limited part, for a limited time in preserving, presenting and promoting the Greatest Story Ever Told.
Salt preserves that which nourishes us. Throughout most of history, and in many places still today, no salt would mean no food. That was certainly the case for people living on fish by the Sea of Galilee in Jesus’ time. We are tasked with preserving the Good News to stave off an Eternal Famine.
But, as we parents learn the hard way, merely placing food in front of someone who needs to eat does not guarantee consumption. It must taste good. The wonderful news here is that the Way, the Truth and the Life does taste good. In fact, there is nothing that tastes better. The challenge is that, due to the wiles of the Anti-Chef, human taste buds have become dull and distorted. Salt brings out the rich flavors inherent in simple foods, the latent delight. Yet we go concocting all sorts of oral bedazzlement of ever-decreasing nutritional value. We must be pure like salt and not complex seasonings inventing novel flavors: personal spiciness is a distraction from, not an enhancement of, the diet we are meant to promulgate.
No one will want to taste what they can’t see. I don’t know what sort of bushel basket might be dimming your glow, but there are lots to contend with! So far this year I’ve been focusing on not dousing my light inside a bourbon barrel; there are so many inhibitors of light at work in the world it would be foolish to try to list them. Tomorrow is Superbowl Sunday, maybe it is most important to turn off the warped light that will be emanating from hundreds of millions of screens at halftime, lest they suggest to the impressionable people around us that we think there will be any message of enduring value contained therein…
Lent’s a-comin’, let’s be the salt and light that aids the world in tasting and seeing the goodness of the Lord!