SALT AND LIGHT: A LIFE THAT IMPACT ON OTHERS.
February 9 2020: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
A Japanese proverb says, “Proof rather than argument.”
Another proverb adds, “works, and not words, are the proofs of love.”
There is an African rhetorist writer, Wole Soyinka who said,
“A tiger does not proclaim its ‘tigerness’: it leaps on its prey and devours
it!” This dictum will be a great help taking us into today’s liturgy and
understand in a certain way the Christian life. To be a Christian is not the
fact of a proclamation or a public announcement of who you are. It is about
living a lifestyle that testifies to God's love embodied in Jesus. We could in
that sense paraphrase Soyinka saying, the salt does not say I am salty, nor
does the light say I am bright. That are obvious. When a salt starts losing its
taste or a light getting dim, they are no longer of use. Christian life is a
life of testimony. The day we will stop giving testimony of our belonging to
Christ, we will consequently lose our identity as Christians.
Today’s readings are all a call, an urgent exhortation to
live in a way that can impact on others. The Lord Jesus, in the Gospel does not
use hundred ways to say it. He affirms straight forward, “You are the salt of
the earth… You are the light of the
world.” From these sayings, it comes out clearly that Christian life is a
mission. And the catechism will emphasize that fact speaking of the origin and
the purpose of our mission. It states, “the Lord's missionary mandate is
ultimately grounded in the eternal love of the Most Holy Trinity: "The
Church on earth is by her nature missionary since, according to the plan of the
Father, she has as her origin the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit."
The ultimate purpose of mission is none other than to make men share in the
communion between the Father and the Son in their Spirit of love” (CCC. 850).
If the Church is missionary by nature, much more, the
Christians, children of the Church have that obligation to be missionaries. The
mission of the Church is to show God’s love into the world. That mission falls
to all the baptized people. We are intrinsically associated to the mission of
Christ, to bring his love to the needy.
The first reading will tell us that love is not a mere word,
but a tangible action. The prophet Isaiah states that, to love consists in
sharing our bread with the hungry, shelter the homeless and the oppressed,
clothe the naked when we see them and not turn them our back… In doing so, we
not only share a material good, but we give to the light in us to burn
brighter. By practicing those works of corporal mercy, we put salt into the sauce
of this world. It sounds, therefore, as an insistent call to never stop doing
good to those we see in need.
Our world suffers today, not because of the so many evil
that people do, but more because of the good that we prevent ourselves of
doing. We claim to be Christians, we wear it written on our tee-shirts and sing
it anywhere, but we do not, sometime, witness of the love of God which makes
our inner identity in our daily life.
To be Christ’s disciples is to embark into an adventure with
the Lord Jesus. That Adventure requires that we strive to remove from our midst
and from our societies any form of oppression, false accusations, malicious
speech and work for the good of all. In so doing, we will always be a light in
the darkness of this world.
Of course, darkness will not cease to exist. As long as
humanity is still humanity and the earth a place of life, there will always be
this opposition between light and darkness. But if each of us strives to light,
even a single little lantern on his way, the world will no longer notice all
these darknesses that surround it.
Paul, in the second reading, can relate to all of these,
telling us that any good action we put is a sign of the presence of the Spirit
of God in our world. For, they are concrete and perfect proofs of our faith.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, do not only affirm your faith by words, live
it in deeds, share it, bear witnessing to it in everything you do or say. You
are the testimony of Christ. Have a positive impact on others. Like a light,
let them feel who you are.
In practical, each one could commit himself to show his
faith through a simple act. After this Holy Eucharist, once at home, open your
cabinet or your bag, pull out three clothes, go in the street and give them to
people you will find in need of cloth. While you will still out, buy some food,
either bread or any other food, stop nearby a beggar and give it to him. You will
see a light shine forth from his eyes with a special smile in exchange of your
act.
Poverty will not stop because we speak of it and accuse it. Hunger
will not end because you point it out. All will stop only, if you work toward
that end. Share what you have with those who do not have. For, the genuine
faith, when it is shared and seen, there is no need of further proof.
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