Mt. 5:13-16
Dear Friends, One of the shocking facts about the religious scene in the U.S. is this. Roman Catholics are the largest religious group. The second largest are those who have left the Roman Catholic Church.
Somewhere along the line a great number of us in both of these groups failed to get the memo from Jesus that we need to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
When one delves into the reasons so many people have left the Church, the reasons are many and the blame is on all sides. However, the response has to be to get back to the Gospel message. We need to evangelize ourselves and others. Paul VI taught us that evangelization is the process of “bringing the Good News into every stratum of humankind and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new.” (Evangelii Nuntiandi #19) He went on to say we need witnesses more than teachers. For him, a witness was one whose life spoke so loudly and clearly you could not hear what he or she was saying.
In these three verses in today’s Gospel, Jesus is calling us to embrace the totality of the Sermon on the Mount. He is telling us to live the message and to proclaim the message. He is asking us to let our life be the gospel message for all to hear and welcome.
This evangelizing that proclaims the gospel is all about love. We have a good example of how to manifest this love in today’s first reading from Isaiah. “Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own.” (Is 58:7) This life of service, no matter how humble, is truly letting our light shine. It genuinely lets us be the salt of the earth. This opens the way to love that transforms us and our world. This is our calling in today’s Gospel. This is how we are witnesses who do not need words to proclaim the message.
We, as a Church and we as individual followers of Christ, need to encounter the power and the beauty of the call to let our light shine. We need make a difference by embracing life in the footsteps of Jesus. Reconciliation and service, forgiveness and generosity lead to the healing powers that crush division and wipe out the insipidness of mediocrity. This is the true call to unity. We need to bring the focus back to Jesus as He presents himself and his message in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is loaded with strategies for us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
Somewhere along the line a great number of us in both of these groups failed to get the memo from Jesus that we need to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
When one delves into the reasons so many people have left the Church, the reasons are many and the blame is on all sides. However, the response has to be to get back to the Gospel message. We need to evangelize ourselves and others. Paul VI taught us that evangelization is the process of “bringing the Good News into every stratum of humankind and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new.” (Evangelii Nuntiandi #19) He went on to say we need witnesses more than teachers. For him, a witness was one whose life spoke so loudly and clearly you could not hear what he or she was saying.
In these three verses in today’s Gospel, Jesus is calling us to embrace the totality of the Sermon on the Mount. He is telling us to live the message and to proclaim the message. He is asking us to let our life be the gospel message for all to hear and welcome.
This evangelizing that proclaims the gospel is all about love. We have a good example of how to manifest this love in today’s first reading from Isaiah. “Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own.” (Is 58:7) This life of service, no matter how humble, is truly letting our light shine. It genuinely lets us be the salt of the earth. This opens the way to love that transforms us and our world. This is our calling in today’s Gospel. This is how we are witnesses who do not need words to proclaim the message.
We, as a Church and we as individual followers of Christ, need to encounter the power and the beauty of the call to let our light shine. We need make a difference by embracing life in the footsteps of Jesus. Reconciliation and service, forgiveness and generosity lead to the healing powers that crush division and wipe out the insipidness of mediocrity. This is the true call to unity. We need to bring the focus back to Jesus as He presents himself and his message in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is loaded with strategies for us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
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