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The Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time is from the Gospel of Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus said to his disciples:
“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.”
Jesus calls us the salt of the earth. And there are only two alternatives: we can be the salt of the earth or lose the saltiness altogether. There are no in-between options. One excellent quality of salt is that it brings out the best in the other. And by doing that, salt fulfills its purpose. But once it
loses its saltiness- that quality of adding taste to another, it becomes useless. Indeed, there is no better way to indicate the complementary nature of each of us in our families, church, or workplace.
We fulfill each other, and if we don’t do that, we enter the realm of the void. Most of the dreary depression of our culture springs from this lack of being available for the other. We lose ourselves by trying to preserve ourselves because we are meant to be the keepers of our brothers and sisters. Once we are willing to be the salt that enhances the good in others, there is fulfillment in their lives and ours. Indeed, no saint went to heaven alone.
Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12). In Matthew 5: 13, He invites each one of us to be the light of the world like He is. Here is an indication of what God wants of us: to be Him in this time of history. Are we willing to be Jesus? Are we willing to be the salt that loses itself to enhance the other?
