Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
To be salt and light
“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. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. 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. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. Mt 5,13-16
There are pages of the gospel dedicated to all the people and there are others dedicated only to the apostles, to the ones who left everything for Jesus and who, in the today passage, are identified by the word ”you”. Jesus has always made a distinction between the crowd and the disciples. “Who do people say that I am?..But who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8,27.29) he asked by some day to the apostles. We too, who pray every morning together since several years capturing on each day something of the thought of God, can consider us a part of that “you”, to which the today gospel is dedicated. Therefore, the Lord says today to us, as on that time he has said to the disciples: “ You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world”. Let’s meditate on this “to be salt” and ”to be light” , to find the meaning of our daily prayer and of the mission which is entrusted to us each day, whereas we will be called to live. The first meditation to be made is that the salt and the light have in common not to exist on their own, but for the others. The salt has the purpose to make tasty the entire food and the light has the purpose to allow to see. We can identify the salt with the “faith”, which gives sense and flavor to our life, and, if we transmit it to the others, gives sense and flavor also to the life of the persons whom we meet during the day. We can identify the “light” with that wisdom which descends from the Spirit and which allows to see the mystery which shines hidden in the things and the great project of the Lord in the development of the daily life. We can recall the story of the three stone workers who were breaking stones to built the Reims cathedral. One was sad, the second was serene, the third was happy. A person walking on the street asked to the sad one: “What are you doing?”. “Don’t you see – he answered – I am working”. After he asked to the serene one : “And you, what are you doing?”. He answered: “I am earning the daily bread”. Then he asked to the happy one: “And you, what are you doing?”. He answered: “I am building up a Cathedral”. All of them said the truth, but only the third one had understood the purpose of his effort and he was happy. It is the light of the Holy Spirit, which introduces us into the mystery, to permit to see the real purpose of our life and of our daily work.