1ST READING: ISAIAH 58:7-10
2ND READING 1 COR 2:1-5
GOSPEL MATTHEW 5: 13-16
We are the “light to the world”. These words were spoken by President Obama in the “State of the Union” address just this past month. But what was his point? President Obama was saying that the United States with its democratic society, is an example for the world: That through a democratic way of life, freedom is obtained.
This way of life still has its problems, but it is the best thing going.
In today’s scripture we here Jesus speaking the words, “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world”, and he spoke them over 2000 years ago, words that grasp not only the imagination but the heart of many believers. President Obama is calling on a nation, Jesus is calling on the world. But what does all this mean, especially in the Churches Ordinary time?
It seems as though we have been on a world-wind tour of life, moving so fast through the Advent and Christmas seasons landing into Ordinary Time. And even now, we are starting to look ahead at the Lent and Easter Seasons just a few weeks away only to end up again in Ordinary Time.
We are now in the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time. So what does Ordinary Time mean? The more I read and the more I reflect, the more I see the wisdom of our tradition. Ordinary Time are the days in the Church year that are not in Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter. The longest part of the Church year, Ordinary Time, is so called not because it is set apart from the extraordinary times , but it is time ordered for, or ordained to, the every day living of a Christian life. This is clearer in the Latin title, “tempus ordinarium”, “measured time”.
Ordinary Time has two parts. The first is the 5 to 8 weeks between Epiphany and the beginning of Lent. The second is the twenty-three to twenty-seven weeks following the feast of Pentecost and concluding with the solemnity of Christ the King, the final Sunday of the Liturgical year. This doesn’t mean that Ordinary Time was nothing special however. Jesus performed miracles and ministered all year.
Can we be the salt of the earth that flavors this world with kindness, love, and peace? Can we be the light of the world showing the way to God in this so called Ordinary time? Yes, we can.
Our lives seem normal when everything around us and even our daily tasks become routine. Yet our lives have exceptional moments and seasons. There are births, baptisms, weddings, deaths. But these are certainly not life’s norms. There are highs and lows and in between all this, life is often a routine.
Life usually has a repeating rhythm, things that we do from day to day. We wake up, get that first cup of mountain grown coffee, or tall glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, maybe eat some breakfast, pop tarts or something quick I would imagine.
We walk out the door to catch the school bus, or jump in the car to go to work, there is laundry to do, grocery shopping that needs to be done, new shoes for the kids to buy, and just maybe a monthly manicure for the woman of the household that is long overdue. These are ordinary days when we do ordinary things.
When life throws at us soaring joys and deep sorrows, we tend to stop and reflect on our own life’s journeys. These great events, good or seemingly bad, and our reflection on them, are graced moments if we look hard enough.
The same is true for the Church seasons. However, it is in Ordinary Time, the days that do not celebrate events in our salvation history that we, as God’s people, work out life’s meaning. We strive to be Christians in the ordinary events of our lives: in our blessings, our struggles, our temptations, our relationships, our broken-ness, and our never ending search for joy and happiness.
It is in ordinary times, in the normalcy of our lives that we strive to be the people God calls us to be. So how are we to become the “Salt of the earth” and the Light of the World” in this troubling day and age?
The scripture readings today are very direct in the answer to this question. Isaiah tells us that the Lord cares about how we treat others. The Lord calls us to do the works of mercy: to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and to look after our family and friends.
We are called not only to care for others. Isaiah tells us that the journey to God begins with ourselves. We must rid ourselves of sin and its tendencies: gossip, jealousy, envy, pride, greed and much more.
Today’s gospel passage from Matthew shares this same theme of Isaiah’s. Jesus reminds us that, as God’s children, we are the “Light of the world”, we are the “Salt of the earth”. We matter. We are partners in God’s plan. God invites us to care, that we notice, and that we believe that we can be an instrument of God’s goodness to others.
And that is why we gather here week after week. We gather around the Altar of the lord so that the body and blood of Jesus Christ can feed us. This Eucharist is the source of the grace that gives the courage we need to be God’s people; God’s people who, in ordinary times of our lives, in our interactions with our spouses, our children, our parents, our neighbors and the strangers in the store, on the bus, in the chair next to you, have a mandate to be the “light of the world”.
Our spiritual lives are very parallel to our human lives. It is like a flashlight. When the battery starts to lose its charge, the light begins to dim until suddenly only darkness. Put in a recharged battery and, guess what, LIGHT!!!
It is the same with us. How can we expect to be the “Salt of the earth and the “Light of the world” if we do not recharge our inner selves. God has taken care of that. We are recharged every Sunday when we come to this place called God’s house, to gain the strength and grace to do what he wants us to do, coming together as his children, as Christ’s body, to receive his son in us.
This Eucharist, the greatest gift of love from God, gives us that inner peace, that inner strength, that inner light, to guide us along our way becoming the “Salt of the earth” and the “Light of the world”.
We will all struggle along the way and by the end of each week we will need that boost, that recharge for the coming weeks challenges. That is why it is so important to gather here each Sunday.
Sisters and Brothers:
As we receive this greatest of sacraments, may this Eucharist, which brings salt and light to us, enable us to move closer and closer to Jesus, becoming his hands and feet in a world that needs the good taste of the Father’s love and to bring the Light of Salvation to others even in this Ordinary Time.