The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today emphasize the importance of our witness to our faith in the actions of our everyday life.
The reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians affirms Paul’s sincerity and constancy.
* [1:17] Did I act lightly?: the subsequent change of plans casts suspicion on the original intention, creating the impression that Paul is vacillating and inconsistent or that human considerations keep dictating shifts in his goals and projects (cf. the counterclaim of 2 Cor 1:12). “Yes, yes” and “no, no”: stating something and denying it in the same or the next breath; being of two minds at once, or from one moment to the next.
* [1:18–22] As God is faithful: unable to deny the change in plans, Paul nonetheless asserts the firmness of the original plan and claims a profound constancy in his life and work. He grounds his defense in God himself, who is firm and reliable; this quality can also be predicated in various ways of those who are associated with him. Christ, Paul, and the Corinthians all participate in analogous ways in the constancy of God. A number of the terms here, which appear related only conceptually in Greek or English, would be variations of the same root, ’mn, in a Semitic language, and thus naturally associated in a Semitic mind, such as Paul’s. These include the words yes (2 Cor 1:17–20), faithful (2 Cor 1:18), Amen (2 Cor 1:20), gives us security (2 Cor 1:21), faith, stand firm (2 Cor 1:24). (2 Corinthians, CHAPTER 1, n.d.)
Psalm 119 praises the Glories of God’s Law.
* [Psalm 119] This Psalm, the longest by far in the Psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others’ fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law’s consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them. (Psalms, PSALM 119, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches about Salt and Light.
* [5:13–16] By their deeds the disciples are to influence the world for good. They can no more escape notice than a city set on a mountain. If they fail in good works, they are as useless as flavorless salt or as a lamp whose light is concealed.
* [5:13] The unusual supposition of salt losing its flavor has led some to suppose that the saying refers to the salt of the Dead Sea that, because chemically impure, could lose its taste. (Matthew, CHAPTER 5, n.d.)
Scott McClure comments that salt has an essence that is both irreplaceable and irreplicable. It is immediately recognizable when present. Likewise, its absence is conspicuous. It is, then, no wonder why Jesus drives home his proclamation of the Beatitudes with this metaphor. Unlike some of Jesus' other metaphors and parables found elsewhere throughout the gospels, this one is anything but cryptic. What is the essence of the Christian life? Its flavor? The Beatitudes.
Lucky for us, these words of Jesus have endured in scripture so we can receive and contemplate them in our time. In them, our belovedness shines through. In being the salt of the earth, Jesus proclaims that we, ourselves are that prized possession - that essence - that will animate the world with the Holy Spirit. In living the Beatitudes, we bring the very Spirit of God to our neighbors and our communities, making the countenance of God visible in our works. This is faith alive. This is the faith we share. It is to this active, shared faith that we are called. (McClure, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “The Light of Truth,” by Chromatius (died 406 AD).
The Lord has already called his disciples the "salt of the earth" because they seasoned with divine wisdom the hearts of the human race which had been made tasteless by the devil. Now he also calls them the "light of the world." For, illumined by his very own self who is the true and eternal light, they too become light within the darkness. For since he himself is the sun of righteousness, he rightly also calls his disciples "light of the world." Through them, as if through shining rays, he poured the light of his knowledge on the entire world. For by showing the light of truth, the Lord's disciples made the darkness of error flee from people's hearts. (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 19.1.1-2)
[Note: Chromatius was an early Christian scholar and bishop of Aquileia, Italy. He was a close friend of John Chrysostom and Jerome. He died in 406 AD. Jerome described him as a "most learned and most holy man."] (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:13-16 comments that we can also enrich the world by sharing our God-given talents in ways that reflect the beauty and goodness of the Lord. Many great artists, architects, poets, musicians, and scientists have come from within the Church and have used their work to reflect God’s splendor. Every one of us has gifts that can be the salt that lifts up our brothers and sisters and moves them to praise their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
Finally, we are salt for the earth as we love the people around us. The love that we receive from God can become the salt that flavors the way we relate to other people—with kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Just as a little salt goes a long way, so it is with God’s love! A seemingly small act of love for our neighbor is one of the most effective ways we can “season” our world.
All around you, people are hungering for hope and beauty and love. Today, ask Jesus to help you make a difference in the world.
“Lord Jesus, help me to be salt in the world today.” (Meditation on Matthew 5:13-16, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments that Paul’s strong “yes” refers to his commitment to not change his teaching to suit the opinion of his audience. In the continuation of the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus exhorts us to bring flavour and vitality to life, like salt to food. Friar Jude notes Jesus' use of a Jewish teaching method of presenting the extremes of visible faith and hidden charity to reveal the importance of motive for our Christian action.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, believes that nature has been revealing God long before the Bible and Church came to be. Nature itself is the primary Bible. The world is the locus of the sacred and provides all the metaphors that the soul needs for its growth. Barbara Mahany reads God’s sacred Book of Nature in her own backyard and throughout creation.
I read intently the Book of Nature, even here in my humble plot of earth … where a rambunctious tucked-away garden offers me respite and a place for genuflection…
Into its pages I step in the murky hour just before the dawn, before the rising sun stages its rehearsal, bleeds pink into the edge of night. It’s where you might find me, nose pressed to the glass, when the softening winter sky at last exhales and the first tumble of snowflakes fall, blanketing the world in a quiet like no other. Or, at twilight, the in-between hour when day dissolves into darkness, when on a summer’s eve I surrender to the rising surround sound of crickets and keep watch till the starkeepers trot out the stars….
And so the beautiful, the majestic, the intimate, and the sweeping is pressed onto the pages of the librum naturae, the Book of Nature. [2] (Rohr, 2023)
We reflect on the presence of those we title as the “salt of the earth” and the direction to us in Jesus' Sermon is revealed.
References
Matthew, CHAPTER 5. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 13, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5?13
McClure, S. (2023, June 13). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved June 13, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/061323.htm
Meditation on Matthew 5:13-16. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 13, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/06/13/705719/
Psalms, PSALM 119. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 13, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/119?129
Rohr, R. (2023, June 13). God's Sacred Book of Nature — Center for Action and Contemplation. Daily Meditations Archive: 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/gods-sacred-book-of-nature-2023-06-13/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). The Salt of the Earth and Light of the World. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 13, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=jun13
2 Corinthians, CHAPTER 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 13, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/1?18
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