Salt and Light

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“You are the salt of the earth. … You are the light of the world,” we're told in St. Matthew (Matt. 5:13,14).

St. Paul says to the Philippians, “so that you remain faithless and pure, unspoilt children of God surrounded by a deceitful and underhand brood, shining out among them like bright stars in the world” (Phil. 2:15).

In the Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, we're told, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ Evening came and morning came: the first day” (Gen. 1:3-5).

As Christians in the middle of the world, we are called to be salt and light. Our good example has to precede us. Others have to be able to see the light of Christ shining through our good example.

In many places in the Gospel, Our Lord speaks about our responsibility for the world. That's why we have a vocation in the middle of the world to change the world, to uplift it. Our Lord says these words to each one of us, to each person that wants to follow Him.

Salt gives flavor to food. It makes it pleasant. It preserves it from going bad. In Scripture, it's also a symbol of divine wisdom.

In the Old Testament, it was prescribed that everything offered to God should be seasoned with salt (cf. Lev. 2:13), signifying that the one who was offering willed that his sacrifice be pleasing to God.

The creation of light was God's first operation when He called the universe into being. Light is a symbol of the Lord Himself, of heaven and of life. Darkness, on the other hand, symbolizes disorder, death, hell, and evil.

Christ's disciples, His followers throughout the centuries, are the salt of the earth. They give a deeper meaning to all human values. They avoid corruption. They bring wisdom to men by their words. They're also the light of the world, the light which shows men the way in the midst of darkness.

Pope Francis has recently spoken about the spiritual emptiness of the world. The world is in darkness, very much in need of our being the light of the world.

St. Paul says when we live in accordance with our faith, with our irreproachable and upright conduct, then, he says, we shine “like bright lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15b). Our light shines out in the midst of our work, of our everyday activities, of our ordinary lives.

It's also noticeable when Christians don't play their part in the family, in society, in the public life of nations. When Christians don't take Christ's doctrine to the places where they live and work, human values themselves become savorless, losing whatever transcendence they had and very often becoming corrupt.

When we look around us, it's not difficult to see the results of men ceasing to be the salt and the light of Christ.

Pope St. John Paul has said, “Civic life is scarred by the consequences of secularized ideologies, which range from the denial of God or the drastic limitation of religious freedom to the overriding importance of economic panaceas. These depend for their success on bizarre interpretations of human values such as work and production. They stretch from materialism and hedonism, which attack the values of large, close-knit families, to false ethical theories concerned with attitudes to newly conceived life.

“Such erroneous ‘moral’ guidance has been steering generations of young people towards a nihilism that cripples the will and leaves it unable to face up to crucial problems like those of the new poor, of emigrants, of ethnic and religious minorities, and so on.

“Society seems helpless to determine the right use of the means of communication, while it puts arms into the hands of terrorists” (John Paul II, Address, November 9, 1982).

He also said that many modern evils stem from “the defection of the baptized and of believers, fallen away or seduced in great numbers from the profound truths of their faith and the doctrinal and moral vigor of their traditional Christian view of life, a view which had guaranteed a right balance to individuals and to communities alike” (John Paul II, Address, November 9, 1982).

Pope St. John Paul was giving this address in which he talked about the need to re-evangelize Europe and the world once again, as a result of the accumulated omissions of so many Christians who have not been the salt and the light that Our Lord asked them to be.

Christ left us His teaching and His living presence so that men could discover a meaning for their existence and find the true happiness and the salvation they were created for.

“A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, so that it gives light to all in the house.”

Then Our Lord goes on to say, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:14-16).

A lady told me once how she lived about five minutes from a parish church, and for many decades she'd walk to Mass every morning. It was a five-minute walk.

“But,” she said, “one day last week I noticed the sun coming up.”

She said, “The sun has come up every day of my life. It's not as though we get out of bed in the morning and look with binoculars out the window to see if the sun will come up today.

She said, “The sun comes up whether it's hot or cold, or raining or sleeting or snowing or misty, or all sorts of other environments. The sun comes up because the sun has a job to do. The sun has to give light to the world.”

She said, “As I walked to Mass that morning, I said to myself, I have to try and be like the sun.”

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

First of all, we have to give the example of an upright life with clean behavior, and the very visible practice of the human and Christian virtues in our ordinary everyday living. The world must have light and good example has to lead the way.

In view of this tide of materialism and sensuality that threatens to overwhelm man, Our Lord, says St. Josemaría in The Forge (Point 23), “wants another wave to issue forth from our souls—a wave that is clean and powerful, as the Lord's right hand—to overcome with its purity all the rottenness of materialism and undo the corruption that has flooded the world. It is for this, and more, that the children of God have come.”

We're here to bring Christ to so many people whose lives are mingled with our own, so that God may not be a stranger to society.

We will really transform the world—beginning with that little corner of it in which we live and work and where our dreams are awakened—if we start to teach with the testimony of our own lives; if we are exemplary, competent, and honest at our work; if, in family life, we dedicate to our children and our parents as much time as they need; if people see us as cheerful, even in times of difficulty and suffering; if we're outgoing and warm toward others.”

St. John Chrysostom in one of his homilies says, “They will have greater faith in our deeds than in any other form of speech” (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies).

Other people will feel drawn to the life that our actions point out to them. Our example prepares the soil in which our words will later come to fruition.

Without doing anything unusual or out of the ordinary, Christians can show what it really means to follow Christ in their daily lives, as the first Christians did.

St. Paul said to the Ephesians, “I beg you to lead a life worthy of the vocation to which you have been called” (Eph. 4:1).

We should be known as men and women who are loyal, straightforward, truthful, cheerful, hardworking, and optimistic. We have to behave the way people do who carry out our duties properly and know how to comport ourselves at every moment as children of God, without letting themselves be swept along by the current of whatever is in vogue.

Which is stronger, the reed that stands up against the wind or the reed that is bent by the wind?

The life of a Christian will then be a sign by which people will recognize the spirit of Christ.

We must therefore often ask ourselves in our personal prayer whether our workmates, our family, and our friends are likely to be moved to give glory to God when they observe our conduct, because they can discern in it the life of Christ.

It will be a good sign if there is light in us and not darkness, love of God and not lukewarmness.

“He needs you,” says St. John Paul. “In some way, you will lend him your face, your heart, your whole person, when you are convinced, dedicated to the good of others, faithful servants of the Gospel. Then it will be Jesus himself who attracts people. But if you were to be weak and evil-minded, you would obscure his true identity and would give no honor to him at all” (John Paul II, Homily, May 29, 1983).

Pope St. John Paul II liked to say that this world finds Christ irresistible—divine beauty Incarnate.

We should never lose sight of this reality; other people have to see Christ in our straightforward and serene everyday behavior.

We can ask Our Lord that we might examine our conscience and see where I need to be better, where I need to improve.

One way, a great way, of improving in all these things is to give more importance to our formation: to our spiritual reading; to attending monthly recollections, yearly retreats; and also to our cultural formation, so that we expose ourselves to all the wonderful bodies of thought and culture that Christian thinkers have left down through the ages.

It may be that at certain times in our life we don't have too much time for cultural reading. But later in life we probably do, and it's not something we should take lightly.

Somebody said once that “one of the strongest things in the world…is an idea whose time has come” (cf. Victor Hugo, The Future of Man). From that cultural reading of Christian authors, we can get great ideas whose time may have come.

Other people around us have to hear Christ when we speak, or also when we remain silent. There were key moments in Christ's life when He was silent. To be able to do this, we need to follow the Master very closely, the Lord of the harvest, and be identified with Him.

In particular, we have to try and give a lot of good example of charity and of temperance, because salt that loses its savor is useless.

The world needs a lot of temperance, control—control of the appetites, control of the passions.

There is a series of works of mercy that give the Christians the possibility of showing the charity they bear in their heart: the corporal works of mercy, the spiritual works of mercy.

All of these show a way in which to love others as God loves us. We have to try and share our bread and our shelter with others. We have to try and clothe the naked, passing on clothes we no longer use, seeing them as gifts that God has given to us for a time.

It has to bother us that other people who live close to us or around us don't have the things they need, and sometimes very basic things.

We are told in one of the Responsorial Psalms, “Your light will shine in the darkness, your darkness will become as midday. Your light will come forth like the dawn” (Is. 58:8,10).

If we live charity with those around us in all the different sorts of circumstances that we find ourselves in, we will give a testimony that will attract many people to faith in Christ, because He Himself said, “By this will all men know that you are my disciples” (John 13:35).

We could see: Has anyone been drawn to Christ, or to my faith, by the way that I live my life?

The same ordinary norms of fellowship which many people look upon as something conventional and external, and which they practice only because they facilitate social relationships, must, for Christians, also be the fruit of charity—of their union with God, which fills those actions with supernatural content—an external manifestation of their genuine appreciation and interest.

Any time we meet with people at meetings, at parties, at cocktails—these are apostolic opportunities.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux in her autobiography says, “Now I conjecture that true charity consists in bearing all the defects of our neighbors; in not being surprised at their weaknesses; in being edified by their slightest virtues.

“But I have learned especially that charity should not remain shut up inside our hearts, for men ‘do not light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house.’ It seems to me that this lamp represents charity which should enlighten and brighten not only those people I love most, but all those others who happen to be in the house” (Thérèse of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul).

Our charity can often shine forth in our normal good manners and courtesy. “Please” and “thank you.” “I'm sorry. I was wrong.” One person said this forms the basis of social life—these words.

Another one, James Stenson, an educationalist in the States, says that professionalism, all professionalism, is based on good manners and charity.

Another important aspect to be sought in light embraces temperance and sobriety. Blessed Álvaro del Portillo said our modern age is “characterized by a search for material well-being at any price, and by the corresponding forgetfulness—it would be better to say fear, the true terror—of anything that can cause suffering.

“Seen from this point of view, words such as God, sin, cross, mortification, and eternal life…are incomprehensible for a great number of people who do not understand their meaning and what they connote” (Álvaro del Portillo, Letter, December 25, 1985).

This is why there is a particularly pressing need to give a generous testimony of temperance and sobriety; these show the self-control of the children of God, who use earthly goods, says St. Augustine, “according to their needs and duties, with the moderation of the person using them, and not of the one who attaches too much value to them and sees themselves dragged down by them” (St. Augustine, On the Customs of the Catholic Church).

Whether it's cups of tea or coffee, or beer, or movies, or whiskey, one could try and think, maybe I could take a little bit less of wine, or whatever it is that we like, or take a half a glass instead of a full glass, to live out this spirit of temperance in this ordinary moment.

We can ask Our Lady to help us, through our lives and our words, to be that salt that prevents the corruption of individuals and of society, and the light which not only illuminates but gives warmth.

If we take care of our doctrinal formation, knowing the truth, that truth will always be like a light in our lives—truths that sometimes can be expressed in very few words.

Pope St. John Paul II had some very short phrases: “the culture of life,” “the civilization of love,” “the sanctuary of life” referring to the womb, “the family is the school of deeper humanity,” “the school of love,” “the school of the soul.”

Sometimes a few words here and there can shed enormous light, telling people we can't compromise with evil, with the evil that may be promoted in the media, in movies, or all over the place.

We have to stand up and be counted. We've got to go against the grain. There may be situations at meetings, at conferences, in groups of people, where we have to be the person that speaks out, and we have to stand up and say certain things that need to be said, very clearly, very politely, but very generously. Those words can change the whole atmosphere of where we are.

There was a group of travel agents, I think in Buenos Aires, who were being flown to an island to check out a new holiday resort.

When they left the airport and the plane was airborne, somebody got ahold of the microphone and said, “We're going to have the weekend of our lives. We're going to have a great time!” It was painting a picture that was not too savory.

Somebody who might be the sort of person who would listen to meditations like this realized, ‘This isn't the right atmosphere to be creating.’ They wanted to live their Christian virtues and values well in that situation.

They went and took the microphone with a lot of courage, and said, “Yes, let's have a great time this weekend, but let's also remember that fifteen minutes ago at the airport, we left our wife and our children. Let's not do anything this weekend that they might not be proud of.”

With those few words, he changed the whole tone of the weekend.

Sometimes God has placed us in situations, at meetings, in gatherings of people, at conferences, to shed that sort of salt and light with a few simple words, change the direction in which life may be going, or research may be going, or policies may be going, so that we promote the family, we promote life, we promote Christianity, we promote truth and goodness and beauty and love.

Deep down in people's hearts, when they hear these things, that rings bells. They realize this is true.

We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us to be ablaze with love, not burnt out.

Mary, may you help our conduct to clearly reflect the lovable face of Christ.

We don't know who's watching our back. We don't know how the Holy Spirit will move somebody to notice some little deed of virtue, or some kind gesture that we may perform with somebody else, might light a flame in their heart.

Mary, with the confidence that you inspire in us, may we ask you from the depths of our hearts, with the words of St. Bernard: “Lord Our God, who made so many of the saints a lamp which gives both light and heat to all men, grant us to walk with this brightness, a brightness of spirit, as children of light.”

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

GD